3. Graduation Requirements

The general requirements for obtaining a degree from the University of Colorado are listed in the University Catalog and in the Computer Science Supplement to the Catalog. Specific details for Computer Science will be given here.

3.1 Masters Degree

3.1.1 Advisors

When you were first accepted you were assigned an advisor. You should have your advisor sign a ``Plan of Study'' form as described below. You may change advisors at any time. Send email to Rajshree to do this.

Your advisor is here to help you graduate. Feel free to see your advisor any time you have questions, problems, or need some help in any matter. You should take the initiative to make an appointment with your advisor at least once a semester, preferably just before pre-registration, to go over what classes and/or exams you are planning to take, review your progress, and make any necessary changes to your Plan of Study.

3.1.2 The Plan of Study

This form lists the courses you plan to take to complete your degree. There are no specifically required courses to obtain a Masters degree in computer science, but they must include 5000 level courses in at least four of the nine Computer Science areas to meet the Breadth Requirement (see section The Breadth Requirement.) The courses listed on your Plan of Study are up to you and your advisor subject to the general requirements of the Graduate School. Students who are admitted provisionally must take the specific courses listed on their letter of acceptance.

Your Plan of Study may be changed at any time with the approval of your advisor. It exists to protect both you and the Department. It ensures that you follow a course of study the Department deems worthy of a Masters degree. It also protects you from arbitrary changes in requirements by the Department. As long as you follow a signed Plan of Study, maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better, and pass the required examinations, you will get your degree. Your Plan of Study should be completed within three weeks of your first day of classes.

3.1.3 Taking Classes

Students in the Computer Science M.S. or Ph.D. programs should enroll in all their CS courses as a Boulder campus student. Enrolling as a CAETE student is normally not allowed. A student in the M.S. or Ph.D. program with a legitimate reason for enrolling as a CAETE student can petition the Graduate Committee for permission to do so. An example of a legitimate reason is working at an industrial site equipped with a TV classroom that receives the CAETE broadcasts.

3.1.4 Masters Transfer Courses

You may transfer up to nine semester hours of courses from another university or from the ACCESS program with the approval of the Graduate School. An additional three hours can sometimes be transferred but you must write a letter of petition and have it signed by your advisor.

If you are transferring these courses from another college, a Request for Transfer of Credit form needs to be filled out after 1 full semester with a minimum GPA of 3.25. See Rajshree. This form will need to be signed by your advisor and the Graduate Director of the Department and then forwarded for approval by the Graduate School.

Courses taken under the ACCESS program which you want transferred should be listed in the appropriate area on the Masters Application-for-Candidacy form (see section Application for Admission to Candidacy Form.) Once this form has been signed by your advisor and the Graduate Director of the Department, the credits for these courses are automatically transferred. Courses that were taken more than five years ago will have to be validated. See Rajshree for the details on this process.

3.1.5 Masters Pass/Fail Courses

No graduate courses may be taken for Pass/Fail credit. This includes graduate courses which are transferred into the program. You can take courses for No Credit.

3.1.6 Plan I Versus Plan II

As part of your Plan of Study you must decide whether or not to do a Masters Thesis (known as Plan I.) Plan I requires you to take 24---26 credit hours in course work plus 4---6 credit hours of thesis to accumulate a total of 30 credit hours. You must also successfully defend your thesis and present two copies to the Graduate School for their acceptance and one copy to the CS Department. Otherwise, you will need to take 30 credit hours of course work to meet your degree requirements and pass the Masters Comprehensive Examination (known as Plan II.) In both plans you will still need to fulfill the breadth requirement of passing four out of nine major CS area courses with a grade of B or better (not B-.)

If you want to do a thesis you must find a faculty member willing to be your advisor for that research. The Department's faculty is large enough that you can usually find someone willing to sponsor you and help select a topic appropriate for a Masters thesis in nearly every field of Computer Science. Your thesis advisor becomes your regular advisor as well.

Otherwise, you will be required to take at least 30 credit hours of qualified courses in Computer Science or cross-listed with Computer Science including any approved non-CS 4000-level courses. You will need to maintain an overall GPA of 3.0, including having a grade of B or better (not B-) in courses in four different areas of Computer Science. You must also fulfill the requirements of the Masters Comprehensive Examination. For both plans you must complete your degree within four years of your entrance to the program.

