After advancement to candidacy, and with the advice and consent of the Graduate Advisor, the student
selects a Dissertation Committee composed of two AHMA faculty members from two different AHMA
departments as well as an Academic Senate faculty member outside the AHMA faculty to guide the research
and writing of the dissertation. This Committee normally includes at least two of the student’s
Candidacy/QE Committee members. The member most closely involved with the student’s research is
usually named as chair. However, the chair of the Qualifying Examination cannot chair the Dissertation
Committee. On the advice of the student and Graduate Advisor, the Dean of the Graduate Division may
appoint co-chairs. Under certain circumstances, a non-Senate member may be appointed to a Dissertation
Committee if he or she offers expertise not otherwise available among the regular faculty.
Under the terms of the Dean’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship (DCF), departments are required to
offer, and all PhD candidates are required to participate in, certain “dissertation completion activities.”
(Students admitted when this fellowship was called the Dean’s Normative Time Fellowship (DNTF), are
grandfathered into the DCF program and are required to participate in the same dissertation completion activities.)
These may include (but are not limited to):
1. Dissertation-writing groups, preferably with some faculty involvement
2. A dissertation ‘boot camp’ (an intensive writing program)
3. A proposal or completed-chapter(s) requirement for the fellowship year
4. Student research presentation seminars
5. Workshops on securing outside funding for PhD candidates in the discipline
6. Other appropriate activities—such as facilitation of students submitting papers to research
conferences, etc.
AHMA has arranged with our main participating departments (History, Classics, History of Art, and Near
Eastern Studies) to allow our students to join their departmental dissertation completion activities. With the
advice and consent of their dissertation committees, AHMA students will choose the department and
program most appropriate to the subject matter and thrust of their dissertations.
Research, writing, and revising the dissertation are expected to occupy no more than two years. Dissertation
chapters should be submitted to the Dissertation Committee, together with appropriate illustrations, as they
are written. The completed dissertation must be approved by all three members of the committee and must
be in final form before the student is recommended for the PhD degree. University requirements on format,
deadlines, and payment of fees may be found here and in the Guidelines for Submitting a Doctoral
Dissertation, available in print from the Graduate Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall). Requirements must be
carefully followed.
The Academic Senate’s Graduate Council requires that all doctoral students advanced to candidacy meet
annually with at least two members of their Dissertation Committee to evaluate the student’s progress. The
student should submit to his or her committee an evaluation of his or her progress for the previous year and
a program for the coming year. The dissertation advisor and at least one other committee member should
provide the student with a written response to the evaluation and projected program; the student then has
the opportunity to make final comments. Non-resident students may complete the process by mail.
Doctoral degrees are awarded in December and May. Graduate Division’s deadline to file a dissertation is
the last working day of the semester. However, the student should submit the final draft of the dissertation
to his or her committee members at least three months before the Graduate Division deadline. In order to
receive a degree in any given semester, all work for the degree must be completed by the last day of the
semester. Students must be registered or on Filing Fee status during the semester in which they receive their
degree. Students who file dissertations during the summer must register or be registered for the preceding
spring semester.