Programs : Doctoral : Student Handbook : Section Eight
What are the Major Mileposts in My Program?
As you know from the previous section, you’ll be “treading water” to some degree until you make several significant decisions. First, you need to select systematic specialties and methodological emphases. Hopefully you’ll have a good grasp of these interests upon entering the program, but people do change their mind. If you haven’t made these decisions by the end of your first semester or very early into your second semester, you’re behind the curve.
Form a Committee
Second, you will need to identify the person who will be your major professor and the members of your Doctoral Committee. Effectively, your Doctoral Committee supervises your program. They approve your course work selection, evaluate the dissertation proposal, administer and evaluate the Qualifying Exams, judge the merit of the dissertation, and administer and evaluate the dissertation defense. The Major Professor chairs the Doctoral Committee. Normally your Major Professor will come from the SDSU faculty. If we’ve done our job well or gotten lucky, that individual probably will be your Interim Advisor, although there are lots of legitimate reasons for you to select someone else. Remember that you need to ask your potential Major Professor to be your Major Professor. Don’t take it for granted that someone “knows” what you want if you haven’t asked. As a courtesy, if the person you select to be your Major Professor is not your Interim Advisor, let them know you’ve selected someone else. Normally, you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings and this can eliminate possible confusion in the future. Should there be cause to change Major Professor, follow the same process. It is permissible to have co-Major Professors who co-chair the Doctoral Committee.
You need to select a second member of your Doctoral Committee from our faculty and two additional members from the UCSB faculty. Just as in the case of the Major Professor, be sure to invite the other members to be a part of your committee. Because you’ll have earlier contact with the SDSU faculty, choosing the Second Member will probably be easier for you than determining whom at UCSB fits your requirements. If needed, your Major Professor should be able to help you in making those decisions by providing information about or talking with UCSB faculty on your behalf. You already have at least one “sponsor” on the UCSB campus, but you will need to determine that you want them on your committee as well as selecting your fourth member. If you wanted to, you could have additional members to your Doctoral Committee from either Department, from other departments on either campus, or from another university (when authorized).
Very early on you should be thinking about extramural funding opportunities for your dissertation research. There are numerous grants and fellowships available to doctoral students to support their dissertation research. Among these are Fulbright-Hays Fellowships, National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grants, NASA Traineeships, and many, many other sources of funding both great and small. We strongly urge you to apply for dissertation funding, not only because of the monetary support it brings but for the longer term benefits which derive from feeling comfortable in the competitive application process and the professional prestige which derives from attaining such grants or fellowships.
Setting up Your Examinations
Once you have put together the Committee, you will need to meet with the Doctoral Program Adviser. He/she will initiate the NOMINATION OF THE DOCTORAL COMMITTEE FOR QUALIFYING EXAMINATIONS (JDP2) form which requires the approval of the Doctoral Program Adviser and Graduate Dean at SDSU and the Department Chair and Graduate Dean at UCSB. Once signed, you have an official Committee. All of the official forms required of you will be filed on your behalf by the Department, but be sure to check to make sure it happens.
Written Examination
The next hurdle to clear after your Doctoral Committee is formed is the Written Qualifying Examination or Writtens. While it will vary from person to person, normally you should be ready to attempt the Writtens sometime near the end of the second year of your program. The Writtens will cover material from three areas: (1) your substantive areas; (2) your technique emphases; and (3) general geographic theory and inquiry. In essence, you will need to demonstrate a broad understanding of modern geographic principles in addition to a specialist’s competencies in your sub-field(s) of the discipline.
To get ready for the Writtens, you should discuss with each of your Doctoral Committee members their expectations of you. At least four months before the target date for your Writtens, prepare a draft reading list, with input from your dissertation chair. You may wish to consult the reading list available at the UCSB web site for reference. Forward the draft reading list as an e-mail attachment to your other committee members. Request that they review your list and suggest any other key readings. You may also want to ask them if they require receipt of your draft dissertation proposal prior to the Writtens and if so, what stage of completeness it needs to be. Finalize the dates that you will take the exam, once you have committee concurrence with the reading list. Your chair will make arrangements with the other committee members to obtain questions and set the format (e.g., open and closed book) for each question. You may want to express your preference for timing and format of exam, before it is finalized. Shortly before the date of the Written Exam, contact your chair to make sure everything is as scheduled and planned. Also, determine when and by whom the questions will be administered, as well as what will be the format and structure for each portion of the exam. While all elements of the Writtens are flexible and up to your committee, normally the exams will be administered on three alternating days (e.g. MWF) for up to eight hours each day. Remember that you should sign up for Geog. 890, Independent Study for Doctoral Exams, when preparing for both Qualifying Examinations.
Your Doctoral Committee will assign a pass or a fail to your effort. Should you not pass the Writtens on the first opportunity, you are allowed one additional attempt. You may receive conditional passes, in which case individual committee members may ask you to complete additional readings, re-answer questions, or answer additional, follow-on questions. You must pass the Writtens prior to sitting for the Oral Qualifying Exam or Orals.
Dissertation Proposal
Before attempting the Oral Exam, you must have a provisionally approved Dissertation Proposal. The proposal describes your dissertation topic, summarizes the relevant background literature, and presents a comprehensive methodology or study plan for the dissertation. The Dissertation Proposal is often built from, or provides the basis of grant, fellowship, or scholarship proposals that are submitted to funding organizations.
Oral Examination
Once your Doctoral Committee tentatively approves the Dissertation Proposal and you have passed the Writtens, you’re ready to tackle the Orals, the second of your two Qualifying Examinations. During the Orals, questioning is focused on the dissertation proposal, although specific questions may be asked on material from the Writtens, which may require clarification. The goal of the Orals is to demonstrate that you possess the knowledge and competence required to carryout your dissertation research. Passing the Orals signifies that the Committee has accepted the dissertation proposal. If you do not pass the Orals on the first try, you are allowed one additional attempt.