There are a lot of pros and cons between Plans I and II. Plan II can be completed in a fixed amount of time depending on how many courses you are willing to take per semester. A thesis can take an unpredictable amount of time, usually not more than two semesters. You are required to pass an oral examination on your thesis topic, but you can do research on a topic in which you are interested. Except for Independent Study, the Plan II courses can only be taken during the Fall and Spring semesters. Thesis credit can be taken during the summer as well, and the oral defense can be scheduled at any time including between semesters if necessary.

3.1.7 Courses External to the Department

You may count two three-hour 4000-level and up courses from another department toward your degree provided:

1. They are not Computer Science.

2. They are not cross-listed with Computer Science.

3. They have significant Computer Science content.

4. The instructor is a member of the Graduate School faculty.

5. The student successfully petitions the graduate committee.

For example, you may want to take a senior-level math course in logic. Take note! Students in the past have been caught when their instructor was not a member of the Graduate School faculty! Tenure-track professors are almost always Graduate School faculty. Graduate Part-Time Instructors (GPTI) are almost never Graduate School faculty. For other instructors it is a toss-up. Check with the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make sure. Remember, you only have to worry about this for 4000-level courses; almost all 5000-level courses or above are taught by Graduate School faculty. In addition to the above, TLEN 5310, TLEN 5832, TLEN 5833, and some other courses cannot be used.

3.1.8 The Breadth Requirement

One major requirement for your degree is that you must receive a grade of B or better (not B-) in four graduate courses at the 5000-level, each one in a different area of Computer Science. The intent of this requirement is that you take the introductory graduate course in at least four areas. If you already have such a course at another school you can substitute a higher level graduate course in that area, but you need to get written approval from your advisor and give this to Rajshree for your file. No transfer credits will count towards the breadth requirement unless you take an upper level course in the same area here at CU-Boulder. The eight areas considered are Parallel Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Operating Systems, Theory of Computation, Programming Languages, Numerical Computation, Database Systems, and Software Engineering. Under the CS course numbering system the last digit of the course number signifies the area of the course. These are:

(0) General CS
(1) Parallel Processing
(2) Artificial Intelligence
(3) Operating Systems
(4) Theory of Computation
(5) Programming Languages
(6) Numerical Computation
(7) Database Systems
(8) Software Engineering
(9) Graphics

Please note: Area 0 does not count for the breadth requirement. In other words, you must take courses in at least four of the areas (1-9) mentioned above. Furthermore, for example, if you were to earn A's in seven AI courses, but only B-'s or C's in courses in three or more other areas, you would not meet this part of the exam requirement, and you would not receive your degree regardless of your overall GPA. The purpose of this requirement is to assure the breadth of your knowledge in Computer Science. This requirement must be met by both Plan I and Plan II students.

3.1.9 The Masters Thesis Defense

(Only for Plan I students.) You must select three faculty members to serve as your examining committee and fill out an Examination Report form. Your advisor is automatically one of these and is the committee chair. The other two members may be any Graduate faculty members who will agree to serve. This is the committee before whom you defend your thesis. The members of this committee must be approved by the Department and by the Graduate School. Send Rajshree email listing the members of your committee as well as the date, time, and location of your defense at least 2 weeks prior to the defense date so that she can prepare an Examination Report Form. It is considered good form to give copies of your thesis to the members of your committee at least two weeks prior to the exam.

At least two members of the committee must approve of the oral thesis defense for you to pass successfully. It must be passed with a grade of B- or better. If you fail this defense you may retake it once in a later semester, or you may switch to Plan II at this point with one chance to pass the Masters Comprehensive Exam.

You must present the Graduate School with two copies of your thesis for their acceptance. The copies that go to the Graduate School must be on thesis bond. Kinko's can copy your thesis onto thesis bond for you or you may purchase thesis bond by the ream from the university book store. The Graduate School has strict requirements for the format of the thesis. You should contact the Graduate School to obtain a copy of their Specifications for Preparation of Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations to assist you in preparing your thesis. Their number is 2-7401.

