University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and SciencesUniversity of Colorado Denver

Dissertation Guidelines for Doctoral Candidates

All doctoral students must work with the Graduate School for submission of all forms and dissertation approval.  Contact for the Graduate School is:

Carie Carroll
Phone: 303-315-5826
Location: Lawrence Street Center, 1380 Lawrence Street, Suite 300

COURSES APPLIED TOWARD A Ph.D. DEGREE

Doctoral programs require a minimum 30 semester credits of courses at the 5000 level or above and a minimum of 30 semester credits of dissertation. All courses that count toward a graduate degree must be approved by the degree-granting graduate program.

Dissertation Credits

For doctoral programs, a minimum of 5 hours and maximum of 10 hours of dissertation credit may be registered for in any semester. Students must receive approval from the dean of the Graduate School to register for fewer than 10 dissertation hours.

Doctoral candidates must be registered for dissertation credit each fall and spring semester following successful completion of the comprehensive examination. Students on leave of absence, approved by the program and filed with the Graduate School, do not have to register for dissertation credits.

A student does not have to register for dissertation credits after a successful final examination and dissertation defense even if the final version of the dissertation and the record of the final examination are submitted to the Graduate School at a later date.

RESEARCH PROTOCOL

Human Subjects

The UCD Human Subject Research Committee (HSRC) is responsible for reviewing and overseeing human subject research conducted at the University of Colorado, Denver Campus.

Legal requirements to protect human subjects apply to a much broader range than many researchers realize and applying the regulations is not always a straightforward process. In light of this difficulty and the potential consequences of noncompliance, researchers are advised to consult with HSRC when uncertain whether the activity is considered human subject research. 

Students contemplating the use of human subjects in their research (includes surveys, interviews, and/or any kind of information obtained by using persons as test subjects) must submit review forms and obtain approval from the HSRC before beginning such research.  Guidelines are available from the Human Subject Research Committee online at http://comirbweb.uchsc.edu/hsrc/

If you have questions about the process or would like help completing the forms, HSRC administrative staff is available Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m.-noon in Room 300 of the Lawrence Street Building. The phone number is 303-315-5827.

Otherwise you can contact the following individuals:
            Cindy Kaufman, Coordinator, 303 724 1935 [cindy.kaufman@uchsc.edu]
            Yvonne Keller-Guenther, Exempt/Expedited Reviewer, 303 724 1551                [yvonne.kellar-guenther@uchsc.edu]
            Alison Lakin, Director, 303 724 1058 [alison.lakin@uchsc.edu]
            Tony Robinson, Chair, 303 556 2746 [tony.robinson@ucdenver.edu]

Request for Exempt or Expedited review can be submitted at any time.
Protocols requiring full board review should be submitted by the first day of each month.

Animal Subjects

Students doing research that uses animals in any form must have their research protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

Links to the guidelines and forms are available on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Web site.

DISSERTATION DEFENSE

PhD dissertation defense committees include four graduate faculty members, one of whom is from outside the primary department. The PhD dissertation defense committee chair must be a regular member of the downtown Denver campus graduate faculty, and the other members must hold at least a special graduate faculty appointment.

  • Students must be registered when they defend the dissertation.
  • The defense will be administered and evaluated by the student’s dissertation committee, which files the record of the defense with the Graduate School
  • The committee must unanimously approve the defense.
  • A student who fails the defense may defend again only once.
  • At the defense, the student may be asked to revise or add to the dissertation before it is approved. The revised dissertation is then submitted to the student's committee for final approval, and then copies are handed in to the Graduate School. These copies are permanently kept in the library as a resource for other scholars in the field.