Please click here for information regarding Ph.D. Degree Requirements.
Forming Ph.D. Committee
Students should work to determine the faculty member most appropriate to serve as the Chair of the student’s preliminary committee. Ideally, this decision will be made by the end of the first quarter, but certainly no later than the middle of the second quarter. At least two additional members must serve on the student’s committee. Both the Chair and one other committee member must be on the Geography Graduate Faculty.
The preliminary committee is responsible for helping the student identify necessary and beneficial courses, and helping to isolate a possible topic for dissertation research. The committee also oversees the Preliminary Review.
Ph.D. Preliminary Review
Important note: The exact nature of the Preliminary Review is at your committee chair’s discretion. Therefore, please make sure that you talk to your committee chair in advance to iron out the details!
The Preliminary Review is intended for assessment and advising purposes. It gives both the student and faculty an opportunity to assess the student’s academic preparation in advance of the General Examination. It includes a review of the student’s familiarity with the literature central to the fields in which they wish to demonstrate competence on the General Examination. It also helps the preliminary committee articulate the most effective curriculum to prepare the student for the General Examination and to acquire the necessary methodological skills for successful dissertation research and writing.
Although the exact nature of the Preliminary Review is left to the committee’s discretion, it will include a written and oral component.
The written component might consist of questions administered in a fashion analogous to the General Examination. It might consist of an extended outline of the student’s educational goals, description of progress to date, and an overview of the areas of sub-disciplinary expertise that the student wishes to attain, complete with relevant bibliographies.
The oral component, which commonly lasts 1-2 hours, offers the preliminary committee an opportunity to assess the student’s familiarity with relevant literature and to discuss a course of action leading to the General Examination.
At the conclusion of a successful Preliminary Review, students will commonly be advised to formally constitute a Doctoral Supervisory Committee and to set a tentative date for the General Examination. If the committee has concerns about the student’s level of preparation, it may request a second Preliminary Review. If this occurs, the student will be provided a written explanation of the committee’s concerns and a set of expected actions to undertake prior to a second review.
Doctoral Supervisory Committee
The Doctoral Supervisory Committee is recognized by the Graduate School, and must be constituted prior to the General Examination. Rules regarding the makeup of this committee are specified in Policy 4.2: Supervisory Committee for Graduate Students. The Doctoral Supervisory Committee consists of a minimum of four members, at least three of whom, including the Chair and the Graduate School Representative (GSR), must be members of the Graduate Faculty with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees. The Chair and at least one other committee member must be members of the Geography Graduate Faculty. The remaining members must be identified by the student’s appointing department or program as productive scholars in the student’s major field and/or subfields. The Chair(s) of a committee must be able and willing to assume primary responsibility for advising the student. In addition, the Chair(s) should have adequate time available for this work and should be accessible to the student. Emeritus faculty may serve as a Chair if the above conditions are met. Co-Chairs may be appointed when both serve with equal importance on a student’s supervisory committee and equally share the responsibility for the student’s progress.
Please find information about the Graduate School Representative (GSR) here.
When the Supervisory Committee members have been agreed upon, the student should provide the list of names to the Director of Academic Services, who will then submit the committee to the Graduate School. Upon approval of the committee, the student’s classification is changed to “pre-candidate.”
Ph.D. General Examination Format and Expectations
The General Examination is intended to measure the breadth and depth of the student’s theoretical understanding of the main fields of geography and of a particular set of sub-fields. It ensures that students possess adequate familiarity with their areas of subdisciplinary focus prior to the dissertation research.
Prior to the oral portion of the General Examination, the student takes a written examination in fields designated by the Supervisory Committee. The length, specificity and type of written examination are generally left to the discretion of the committee, though all committees aim to write questions probing for both breadth and depth. Commonly, students will take a written exam consisting of three questions, each of which is focused on a particular subdisciplinary area. The answers to these questions are circulated to the Supervisory Committee prior to the oral portion of the exam.
The oral portion of the General Examination may require the student to amplify upon, clarify or defend answers given on the written part, and may also include more general questions about the student’s field of study.
If the student passes the General Examination, the signed Committee Signature Form should be placed in the student’s permanent file, and the faculty adviser should report the exam outcome to the Director of Academic Services, who must convey it to the Graduate School by the last day of Final Examinations for that quarter in order for the student to receive candidacy for that quarter. (Otherwise, candidacy is awarded the following quarter, requiring student registration.)
If the student does not pass the General Examination, the Supervisory Committee may allow the student to be re-examined after a further period of study. In this case, the Supervisory Committee determines the nature of the period of further study, and is responsible for scheduling another examination, using the procedures described below. If the committee is unwilling to allow a re-examination, the student’s continuation in the program is contingent upon the constitution of a new committee. Given the difficulty of accomplishing this, the student will likely be advised to withdraw from the program.
Ph.D. General Examination Scheduling
A General Examination may be scheduled if:
- The student has completed 60 credits (some of these credits may be taken the same quarter of the exam); At least 30 of those credits must be from the UW and must meet the following requirements:
- Minimum 18 credits of coursework at the 500 level
- Minimum 18 numerically graded UW credits of approved 400 and 500 level course work. Credits may be counted from the same quarter of the exam, even though they are not completed. (The 18 credits at the 500 level may overlap with the 18 numerically graded credits.)