You must be registered during the semester in which you do your defense. If you don't need to take any other courses that semester and you have taken all your possible thesis credit hours you may register as a Masters Candidate-for-Degree (see section Masters Candidate-for-Degree.) The time between semesters (between the day of commencement in one semester and the first day of classes in the next semester) can be considered part of the preceding or part of the following semester. Summer is considered a separate semester for the purpose of defending a thesis.

3.1.10 The Written Comprehensive Examination

(Only for Plan II students.) The last main requirement for a degree for Plan II students is to successfully pass a Written Comprehensive Examination. In Computer Science, the format is a take-home examination. You will write a paper that is similar in form and content to a research paper or survey article appearing in a computer science journal (like Communications of the ACM,) or a University of Colorado technical report.

This exam is offered twice a year, and it is intended to show mastery of a portion of Computer Science. The actual dates and instructions will be provided within the first few weeks of school by Rajshree via e-mail to your CS account. If you plan to take the Comp Exam please notify Rajshree within the first month of the semester.

You may retake the exam if you fail it the first time. However, you are allowed only one retake. If you fail a second time you will not be granted a degree. You must take the comps your last semester and you need to finish within four years of your entrance to the program.

You must also be registered during the semester in which you take the comps. If you don't need to take any other courses that semester you may register as a Masters Candidate-for-Degree (see section Masters Candidate-for-Degree.)

3.1.11 Notification of Status

If there is a possibility that you will graduate, take the comps, or defend a thesis during a given semester please notify Rajshree at the beginning of the semester. This does not commit you to completing your degree that semester, but gives Rajshree an indication of the number of people planning on graduating and allows her to mail the appropriate letters and announcements to those interested and to make sure that all the necessary paperwork is done. Please inform Rajshree of any changes to your status so she can plan for the correct numbers.

3.1.12 Application for Admission to Candidacy Form

In order to graduate, you must file an Application-for-Candidacy form the semester you intend to graduate. Once you have filed one of these forms you don't have to do so again, although you will need to submit any changes to courses listed on your Application-for-Candidacy. This form is available from Rajshree or on the Graduate School website, `http://www.colorado.edu/GraduateSchool/'. The filing deadlines are listed in the University Catalog and posted on the graduate bulletin board. A copy of this year's deadlines is attached to this Handbook (see section Master's Degree Deadlines.)

3.1.13 Diploma Card

In order to graduate, you must file a Diploma Information card early in the semester that you want to graduate. If you file the card, but do not graduate in the semester you filed it you will have to file it again for the semester you do graduate. This forms is available from Rajshree. The filing deadlines are listed in the University Catalog and posted on the graduate bulletin board. A copy of this year's deadlines is attached to this Handbook (see section Master's Degree Deadlines.)

3.1.14 Masters Candidate-for-Degree

If you are in Plan II and have completed the course work necessary for your degree (30 credit hours) but have not yet passed the Written Comprehensive Exam, or if you are in Plan I and have completed your course work, including six hours of thesis credit, but have not yet defended your thesis you can sign up for three credit hours of CSCI 6940, Masters Candidate-for-Degree. You must be formally registered the semester you take the Written Comprehensive Exam or defend your thesis. You will need a controlled enrollment number available from Rajshree to register for CSCI 6940.

3.1.15 Masters Final Paperwork

All students should keep Rajshree apprised of when they expect to take their final exam. Plan I students should provide Rajshree with the title of their thesis, the names of the members of the thesis committee, and the date of the defense. This must be done at least 2 weeks before the defense. Plan II students should notify Rajshree early in the semester that they intend to take the masters comprehensive exam. If you are a Plan I student there is an Examination Report Form and a Final Grade Card that goes from your Thesis Committee to Rajshree to the Graduate School. If you are a Plan II student there is an Examination Report Form that goes from the Graduate Committee to Rajshree to the Graduate School. If everything works right and you have provided the necessary information to Rajshree you would never see any of these forms. However, it is in your best interest to make sure nothing has been messed up here because if something goes wrong you might not receive your M.S. the semester you plan to.

3.1.16 Masters Grades

Except for a thesis defense (which must have a grade of B- or better) and the four courses used for the breadth requirement (which must have a grade of B or better) a grade of C in a course is sufficient to credit that course toward a Masters degree. Remember that your overall GPA cannot fall below 3.0.

