March 5, 2009

MEMORANDUM

TO:	Associate Deans, Graduate Coordinators
Cc: 	Graduate Staff

FROM:	Henry T. Frierson 
	Associate Vice President and Dean of the Graduate School

RE:	Changes to the requirements for supervisory committee member attendance at graduate student examinations

Scheduling supervisory committee meetings to conduct examinations is increasingly difficult for graduate students, in particular due to the internationalization of many of our programs. Over the past five years, the technologies for interactive video and telecommunications have improved dramatically.  No longer should the space domain constrain people from meeting at a designated time to conduct student examinations.

The Graduate Council approved the following changes, effective November 2008, to facilitate the scheduling of graduate student examinations. 

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Changes to the Requirements for Supervisory Committee Member Attendance at Examinations

The student must register for sufficient graduate credits during the term any examination is taken. 

The student's supervisory committee is responsible for administering the written and oral qualifying examinations and the final oral examination for the defense of the thesis, project, or dissertation. 

All members of the supervisory committee must sign the appropriate forms, including the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) signature page, for the student to meet the requirements of the examination. The signed forms are to remain in the students' folder in the academic unit. Electronic information will be sent to the Graduate School via the Graduate Information Management System (GIMS). 

The qualifying and comprehensive oral examinations and the oral defense of a thesis, project or dissertation may be conducted using video and/or telecommunications.  However, the student and chair or co-chair must be in the same physical location.  All other members may participate from remote sites via technological means. 

Supervisory Committees or academic units may set their own standards for attendance at oral examinations that exceed the minimum requirement stated above.  

Students are responsible for coordinating the scheduling of oral examinations with their committee or academic unit and must follow the policies set by their committee or academic unit, and the Graduate School.  
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Graduate School
University of Florida
http://gradschool.ufl.edu