Committee and Defense

Announcement of Oral Exam

The student's GPD or department administrative staff is responsible for submitting an Announcement of Oral Exam at least 10 days prior to the defense date. It is advisable to submit earlier to ensure that the committee composition is approved and that the student's audit meets requirements prior to the defense (and with ample time to make changes if necessary.) Please review the information below before submitting. *This form has been updated with a new link as of 9/16/2022.

Defense Requirements

Students must abide by semester deadlines set by the Dissertation and Thesis Office to determine when to defend their dissertation or thesis. While defenses are typically conducted in person, some departments may approve virtual defenses. It is up to the student and their chair to communicate with committee members to establish a defense date and time that works for all members that falls before or on the defense deadline date for the semester. Beyond this, the Graduate Schools leaves defense requirements up to individual departments.

Committee Requirements

Committee members must be Baylor graduate faculty as documented with the Graduate School. Teaching graduate courses does not ensure that faculty are officially graduate faculty, which entails a nomination and approval process by the faculty's department GPD and the Dean of the Graduate School. Students and chairs should confirm that all members are graduate faculty prior to the submission of the Announcement of Oral Exam form. You can search graduate faculty here. The only exception is for additional committee members beyond the minimum requirements listed below.

Dissertation Committee Composition

Please see the Graduate Catalog for a full description of dissertation committee requirements. The basic composition is as follows:

• A committee chairperson who is graduate faculty from the student's department
• Another committee member who is graduate faculty from the student's department
• A committee member who is graduate faculty from a Baylor department other than the student's home department (a "Baylor outside reader")
• A committee member that may be graduate faculty from the student's department, graduate faculty from another department, or faculty from another institution as approved by the committee chair and the department GPD

Please note that having a committee member from another institution does not satisfy the requirement of having a Baylor faculty member from a different department. Students may have more than four committee members after the above requirements are met.

Thesis Committee Composition

Please see the Graduate Catalog for a full description of thesis committee requirements. The basic composition is as follows:

• A committee chairperson who is graduate faculty from the student's department
• Another committee member who is graduate faculty from the student's department
• A committee member who is graduate faculty from a Baylor department other than the student's home department (a "Baylor outside reader")

Students may include additional committee members, including members from other institutions, after the above requirements are met.