3.1.17 Masters Sufficient Progress

All students should note that the Department is given the authority to drop any student who fails to make sufficient progress toward a degree. The definition of sufficient progress is left to the Department.

The Computer Science Department will take no action under this authority without first informing you of what you must do to resume adequate progress and giving you a fair amount of time to satisfy those requirements. The best way to avoid problems is to maintain regular contact with your advisor and Rajshree.

If you decide not to take any courses in a particular semester you must sign up for the Time Out Program (TOP) to ensure you will be able to register for the next semester. See the Registrar's office for more details on the Time Out Program. Failure to register or sign up for the Time Out Program will result in your being dropped from the program. I.e., you would have to reapply and be accepted again to resume your studies.

3.2 Doctoral Degree

3.2.1 Doctoral Preliminary Examination

The Ph.D. Preliminary Exam fulfills the Graduate School requirement for a Preliminary Exam. The Exam consists of an Area Exam requirement plus a Course requirement.

3.2.1.1 Course Requirement

Five 5000-level (not 6000- or 7000-) Computer Science courses must be taken, according to the following requirements.

1. All five courses must have grade B+ or better.

2. All five courses must have different last digit, which is currently used as the area digit.

3. If pre-approved by the Graduate Committee, one of the five courses can be substituted by a course with sufficient Computer Science content from another department.

4. At most one course that is closely related to the student's area of specialization (as indicated by the Area Exam) can be included in the five.

5. All five courses must be taken within the first five semesters.

3.2.1.2 Area Examination Requirement

The purpose of the Area Examination is to ensure that the student has sufficient depth to begin research in a selected area. Thus the exam tests knowledge of the general area of computer science that contains the research topic, deeper specialized knowledge of the specific research area that the student will be working in, and intellectual sophistication needed to conduct research in the area.

The area examination contrasts with the comprehensive exam, which is devoted to a focused research theme. It complements the course work requirement of the preliminary exam, which is meant to build breadth in CS in general and general knowledge of the student's research area.

Selecting an Examination

Each student is given an advisor on entry to the Ph.D. program. During the first semester of Ph.D. studies, the student must file a Preliminary Exam Plan, approved by the advisor. The plan specifies the courses and the Area Exam.

1. The plan may be amended as many times as necessary, but the advisor's approval is required on all versions of the plan.

2. The Area Exam must be passed by the end of the 3rd academic year in order to be making adequate progress. It will normally be taken during the 2nd academic year.

3. Because the Area Exam and coursework selections are related to competencies in a specific subject area, students with an academic advisor outside their area of interest should attempt to find a faculty member qualified to advise on the coursework and Area Exam components of the plan of study. The academic advisor signing the plan of study need not be a student's Ph.D. research advisor, but should be in a related area in order to make the transition easier.

4. A student may switch academic advisors with the approval of the new advisor. The new advisor will approve a revised Preliminary Exam Plan. A student changing areas who has already completed an Area Exam will not be required to take another. Instead the student will be required to make up any deficiencies as determined by the new advisor.

5. A student is allowed at most two attempts total to pass the Area Exam.

Examination Scope and Scheduling

1. Any three Computer Science graduate faculty members can offer an Area Examination. Faculty outside the CS department may serve on the committee as additional members - they may not substitute for the 3 CS members or chair the exam committee.

2. All Area Examinations are open to all students in the department, but each student's advisor must approve of the Area Exam chosen by the student through the Preliminary Exam Plan. Most Area Examinations will be offered once per year, in the same month every year.

3. Exams that are being offered for the first time will be announced at some point during the preceding academic year. As much information about the exam as possible will be made available when a new exam is announced.

4. The list of all Area Exams for the academic year will be finalized at the start of the Fall Semester, and posted on the departmental website. The Graduate Secretary must be notified of each Area Exam by the Exam Committee. An exam that is not on the list at the start of the academic year (or was not announced before the previous summer recess) cannot be offered that year. The date the exam will be offered, as well as its format, are at the sole discretion of the committee offering the exam.

