Please submit the following to the Graduate School office:
Notification of Dissertation Defense: Email Latrina Prince at least 30 days prior to the defense date and include the date, time, and place.
Graduation fee paid when registering for last semester.
Verification of Dissertation Acceptance: Upon successful submission of the dissertation to the Library, the Library staff will fax a copy of the dissertation title page and committee signature page to the Office of the University Registrar.
Graduation and Campus Clearance Items
All students should log in to GUS and review the Student Center section of GUS for any clearance items that they should complete. Please click on each item for instructions on how to clear that item and which department they should contact regarding the item. The Office of University Registrar will not be able to assist in clearing items.
Detailed Requirements for Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Regulations for Preparing Theses and Dissertations
Listed below are the detailed requirements of the UAMS Graduate School for the awarding of the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Individual graduate programs may have additional program-specific requirements for the awarding of the degree.
GPIBS Academic Requirements
These requirements are specific to the Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (GPIBS) Ph.D. Degree Program are in addition to the general rules and regulations of the UAMS Graduate School and may be supplemented by requirements of the GPIBS tracks.
Doctor of Philosophy Candidacy Exam. Candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy degree must pass a candidacy examination administered by their program. This examination is normally administered after approximately two years of graduate study; however, the date of the examination is at the discretion of the program. The program will submit the results of the examination to the Graduate School Office immediately following the examination. After the student has passed the Doctor of Philosophy Candidacy Examination, the student must register for at least one credit hour of dissertation for each semester and one credit hour of dissertation for each summer session until the degree is awarded. Registration for a minimum of eighteen semester credit hours of dissertation is required of doctoral degree candidates.
Time Frame and GPA Required for Completion of Degree. After passing the candidacy examination the degree must be completed within seven consecutive calendar years. A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.85 on all course work is required for completion of a degree (Nursing Science Ph.D. students see College of Nursing Handbook).
Doctoral Advisory Committee. A Doctoral Advisory Committee must be appointed immediately after the student passes the candidacy examination, if such a committee has not been previously established. At the time the committee is appointed, notification of the committee membership must be forwarded to the Graduate School Office. The committee will include no fewer than five (5) UAMS Graduate Faculty members, one of whom will be designated as chair. By the program completing the application for outside dissertation committee member and submitting to the Graduate School Office for the Dean’s consideration and approval, one person who is not a UAMS Graduate Faculty member may serve as a required committee member but not as chair.
Notification of Dissertation Defense. After a student presents a written dissertation to the Doctoral Advisory Committee, the committee chair (with the concurrence of the committee) will schedule a dissertation defense. Not less than thirty days prior to the date of the dissertation defense, the program should notify the Graduate School and post public notices announcing the title of the dissertation, and the date, time and place of the defense. The Graduate School website will be the official posting mechanism for the thirty day public announcement for all Ph. D. dissertation defenses (Nursing Science Ph.D. students see College of Nursing Handbook).
Approval of Dissertation. Approval of 80% of the Doctoral Advisory Committee is required for acceptance of the dissertation.
Dissertation on File. Three final copies of the dissertation, together with three copies of an abstract of not more than 350 words, must be submitted to the library for approval no less than ten class days before the degree is conferred. All signatures on the final copies and abstracts must be original, and the three copies must be submitted unbound. After approval two copies are retained by the UAMS Library. The dissertation must be submitted in accordance with the guidelines contained in a manual, Regulations for Preparing Theses and Dissertations, which is available on the Graduate School website.
Verification of Dissertation Acceptance. A copy of the dissertation title page and committee signature page must be submitted to the Office of the University Registrar by the library prior to the conferring of the degree. The committee signature page must have verification by the UAMS Library that the dissertation has been accepted.
Degree Application. A degree application form must be submitted to the Office of the University Registrar and a graduation fee paid during registration for the semester in which degree requirements will be completed and graduation projected. If a student fails to complete the degree requirements on the projected date, the program must contact the Graduate School and Office of the University Registrar. The student must contact the UAMS Graduate School and the Office of University Registrar concerning their projected graduation date.
Graduation and Campus Clearance. Graduation clearance requirements for Graduate School students are listed here. All students should log-in to GUS and review the Student Center section of GUS for any clearance items that they should complete. Please click on each item for instructions on how to clear that item and which department they should contact regarding the item. The Office of University Registrar will not be able to assist in clearing items.
Grades and Transcripts Withheld. Grades and transcripts will be withheld and registration refused to students who fail to return laboratory, library or other university property entrusted to their care; who fail to complete the campus clearance procedure; who fail to comply with rules governing the audit of student organization accounts; or who have failed to pay any fees, tuition, room and board charges, fines or other charges assessed by UAMS.