Scheduling of candidacy exams and thesis/dissertation defenses

A message from Scott Shannon, Dean of Instruction and Graduate Studies:

MS and PhD Students & Colleagues:
As the busiest season of the year for defenses and candidacy exams approaches, I’d like to remind everyone of the standard protocol for setting times and dates and reporting these to the graduate office. First, if you have not already filed a Form 5B or 6B this semester, do not plan on scheduling your exam or defense this semester or graduating this May; we are now well beyond the deadline for assigning defense or exam chairs or scheduling exams/defenses (Feb. 12, 2010).

Assuming you have requested and been assigned an exam or defense chair, the first step is to hold a “planning meeting” to schedule the exam or defense and all the activities associated with each. DO NOT hold a planning meeting or schedule a defense or candidacy exam without the examination or defense chair PRESENT. Please do not set any dates, times, or locations prior to the planning meeting. The examination chair is “in charge” of this process, and neither students nor major professors should preemptively attempt to get ahead of things, as it often causes great difficulty in coordinating schedules with the examination chair.

In the planning meeting, you may find that not all members of the graduate committee can be present at the time of the defense or exam. While we prefer all members of the graduate committee to be present, they MAY participate via conference call or Skype if they cannot be here on campus. When the dates and times of an exam or defense have been set, these should be reported to the graduate office, preferably by e-mail or other written form.
Thank you for your help-

Scott Shannon, Dean of Instruction & Graduate Studies
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
227 Bray Hall - 1 Forestry Drive
Syracuse, NY 13210