TO:                  Conrado M. Gempesaw, II

                        Vice Provost

 

FROM:            John Byrne

                        Director and Professor

 

DATE:             September 16, 2002

 

SUBJECT:            Dissertation Approval Page

 

 

Dear Bobby,

 

            I am writing about an item that I would like to bring to your attention.  Mary Martin knows about my concerns regarding the approval page for dissertations and, therefore, I have copied her as a courtesy.  If possible, I would ask that you consider recommending action on this item by the Graduate Studies Committee during this academic year.  I would be happy to meet with the Committee, if needed.

 

            In brief, I am concerned that the current UD policy governing the approval page of  dissertations can be unhelpful to the interests of our doctoral students and possibly to our image in the scholarly community.  Until recently, the approval page for dissertations had the option of carrying the signature of the dissertation advisor, in addition to several administrators (including you).  But a decision of the Graduate Studies Committee changed this. Now, only administrators’ signatures appear.[1]

 

            I have several concerns.  First, the appearance of signatures by administrators only on the approval page suggests that approval is an administrative,  not a scholarly, matter. The absence of a signature by an expert in the field leaves the impression that the key decision of approval at the UD is exclusively in the hands of administrators. This is an unfortunate impression to foster.

 

            Second, it suggests to students and faculty that administrators can overrule a dissertation advisory committee’s decision.  As you know, if a doctoral student’s dissertation is rejected, she/he must leave the University.  Thus, the decision is a very


 

-2-

 

serious one.  My interpretation (based on discussions of this matter before the Graduate Studies Committee many years ago when Dick Murray held your position) was that an administrator could refer the dissertation to the committee for consideration of the administrator’s criticisms. But I did not understand that (for example), the Vice Provost could overrule a dissertation committee and decide that the student had failed to meet the University’s standards for a Ph.D in (say) biomechanics, even though the Vice Provost may have no expertise in this area.  I would hope that approval, in the first instance, is a power invested in the faculty who must decide the substantive merit of the work for their individual areas of expertise.  In any case, the absence of an expert faculty member’s signature on the approval page (on behalf of the committee) and the exclusive appearance of administrators’ signatures on the approval page could suggest to students, faculty and UD officials that non-expert administrators have absolute power in this matter.

 

            Third, many students have remarked over the years that submission of the dissertation front pages to potential academic and research employers is often a critical step.  The appearance of the faculty’s signatures (or at least that of the chair of the committee), especially when they are well known in the field, can positively impress the potential employer.  International students studying with my center stress that this can be very important.   While this practice is not widely followed in the U.S., we should consider international students’ needs. More broadly, we should also recognize that our dissertations become scholarly representations of our University to the global community of scholars.  In this vein, failing to identify our faculty in the approval process can be unhelpful to our graduates and our faculty.

 

            I collected a small, non-scientific sample of approval pages from well-known American universities via Morris Library’s micro fiche archives of dissertations.  Since micro fiche is the most common international means of gaining access to dissertations, I focused only on this medium for my little ‘survey.’  I selected reputable universities in the U.S. (including a couple of our neighbors).  I’ve attached the results.  As you will see, every university includes at least one faculty member’s name/signature on the approval page.   I made phone calls to the graduate administrative offices of the universities in my sample and confirmed that faculty have sole or joint responsibility for final approval of a dissertation.

 

            My suggestion is that we place first-level approval authority concerning content and scholarly quality with the faculty and second-level approval authority concerning overall presentation, writing quality and adherence to University, college and departmental policies with (selected) academic administrators. Reflecting this, I would offer that the approval page should carry the signature of the chair of the dissertation committee, followed by the signatures of the relevant department chair, dean and, finally, the vice provost for academic planning and programming.  Alternatively, we could have all committee members sign the approval page and have a second page for signatures by academic administrators.

 

JB:tdb

cc: Mary Martin, Graduate Office


[1]  Mary has informed me that a previous colleague in your position allowed my signature to appear on dissertations that I supervised. But he did not inform the UD faculty of this option. I only became aware in May of this year of the unique treatment I was afforded.