Individual Graduate Group Policies on Time Limits
and Recertification for Extension

Individual graduate group re-certification policies must be approved by the Graduate Council of the Faculties and must conform to the following guidelines:

If a Graduate Group develops its own re-certification procedure for students who will exceed or have exceeded the time limit for completion of dissertation, it shall include in the re-certification procedure the criteria that it will use for re-certification, a schedule for the completion of the dissertation, and the new date by which the student will be required to complete his or her dissertation. The new deadline for completion of all requirements for the Ph.D. shall be within two years of the original completion date.

The following policies have been approved by the Graduate Council of the Faculties and supplement the University's Time Limitation policies.

AMERICAN CIVILIZATION (approved December 2003)
With respect to the five year time limit for completion of the dissertation, the American Civilization graduate group exercises the option of extending this limit to seven years due to the usual practice of extended field work as part of dissertation research.

With respect to re-certification procedures, the American Civilization graduate group has the following policy: Students who begin their doctoral studies after July 1, 1993 are expected to deposit the dissertation within seven years of their first registration subsequent to the filing of Form 150, certifying that the student has passed the preliminary examination and met all requirements for the PhD except for completion and acceptance of his or her dissertation. Students who have not completed the dissertation within this seven year period are required to submit a revised dissertation proposal and to repeat the oral portion of the preliminary examination demonstrating a satisfactory grasp of the current scholarship in the field. The dissertation committee and graduate group chair shall constitute the re-certification committee for the purpose of re-certification. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

ANTHROPOLOGY (approved January 2004)
With respect to the five-year time limit for completion of the dissertation, the Anthropology Graduate Group exercises the option of extending this limit to seven years. All specializations within anthropology (archaeology, cultural anthropology, anthropological linguistics and physical anthropology) require intensive and extended field work as standard practice making seven years necessary for completion of an anthropology dissertation.

In regard to re-certification procedures, the Anthropology Graduate Group proposes the following policy: Students who begin their doctoral studies after July 1, 1993 are expected to deposit the dissertation within seven years of their first registration subsequent to the filing of Form 150, certifying that the student has passed the Comprehensive and Final Oral Examinations and met all requirements for completion and acceptance of his or her dissertation. Students who have not completed the dissertation within this seven year period are required to submit a revised dissertation proposal and to repeat the Final Oral PhD Examination demonstrating a satisfactory grasp of the current scholarship in the field. This exam will focus on new developments in the student's field since the first certification. The dissertation committee and graduate group chair shall constitute the recertification committee for the purpose of re-certification. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOPHYSICS
(approved October 2003)
Preamble: University rules state that all of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree with the exception of the thesis shall be completed within seven years starting from the first day of the first term that a student is registered for the Ph.D. program. Following certification that the student has passed all course work and the required preliminary exam, the student will have 5 years to complete the thesis, the thesis defense and the deposit of the completed, approved thesis. Students who have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D., including the deposit of the dissertation, within five years of their first registration for dissertation tuition, face the ever increasing risk that their dissertation research is no longer at the frontier of current research in their field. Such students cease to be candidates for the Ph.D. unless they are recertified by passing a Requalification Examination as outlined below.
Procedures for BMB Requalification Examination Committee:
The four faculty serving on the student's Working Thesis Committee shall constitute the Requalification Exam Committee. Members of the Working Thesis Committee are the most familiar with the student's progress in the program. Therefore, they should be able to make an informed assessment of the student's potential to complete the program successfully. In addition, the Chair of the Graduate Group and the Chair of the Academic Review Committee are members of the Requalification Exam Committee. The mentor shall not be present, but may provide a letter of information.
Format for the Exam: The exam will be oral. Members of the Requalification Exam Committee will prepare and ask questions that probe basic knowledge in general areas of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular/structural biology. While some questions may focus on the particular field of a student's activities, they will not be limited to it. Members of the Committee will also probe the student's ability to critically analyze a problem and present creative solutions.
Evaluation mechanism: At the end of the exam, the student will be invited to leave the room. Members of the Committee will discuss whether to pass or fail the student based on: the student's performance in the oral exam; the student's overall progress in his/her dissertation work; an assessment from the student's advisor. While the final decision (pass/fail) will be subject to vote by members of the Committee, members are encouraged to engage in an open, frank discussion until a consensus is reached. The Chair of the Requalification Exam Committee will inform the student of this decision.
Completion of Ph.D. Degree: Upon satisfactory re-qualification the student must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. degree, including the deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (approved October 2002)
At a special meeting of the Thesis Committee plus three members of the CAMB Executive Committee, the student will make a 50 minute presentation of work completed to date, plans for future experiments and a detailed time line for completion. This must be approved by the Thesis Committee and the CAMB Executive Committee. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

CLASSICAL STUDIES (approved February 1993)
Students who have not completed the dissertation within five years of first registering for dissertation tuition are required to submit a revised dissertation proposal and to repeat that portion of the Final Examination that involves defending the proposal before a committee of at least three examiners. The revised proposal must include an account of the current state of scholarship on the topic and an up to date bibliography. Upon satisfactory, re-certification the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