Advancing to Candidacy
Upon passing the Qualifying Examinations, you will be Advanced to Candidacy. This is done by the filing of the REPORT OF THE QUALIFYING EXAMINATION AND ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY (JDP3) form. This form contains the signatures of your Committee members indicating their individual evaluations of your performance on the Qualifying Exams and the Committee’s recommendation of advancement to candidacy as well as those of the SDSU Doctoral Program Adviser and the UCSB Graduate Advisor. You request advancement to candidacy by signing the form and indicating the date by which you intend to complete the dissertation. In addition, you must pay a fee of $90.00 to the UC Regents.
Coursework
If you have any additional course work pending, you will need to get that out of the way. More than likely you will enroll in Geog. 897, Doctoral Research, or Geog. 899, Doctoral Dissertation, during your remaining time in the program. Once you have advanced to candidacy you’ll probably be asked to register for 12 units of 897 or 899. During the semester you will earn your doctorate, you need to be enrolled in Geog. 899. Further, you will need to apply for graduation prior to the deadline for that semester.
Human Subjects Testing
Students in joint doctoral programs who are conducting research involving human subjects will need IRB approval from both institutions. The joint review process can be tricky, so it is recommended that once a student has developed his/her research protocol and is ready to begin the joint IRB process, he/she should contact the analyst responsible for reviewing geography protocols at SDSU (Choya Washington 594-3822, cwashing@mail.sdsu.edu) to talk in detail about joint submission issues that may be unique to the project. This will often help streamline the process for the student and each IRB.
Writing the Dissertation
Your last major requirement will be to write a dissertation. It must be a significant piece of original research, which advances the discipline of geography. At the time you complete your dissertation, you will very likely be the reigning expert, worldwide, on the specific topic you have researched. Your dissertation will be evaluated and accepted or rejected by your Dissertation Committee at the Final Examination, which is essentially a dissertation defense. Once you have passed the final examination, you will be required to present a public oral presentation of the dissertation, within three months of filing your dissertation. (Making a similar presentation at UCSB is optional and is good opportunity to showcase your dissertation results.) The last form to be submitted in your graduate program will be the “Report of the Final Examination and Filing of the Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy” (JDP5). It makes a recommendation on whether or not you should be awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree and bears the signatures of your committee members, the SDSU Program Director, the UCSB Department Chair and the Graduate Deans of the two campuses.
Time Limits
In the unlikely circumstance that your doctoral studies continue past seven years from your start date in the joint doctoral program, you are at risk of not being granted the doctoral degree. UCSB policy for doctoral students, which applies to joint doctoral students, states that an exemption to the seven-year rule may be requested by petition. Evidently, the petition is not submitted until the dissertation is filed, so there is a risk that the petition could be denied and the dissertation effort would yield no degree.
Finishing the Ph.D.
Because the Ph.D. degree is awarded by both UCSB and SDSU, you need to make sure that you format your dissertation in the style that is prescribed by the UCSB Graduate Division and Library. When you are ready to print, make sure you refer to the “UCSB Guide to Filing Theses and Dissertations”, which is a Graduate Division publication in cooperation with The Davidson Library. There also is a copy in the Graduate Student Handbook, and you can get one at the Graduate Division or Special Collections Dept of the Library. The most important things to remember are:
- 100% cotton bond paper, and 1.5″ margin on the left (or binding edge), and
- 1.25″ margin on all other sides
The “Filing Chart” in the Guide is especially helpful. If possible, pick up or request that the necessary forms (Degree verification request form; Diploma request form; UMI permission to microfilm form; Survey of Earned Doctorates form; UCSB Survey of Doctoral Degree Recipients form) be mailed to you by the Graduate Division before you plan to file and fill them out ahead of time. If you fill all the forms out ahead of time, and have the requisite number of properly formatted copies of your dissertation, signatures pages, etc. and a checkbook handy, the filing process shouldn't take longer than 30-40 minutes.
Students are supposed to be in a “fee relationship” with the University when they complete the requirements for the degree. Joint program students are rarely if ever going to be registered at UCSB the quarter they file, but they probably will be registered at SDSU. If you are registered at SDSU when you file, you do NOT have to pay the filing fee when you file your dissertation at SDSU. You are considered a student pursuing graduate degrees at UCSB as long as you are registered at either San Diego State or UCSB. If you are not registered at SDSU or UCSB when you file, such as during summer session, you’ll need to register at SDSU for GEOG 899 Dissertation and apply for graduation by the deadline early that semester (or summer session). You will be responsible for covering the costs of registration and filing fees, as well as dissertation printing.
Graduation
In the happy event that you make it through all of the steps outlined here, we will very strongly urge, cajole, and encourage you to participate in the Commencement Ceremony celebrating your graduation. It is both an opportunity for you to receive the recognition that you deserve for your many years of effort and an opportunity for you to bask in the pride that your loved ones, friends, fellow students, and faculty take in your accomplishment. In addition to the individual hooding ceremony at the University’s main graduation, there will be a departmental recognition ceremony to honor you. Be there or be square.
Handbook Topics
How did I get Admitted?
What does the Financial Offer I Accepted Mean?
What Happens Between the Time I'm Accepted and When I Enroll?
Okay, I've Arrived at the Department. What do I do?
My First Semester's Started: Now What?
When Should I Plan on Spending My Year at UCSB?
Any Information that might Help Me for My UCSB Residency?
What are the Major Mileposts in My Program?
Epilogue