Preliminary Examination Students are required to pass the preliminary examination in Operations Management held in the month of May following completion of the second year in the program. If a student fails the exam, the student must retake the examination the following January. If the student fails the exam a second time, the student will be dropped from the program. To be accepted, the proposal must represent substantial progress towards completion of a doctoral thesis along with a statement of further work to be performed. Once accepted by the dissertation committee, the proposal is considered a contract that will guide the student towards completion of the dissertation.
Financial support is contingent on satisfactory progress.
A student may be dropped from the program if there is a significant delay in achieving an acceptable proposal. The procedures for holding a dissertation defense are listed in the Ph.D. Program in Management brochure.