Thesis & Dissertation Information

Students must submit a defense public notice prior to their defense

• Required MS Public Notice must be submitted 1 week prior to defense
• Required PhD Public Notice must be submitted 2 weeks prior to defense
• Required on line announcement for PhD students to post a 2 week public notice on the graduate school website. Log in to “Announce Your Defense”. This is optional for MS students.

Submission Date ‐ It is your responsibility to follow the graduation deadlines for submitting graduation requirements and materials. Failure to meet published deadlines will result in cancellation of your graduation.

Defense Date - It is recommended that your defense date be 2 weeks or more prior to the Electronic Submission of Thesis/Dissertation Due Date graduation deadlines. This will give you 2 weeks to make any necessary changes, upload to SafeAssign and ETD. Please notify your advisor of the ETD submission date and deadlines when scheduling your defense date.

Two forms are required to be signed by your advisor and committee on the day of your defense:

• Defense Form 
• Committee Approval Form

• Submit your signed CEAS Defense Form, Program of Study and Plagiarism Pledge to the GSO, 665 Baldwin Hall
• 1st Submit your thesis/dissertation to SafeAssign in Blackboard.  You will find a class in your blackboard upload your thesis/dissertation and instructions on what to do after you upload.   Wait for approval from the GSO.  Do not submit to ETD until you have your SafeAssign approval.
• 2nd Upload to ETD ONLY after you have received your SafeAssign approval.  You advisor must approve your ETD submission by the ETD submission date.  This is a firm deadline, no exceptions.  The deadline can be found on the Graduation Checklist.
• MEng Students - ONLY
• All MEng students should refer to the MEng Handbook for forms and graduation procedures. If you have graduation questions please see Julie Steimle, 665 Baldwin Hall or email julie.steimle@uc.edu. All GRADUATION forms below must be submitted to Julie Steimle two weeks prior to the commencement date for the term you are graduating in. 
• Program of Study
• Capstone Approval Form
• MEng Student Code of Conduct Verification Form
• ALL MS, MEng and PhD Graduating Students
• You are responsible to ensure that each action item on your Graduation Checklist is approved by the deadline stated. A green check mark will appear indicating the step is complete and approved. A red X or  will indicate that you have a problem and action is required. Do not contact the program unless the red X or  still appears one week prior to the deadline indicated. If you have grade changes required, your advisor/instructor can change grades on line going back to Fall 2012. If the grades are older the GSO office will send grade change forms to your advisor for thesis/dissertation changes. If you have a grade change required for a course it is your responsibility to get it resolved with the instructor. You are responsible to ensure all action items and grades are corrected and awarded for the current term. Unacceptable grades are SP, UP, UW, I, F, X or if a grade is not posted in Catalyst. If one of these grades are in your Catalyst at the end of the semester contact the instructor immediately. Please note if any action items or grade issues are not resolved your graduation will be canceled.

Certification letters will take 2‐3 weeks after all graduation submissions are complete. Degree posting to transcripts take approximately 4‐5 weeks after the graduation date. Diplomas are mailed out approximately 6 weeks after the graduation date. If you have an address change for your diploma please email the address change to Chelsea Smalling at chelsea.smalling@uc.edu. Please include your name, M#, complete new address, phone #, program and degree.

Electronic Diplomas – Student who have graduated in or after the Fall 2017 semester have the option of ordering an electronic diploma. The electronic diploma will not replace the paper diploma. An electronic diploma will only be available for purchase after the paper diploma prints.

CeDiploma: University of Cincinnati is proud to offer you a Certified Electronic Diploma which you can order/download today!

• Your CeDiploma is an official, portable, and verifiable electronic version of your accomplishment and can be shared for a lifetime.
• Your CeDiploma will be issued with at 12-digit CeDiD (Certified Electronic Document Identifier) which can be validated and help expedite the verification process for potential employers.
• Order within Catalyst.

If you have any questions, please email registrar.info@uc.edu with your name and student ID.