5. The format of the examination and the materials upon which the Area Examination will be based (courses, papers, and/or textbooks) will be posted at the exam website at least three months in advance of the exam. Exams will often differ slightly from the posting, but broad changes in the exam will be posted a year in advance. It is recommended that as much material as possible be available to students, e.g. previous exams.

6. Faculty will attempt to maintain consistency in the exams. Exams in different areas should be at similar levels of difficulty. The material tested by the exam is roughly the equivalent of 2 graduate courses minimum and 3 graduate courses maximum, although the exam need not be based on any specific courses.

7. An exam must be offered again, within a year, if a student wishes to retake it to earn a passing grade.

3.2.2 Getting a Masters Degree During the Doctoral Program

Many doctoral students enter the program directly from an undergraduate program and do not have a Masters degree. During the course of a normal doctoral program you are required to take at least 30 credit hours of courses (not counting any Masters Thesis hours) so if you have met the Masters Breadth Requirement and you pass the Masters Comprehensive exam you will fulfill the requirements for a Masters degree (remember, though, there are stricter course breadth requirements as part of the new Ph.D. prelim system). Passing one Ph.D. preliminary exam (under the old prelim system) can also be counted as passing the Masters Comprehensive Exam (ask Rajshree how this translates to the new prelim system). In this case you only have to file an Application-for-Candidacy Form and a Diploma Card to obtain your Masters degree even though you are not formally in the Masters program. This should be done early in the semester you plan to take the Masters Written Comprehensive Exam (or the Ph.D. preliminary exam you're taking in lieu of.)

There is no reason to not do this. If you meet the Ph.D. prelim course requirements, you've fulfilled the breadth requirements for getting a Masters degree, and after 30 credits all you have to do is submit a few pages of easy paperwork. It is to your benefit to consider doing this so that if you have to leave the doctoral program for financial or personal reasons you will have something to show for your efforts.

Students in the Computer Science M.S. or Ph.D. programs should enroll in all their CS courses as a Boulder campus student. Enrolling as a CAETE student is normally not allowed. A student in the M.S. or Ph.D. program with a legitimate reason for enrolling as a CAETE student can petition the Graduate Committee for permission to do so. An example of a legitimate reason is working at an industrial site equipped with a TV classroom that receives the CAETE broadcasts.

3.2.3 Finding an Advisor

You ought to find an advisor to sponsor your thesis research within one year after passing your preliminary exams. It need not be the advisor assigned to you when you first entered the program.

3.2.4 Doctoral Comprehensive Examination

In the CS Department, the University requirement of a Doctoral Comprehensive Examination consists solely of an oral defense of a thesis proposal (Proposal Defense.) Ideally, this should be taken within two years of passing your preliminary exams.

3.2.4.1 Thesis Credit Before the Proposal Defense

There are limits on the amount of thesis credit taken before you pass your Proposal Defense which may be counted toward your degree. The Catalog has the details. Currently, this includes ten thesis credit hours taken the semester during which you do your Proposal Defense and a maximum of ten thesis credit hours taken in preceding semesters. In other words, you can use only up to ten hours of thesis credit taken prior to the semester in which you defend your proposal, but you do not have to have taken ten hours of thesis credit before then. Further, you can count up to ten thesis credit hours taken during the semester that you do your thesis proposal defense, but you do not have to be taking ten hours of thesis that semester.

3.2.4.2 Admission to Candidacy Form

Early in the semester you plan to do your Proposal Defense, you must file an Admission-to-Candidacy form available from Rajshree. Rajshree will file your Admission-to-Candidacy form with the Graduate School after you have fulfilled three requirements: a successful proposal defense, and the Ph.D. exam (prelim exam and course breadth requirement).(1) The Graduate School doesn't care about the last requirement and deems you a Candidate as of the day of your proposal defense (status changes take affect the next semester), regardless of when they receive the Admission-to-Candidacy form. However, it's most convenient to fulfill all these requirements and file the form with Rajshree in a timely manner, because your fees and other rules pertaining to you change with your change of status. If you've made a mistake with regard to those rules in the semester(s) between your proposal defense and submittal of candidacy form, this can cause you problems later on. More status change details are below in the Doctoral Admission to Candidacy section.