- The Preliminary Review has been completed;
- All members of the supervisory committee agree that the student’s background of study and preparation is sufficient and have approved the student to schedule a General Examination; and
- The student is enrolled in credits during the quarter the exam is scheduled.
With department approval, 30 credits from an appropriate master’s degree from an accredited institution may be applied toward the 60 credits needed for the General Exam. If the master’s degree is from the Department of Geography, more than 30 course work credits may be allowed. Credits from the master’s degree count toward the total credit count and do not count toward the requirements listed above.
To schedule a General Examination, the student must first establish the Supervisory Committee. The student must then arrange day, time, and location of exam in consultation with members of the committee. Request your General Exam request online.
The student’s transcript will be evaluated by the Graduate School to insure that requirements have been met. If there is a problem or question with an evaluation, the department will be notified. The Director of Academic Services will print the General Examination Committee Signature Form and pass it on to the Committee Chair prior to the examination.
For a quorum to exist at the exam, the Supervisory Committee Chair, the GSR and two other committee members must be present. The GSR must be physically present. For more information, visit Policy 4.2: Supervisory Committee for Graduate Students.
The student will be sent a Candidate Certificate from the UW Office of Graduate and Academic Records at the end of the following quarter (approximately three months after candidacy is conferred).
The student becomes a doctoral candidate (Ph.C.) after successful completion of the General Examination.
Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal
Students who pass the General Examination must prepare a dissertation proposal for review by the Supervisory Committee. The proposal must: outline a clear research question; situate that question within relevant literature; outline a methodological strategy for collecting the necessary data; describe a process for analyzing that data; and include a timeline for completion of the work. The proposal is reviewed during a meeting, commonly termed the proposal defense, with the student and his/her Supervisory Committee. The GSR is not required to attend the proposal defense.
Failure of the student to obtain approval for the Ph.D. dissertation proposal within two years of advancement to candidacy will normally result in a recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School that the student be terminated from the Ph.D. program in geography.
Ph.D. Reading Committee
As students near completion of their dissertations, and before scheduling the Final Examination, a Reading Committee is selected to read and approve the dissertation. After consultation, either the Chair or the student should inform the Director of Academic Services of the three to four members from the Supervisory Committee to serve as the Reading Committee. At least one of the members of the Reading Committee must hold an endorsement to chair doctoral committees. The Advising Office will transmit the information to the Graduate School. Generally, the GSR is not a member of the Reading Committee. It is the responsibility of a reading committee to (a) ensure that the dissertation is a significant contribution to knowledge and is an acceptable piece of scholarly writing; (b) determine the appropriateness of a candidate’s dissertation as a basis for issuing a Committee Signature Form for a Final Examination and; (c) approve a candidate’s dissertation. More information is available on the Graduate School's website.
Ph.D. Final Examination
Ph.D. students are required to undertake a final examination at the conclusion of the graduate program. This examination includes a 30-minute public presentation of a summary of the dissertation, followed by a closed session with the student’s committee that focuses intensively on the quality of the dissertation. There should be only minor changes in the dissertation at this time.
A Final Examination may be scheduled if: (a) a student passed a General Examination in a previous quarter; (b) a reading committee is officially established with the Graduate School and; (c) a reading committee has read an entire draft of a dissertation and voting members of a supervisory committee agree that a candidate is prepared to take a Final Examination, and (d) the student is registered for at least two credits of GEOG 800 in the quarter of the Final Examination.
The student should consult with all committee members to find a mutually-agreed-upon time, date and location for the Final Examination. Students should check for the availability of Smith 409 with the main geography departmental office in Smith 408. Once these details are agreed upon, students should submit the Online Request for Final Examination.
The Director of Academic Services will then be asked to approve the scheduling of the Final Exam online, and official notice of the exam will be emailed to all committee members by the Graduate School.
The Final Examination Committee Signature Form will be printed by the Advising Office and made available to the Committee Chair prior to the examination. After the Final Examination, the signed Committee Signature Form will be placed in the permanent student file and the Committee Chair must notify the Director of Academic Services of the exam results by 4:00 pm the last day of the quarter (finals week). The GSR must also provide a report to the Graduate School immediately following the examination (after the exam is scheduled, this report is available in MyGrad – Faculty View.
If an examination is unsatisfactory, a supervisory committee may recommend that the Dean of the Graduate School permit a second examination after a period of additional study.
In addition to the signed Committee Signature Form (to be kept in the student’s permanent departmental file), the Reading Committee must also approve the final dissertation; Final Exams scheduled after March 3, 2020 include a link for Reading Committee Members to approve the dissertation online. This approval must be submitted in MyGrad after each committee member has seen the final version of the dissertation, by the end of the quarter the student wishes to graduate.
It may be possible to pay the $250 Graduate Registration Waiver Fee if you were not able to submit your dissertation by the end of the quarter. Consult the Graduate School website for eligibility requirements.
After the Final Examination, the candidate has 60 days in which to submit a dissertation to the Graduate School. Dissertation submission & publication guidelines are available here.