As soon as the student has passed the preliminary comprehensive examination and has been admitted to candidacy, the graduate program director of the candidate's program shall recommend to the dean of Graduate Studies the names of at least three members of the faculty to serve as a working dissertation committee. At least two of the faculty so nominated shall be from the candidate's program. Each dissertation committee must have one external member designated by the dean of Graduate Studies as the dean's representative. At the option of the program, the dean's representative may serve as a working member from the inception of the committee, or may participate only at the time of the defense. In either case, the dean's representative is a voting member of the committee and must sign the dissertation.
Specific information is available from each program director.
This examination shall be primarily concerned with, but not necessarily limited to, the candidate's dissertation. It shall be the responsibility of the working dissertation committee to approve the dissertation project, to supervise its execution, and to arrange for the final examination of the student. All members of the committee must tentatively approve the dissertation before the final oral examination is scheduled, and agree that it is time for this examination to be held. Most programs require the student to deliver a public lecture on his or her research, usually on the day the final oral examination takes place. The final oral examination itself is attended by the candidate, the committee, and any invited guests.