3.2.4.3 Committee for Your Proposal Defense

You and your advisor must select at least five faculty members to serve as your examining committee for your Proposal Defense. Your advisor is automatically one of these and is the committee chair. The other members may be any Graduate faculty who will agree to serve. There does not have to be a non-CS member on the committee for your Proposal Defense. Rules for your final Thesis Defense committee are a bit different, so you might as well assemble your committee only once: see Thesis Committee section below for the rules.

3.2.4.4 Examination Report Approval Form

You must submit the names of your Committee members as well as the time, date, and title of your thesis proposal for approval at least two weeks before the exam to Rajshree via email and she prepares the Examination Report. For each non-CS member on your committee, submit his/her CV to Rajshree as far ahead of time as possible so that she can do the paperwork to give them the right status to be on your committee.

3.2.4.5 Copies of Written Proposal

You should give a copy of your written Thesis Proposal to the members of your committee. It is considered good form to give copies of your proposal to the members of your committee at least two weeks prior to the exam.

3.2.4.6 The Actual Proposal Defense

The committee decides on the basis of the oral examination whether you have sufficient background knowledge for your dissertation, and whether your dissertation plans are reasonable. Four of the five members, including your advisor, must agree to pass you. If the committee feels your knowledge is satisfactory, but your dissertation plans are not they will indicate that you have passed the Proposal Defense, but you will be required to prepare and defend a revised proposal. This second (or subsequent) Proposal Defense is not considered a Doctoral Comprehensive Examination.

In effect, the thesis proposal is a contract between you and your committee. By accepting it, they implicitly state that if you successfully perform the work proposed (measured by passing the final examination) they will grant you a Ph.D.

3.2.5 Thesis Hours

Once you have passed your Proposal Defense you should sign up for five to ten hours of doctoral thesis hours each semester (not including the summer). You can sign up for three hours and be a part-time student, but hardly anyone does this. Check with Rajshree before registering if you think you might want to be a part-time student, as she will know all the problems that change in status might cause you.

3.2.6 Admission to Candidacy

Once you have submitted your application for candidacy (passed your Proposal Defense, fulfilled the Ph.D. exam requirement) and the graduate school has approved your application you will be admitted to Candidacy. This will put you into the highest pay bracket for TA's and RA's in the department, enable you to be a full-time student with only 5 credit hours instead of 6, and will also entitle you to pay "D" rate fees, which are much lower than full fees. However, this also means that you don't get the privileges associated with them, e.g. use of the student recreation center and cheap football tickets. If you would prefer to be a full fee paying student in order to take advantage of these services you must go to the Bursar's Office in Regent Hall each semester and ask them to change this and issue you a new student ID sticker.

Those students employed by the department also have the option of obtaining a recreation center pass at the staff rate. To do this, you need to ask the person who handles your appointment in the department (see section Administrative Issues) for a copy of your PAF form that proves that you are employed by the department. You can then take this form to the recreation center to buy a pass.

For information detailing the fee structure see:

`http://www.colorado.edu/bursar/now/tuitfeebill.html'

The main Bursar's Office site may also be of help:

`http://www.colorado.edu/bursar/'

3.2.7 Final Examination (Thesis Defense)

The last requirement for graduation is the Final Examination; an oral defense of your thesis. This may be done at any time after you have the required number of course credits (30) and the required number of thesis credits (30). See see section Doctoral Degree Deadlines for deadlines for the defense and for the submission of your thesis to the Graduate School in order to graduate in a given semester. If you miss this deadline for one semester you will graduate the following semester. You must pass the thesis defense within six years of entrance into the Ph.D. program. Extensions of up to one year can be made, however, by the student and advisor petitioning the Graduate School. This petition has to be submitted each semester for which an extension is desired.

3.2.7.1 Ph.D. Defense Announcement

At least two weeks prior to your defense, you must email Rajshree the title and abstract of your thesis, the names of the members of your committee, and the scheduled date, time, and location of the defense. Rajshree will fill out a Ph.D. Defense Announcement and submit it to the graduate school for posting.

3.2.7.2 Graduate School Clearance

The Graduate School requires numerous forms so be sure to contact them (by stopping by Regent Hall 308) and find out all that is required of you early in the semester you plan to defend. Contact the Graduate School to find out the time and place of a meeting held by the Graduate School to explain their requirements.

