APCE Dissertation Planning Sheet

Appoint APCE Dissertation Chair – Submit Form A

Should be submitted once you have confirmed a Chair and MUST be submitted BEFORE you take ED 7341 Dissertation Proposal Development or the Proposal Defense. The Chair must hold Core Doctoral faculty status and may be an APCE or SI professor.

Appoint Dissertation Committee Members – Submit Form B

Consult with your Dissertation Chair BEFORE selecting committee members. A minimum of 2 members (including the chair) must be APCE faculty. SI faculty are eligible to serve on your committee. You may appoint a faculty member from other departments/Colleges at Texas State, or one member external to the university - in these cases, the APCE Faculty is required to review the proposed committee member’s curriculum vitae and approve the appointment. Final approval comes from the Graduate Dean through the Program. These reviews are done ONLY September –November, and mid-January to mid-April. Your Chair will coordinate this process as needed.

Procedure for Appointing an External Committee Member

All committee members who are external to the university and have not been reviewed previously by the APCE faculty should be presented for review to the program faculty, even if they have doctoral faculty status at another institution. Review consists first of the student discussing the possible appointment of the individual to the committee with the dissertation chair. Upon agreement, the student must send a brief written rationale and the potential committee member’s updated vita to the dissertation chair to present at an APCE faculty meeting to determine the decision to include the individual, or not, as doctoral faculty to serve on the committee.

*Submit Form A and Form B before the proposal defense.

Changing Chair/Committee Members – Submit Change Form

In accepting an appointment your committee faculty have made a serious commitment. Changes should only be made for serious reason and in consultation with the Dissertation Chair and any committee members involved. Changes may not be made to the composition of the committee within 60 days of the dissertation defense.

Enroll in Dissertation Hours:

Once you have completed all courses, you will ordinarily, enroll in 7399A (3 hours). Students must take a minimum of 12 dissertation hours to graduate. Students must enroll in dissertation hours any semester after coursework that they are receiving dissertation supervision from their chair; they must enroll every semester after the proposal defense (including summer). Exceptions to enrollment in ED 7399A are explained on the Dissertation Hours Registration Info sheet (separate document). APCE students must enroll in dissertation hours that end in “A” (“B” is for SI). Enrollment in ED 7199A or 7299A in Fall or Spring semesters requires approval of Dissertation Chair and Program Director, in that order. To request that approval of the Program Director or to request a section of dissertation hours that you need, but is not on the class schedule, use the Class Registration Override Form.

* Please note that the criteria for taking ED 7199A in any semester is that the student will be working on the dissertation minimally and/or receiving minimal supervision from the dissertation chair. It may be taken in any summer semester and a maximum of 3 Fall/Spring semesters (Fall/Spring semesters require program approval; please use the Class Override link).

Comprehensive Examination:

Students will defend their dissertation proposal. This will serve as their comprehensive exam. Students will defend their proposal at the conclusion of coursework (all major courses, research courses, and ED 7341), before the dissertation phase. It requires prior submission of Form A, the Dissertation Advisor Assignment Form, and Form B, the Dissertation Committee Form, and must be completed and passed prior to the Proposal Defense and Advancement to Candidacy. PROPOSAL DEFENSE

At defense complete Form C and Form D

· Proposal defenses must be announced at least 2 WEEKS before the defense. Send the following information in an announcement format to APCE Administrative Assistant: Your name, proposal title, date/time/room of defense, name of dissertation chair, and names of dissertation committee members.

Policy Related to Dissertation Proposal Defenses and Dissertation Final Defenses

Proposal defenses will be held in the following fashion:

1. Defenses will be scheduled for 2 hours and will be announced by the program via email at least 2 weeks prior to the defense.
2. The defense will begin with a public presentation of the research proposal by the student that will last between 15 minutes and 25 minutes (maximum), followed by 5-10 minutes for audience questions.
3. After the presentation of the proposal, audience will be asked to leave the room for a closed committee discussion with the student.
4. The student will be asked to leave at end of this discussion for committee conference to determine pass or failure, and any required revisions/edits/etc.

* Have Form C and Form D typed and ready at the defense. They will be used if the committee rates the proposal a "pass." Hold these forms – do NOT submit yet. *AFTER the committee passes the proposal, submit your IRB application for review and work on revisions to your proposal document. Move on to the following step IMMEDIATELY AFTER you receive approval from the IRB.

Immediately after receiving IRB approval, submit the following to the Program Director in ONE hard copy packet:


Form D (Dissertation Proposal and Proposal Defense Form); Form E (Application for Advancement to Candidacy); the Full Text of your Final Proposal, in APA Format and including revisions requested by the committee; and Certificate of IRB approval.

* Students have a maximum of 5 years from admission to the program to advance to candidacy. Students who go beyond this deadline may request an extension from the Graduate Dean by contacting the Program Director. Extension requests must be accompanied by a work plan for timely completion of the proposal and final dissertation. This work plan must be approved by your dissertation chair.

At your dissertation defense, you will need to complete and submit Form F (Dissertation Defense Report Form) and Form G (Dissertation Submission Approval Form) for committee members.

Dissertation defenses must be announced at least 2 WEEKS before the defense. Send the following information in an announcement format to APCE Administrative Assistant: Your name, dissertation title, date/time/room of defense, name of dissertation chair, and names of dissertation committee members.

Policy Related to Dissertation Final Defenses

Final defenses will be held in the following fashion:

1. The defense will begin with a public presentation of the research by the student that will last between 20 minutes and 40 minutes (maximum), followed by 5-10 minutes for audience questions.
2. After the presentation of the research, audience will be asked to leave the room for a closed committee discussion with the student.
3. Student will be asked to leave at end of this discussion for committee conference to determine pass or failure, and any required revisions/edits/etc.

* Have Form G and Form F typed and ready at the defense. It will be used if the committee rates the dissertation a “pass.” Submit this form to the program administrative assistant immediately after the defense.

* Make final revisions and submit the dissertation to the Graduate College according to the requirements in the Guide to Preparing and Submitting a Theses or Dissertation.