Schedule a public defense
If your committee has changed at all since advancement, notify Bao Vu (bgvu@uci.edu) as soon as possible prior to defending your dissertation. If your current committee and the previously approved committee don’t match, the Graduate Division can reject your paperwork.
Once you have the date & time, contact Bao Vu (bgvu@uci.edu) to book a room for your public defense. Include a title and abstract to be announced to the department.
It is recommended to schedule your defense about two weeks before the Graduate Division’s Filing Deadlines to ensure that you have enough time to edit and submit your dissertation to the library for approval, and to complete final degree paperwork before the deadline.
Your Committee Chair will contact Bao Vu (bgvu@uci.edu) with the defense result.
Final Degree Paperwork
Once you have successfully defended and completed your dissertation edits, you can begin the final degree paperwork by emailing Bao Vu (bgvu@uci.edu) to request initiation of the paperwork.
Include the names and emails of your dissertation committee members. This information will be used to route your final degree paperwork in Docusign. The paperwork will be routed to your committee members first.
While your committee members are approving your paperwork, you should submit your final dissertation to the UCI library. It may take up to one week for the library to review your dissertation, so please plan accordingly to meet the filing deadline. Once your Dissertation has been accepted by UCI Libraries, you will receive a verification email from ProQuest. This email will need to be uploaded to the Docusign final degree paperwork.
Once all of your committee members have approved the document, it will be routed to you. If you have not received your paperwork through Docusign, and the final degree filing deadline is approaching, please contact Bao Vu (bgvu@uci.edu) for assistance.
When you receive your final degree paperwork via Docusign, please review the following sections:
- Title of Dissertation
- Embargo of Dissertation (Optional): Please discuss with your PI if your dissertation should be withheld from publication for a period of time.
- You will be required to complete two additional surveys (Survey of Earned Doctorates and UCI Ph.D. Exit Survey) and upload the confirmation to the DocuSign form.
- Request Degree Certification Notification (optional but highly recommended): Your diploma is typically available four months after the end of the quarter in which you graduate. This letter can be shown to employers while you are waiting for your diploma.
Before your last day at UCI
- Review UCI Diploma Information.
- UCI keys must be returned to the department from which they were issued. Keys can be turned into the Earth System Science Main Office Suite between 8am-12pm and 1pm-4:30pm Monday-Friday.