3.2.7.3 Thesis Committee

For your thesis defense your committee must again consist of at least five members and your advisor remains the chair. However, the other members do not have to be the same as those attending your Proposal Defense. At least three members of this committee must be Boulder campus resident faculty, and one member must be from outside the Computer Science Department. Note that this means the member(s) can be from outside the University, such as an area company, but the person must have a Ph.D. The committee members must be approved by the Chair of the Department and by the Dean of the Graduate School and must have either regular or special graduate faculty status. The Chair's policy normally requires that at least three of the faculty members be tenure track faculty in the Computer Science Department.

For each non-CS member on your committee, submit his/her CV to Rajshree as far ahead of time as possible so that she can do the paperwork to give them the right status to be on your committee. This status usually only lasts a year so if you already did this for your proposal defense but more than a year has passed, you (well, really Rajshree, with your proactive prompting) must do it again.

3.2.8 Actual Thesis Defense

More than one dissenting vote on your defense by members of the committee means that you have failed your defense. Upon the recommendation of the examining committee a doctoral student who fails the final examination may retake the examination. A student in the program may not take more than two Final Examinations.

3.2.8.1 Copies of Thesis

It is considered good form to give copies of your thesis to the members of your committee at least two weeks prior to the exam. One copy of your thesis must be presented to the Graduate School for their acceptance. The copy that goes to the Graduate School must be on thesis bond. Kinko's can copy your thesis onto thesis bond for you or you may purchase thesis bond by the ream from the university book store. The Graduate School has strict requirements for the format of the thesis. You should contact the Graduate School to obtain a copy of their Specifications for Preparation of Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations to assist you in preparing your thesis. Their number is 2-7401. Also, @LaTeX{} and Word templates are available off the ITS website.

3.2.8.2 Ph.D. Final Paperwork

There is an Examination Report Form and Final Grade Card that goes from the Thesis Committee to Rajshree to the Graduate School. If everything works right you would never see these forms. However, it is in your best interest to make sure nothing has been messed up here because if something goes wrong you might not receive your Ph.D. the semester you plan to.

3.2.9 Ph.D. Grades

Unlike the Masters degree, you may not count any course in which you received a grade of C or lower toward your doctoral degree. Excepting Masters Thesis hours, any other course taken at this University toward a Masters degree that meets the requirements for doctoral credit may be counted.

3.2.10 Ph.D. Pass/Fail Courses

No graduate courses may be taken for Pass/Fail credit. This includes graduate courses which are transferred into the program. You can take courses for No Credit.

3.2.11 Ph.D. Transfer Courses

You may also transfer up to 21 semester hours of qualified courses from another university or from the ACCESS program, with the approval of your advisor, the Graduate Director of the Department, and the Graduate School.

If you are transferring these courses from another college, a Request for Transfer of Credit form needs to be filled out. After one full semester here, please see Rajshree to acquire the form. This form will need to be signed by your advisor and the Graduate Director of the Department and then forwarded for approval by the Graduate School.

If you have taken courses under the ACCESS program which you want transferred list them in the appropriate area on the Application-for-Candidacy form (see section Admission to Candidacy Form.) Once this form has been signed by your advisor, the Graduate Director of the Department, and the Graduate School the credits for these courses will be transferred.

3.2.12 Ph.D. Sufficient Progress

All students should note that the Department is given the authority to drop any student who fails to make sufficient progress toward a degree. The definition of sufficient progress is left to the Department so it is wise to notify the Department through Rajshree if you will not be taking any courses or thesis credits during a semester.

If you decide not to take any courses in a particular semester it is necessary that you sign up for the Time Out Program (TOP) to ensure you will be able to register for the next semester. See the Registrar's office for more details on the Time Out Program. Failure to register or sign up for the Time Out Program will result in your being dropped from the program. i.e., you would have to reapply and be accepted again to resume your studies.

The Computer Science Department will take no action under this authority without first informing you of what you must do to resume sufficient progress and giving you a fair amount of time to satisfy those requirements. The best way to avoid problems is to maintain regular contact with your advisor and Rajshree.

This document was generated by System Administrator on September, 4 2008 using texi2html 1.70.