COMMUNICATIONS (approved April 1993)
Students who have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D., including the deposit of the dissertation, within five years of their first registering for dissertation tuition (COM995 or COM999) must submit all written work they have completed on their dissertation to a committee comprised of a minimum of three members of the Communications standing faculty. This committee may be the student's dissertation committee or, if that committee is not intact, an Ad Hoc committee appointed by the Committee on Graduate Studies. The committee members will evaluate this material (they may, at their discretion, meet with the student), and take one of the following actions: (1) require the student to retake all or part of the Preliminary Examination (if the committee believes there is a question about the continued currency of the student's research); (2) impose other conditions such as the committee believes will ensure the currency and timely completion of the student's work toward the Ph.D.; (3) recommend to the Committee on Graduate Studies that the student be disqualified from continued doctoral candidacy (if the committee believes the written work provides insufficient evidence of progress toward the completion of an adequate doctoral dissertation). In the case of (1) or (2), above, the committee will report its decisions and actions to the Committee on Graduate Studies. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE (approved November 2003)
Students who have gone past five years on dissertation will be required to retake the dissertation prospectus exam (also known as the “final exam”). This exam will involve submitting an updated version of the prospectus to the student's committee; the committee must approve the new prospectus in order for the student to satisfy the recertification requirement. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

ECONOMICS (approved November 2003)
Students who have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D., including the deposit of the dissertation, within five years of their first registration for dissertation tuition, must satisfy the following re-evaluation procedure in order to maintain their candidacy for the Ph.D.: Re-take the Dissertation Proposal Defense Exam; and write and submit a review of the most recent literature on the dissertation topic, to be formally approved by the dissertation committee (which also conducts the proposal defense). Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

EDUCATION
Ph.D. students in the Graduate Group in Education who have not completed all their degree requirements within 5 years of completion of their coursework may submit a petition to the Graduate School of Education's Committee on Degrees for an up-to-2 year extension. The petition must be submitted to the Committee on Degrees at least 2 months prior to the end ofthe student's 5-year period. To qualify for an extension, the student must meet the following four conditions:

1. The student must have had his or her dissertation proposal accepted, the Ballot Form signed by the student's Dissertation Committee and submitted to the Student Record Office.

2. The student must submit a progress report and plan to his or her dissertation committee. The purpose of this report/plan is: to document which degree requirements the student has completed; to provide a rationale for why he or she has been unable to complete all the requirements within the 5-year period; and to provide a timeline/schedule of steps for completion ofthe remaining requirements within a two-year extension. The student's chair and a majority of his or her dissertation committee must review and approve the progress report and plan.

3. The student must then submit the progress report and plan to the Committee on Degrees for their review and approval.

4. The student must re-take a preliminary exam that documents familiarity with the current status of their field.

ENGLISH (approved July 1993)
Students who have not completed the dissertation within five years of their first registration for dissertation tuition will be required to submit their dissertation proposals to the Graduate Executive Committee to be reviewed and reapproved, in order to ensure that their dissertation work continues to satisfy current scholarly standards in the field. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

FOLKLORE AND FOLKLIFE (approved November 2003)
Any student who does not complete his or her dissertation within the University time limit as specified by “Graduate rules and regulations (pp.163-164) must re-take the Ph.D. Qualifying examiniations before defending his or her dissertation.

HISTORY OF ART (approved February 1993)
Doctoral students who begin their studies at Pennsylvania in September 1993 or later are expected to deposit the dissertation within five year of their first registration for dissertation tuition. (Dissertation tuition commences when all coursework is completed.) Students may only exceed the five-year limit if they present a second Dissertation Colloquium that is judged by the Graduate Group to demonstrate satisfactory progress toward the completion of the degree. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

IMMUNOLOGY (approved October 2003)
For students who reach a fifth year post candidacy, several steps will be taken to establish the underlying basis for inordinately slow academic progress, and to reach agreement on how to proceed to best serve the student. This process will occur annually, if need be, for students beyond their 5 th year post candidacy. The student, his/her mentor, and the thesis committee chairperson will meet with the IGG executive committee and will review all work completed to date, outline any extenuating circumstances that may have delayed progress, and propose an academic plan and timetable for completion of the degree, not to exceed one year. Exceptions to this rule may be considered by the executive committee only under extenuating circumstances, (e.g.; a student has changed thesis laboratory during their training, but is making satisfactory progress in the new lab). Following this presentation and any discussion, and in the absence of the mentor and student, the executive committee will confer and will EITHER: (1) Recommend extension, indicating their rationale for deciding that satisfactory academic progress is being made. Further they may either accept the plan for completion of degree or further modify to the plan, at their discretion. The plan will be conveyed in writing under the IGG chairperson's signature to the student, mentor and thesis committee chairperson. In addition, the IGG chairperson, or his/her designee, will become an ex officio member of the thesis committee. The student and mentor will then meet with the thesis committee and report milestones at four month or more frequent intervals, with the IGG chair acting as liaison to the executive committee; or (2) recommend a terminal masters degree, with an outline of requisites for conferral; or (3) recommend termination without degree. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

LINGUISTICS
(approved December 2004)
Students are expected to complete all requirements for the Ph.D. within five years of the end of coursework. The Provost's regulations state that a student who has not completed the degree requirements in this time will lose certification as a candidate for the Ph.D.  A student can be re-certified by submitting a revised dissertation proposal reflecting current scholarship on the topic and then undergoing a new dissertation proposal defense, following the usual procedures for the Graduate Group.  Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the Ph.D., including deposit of the dissertation, within two years or less as determined by the Graduate Group.

NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATION
(approved January 2004)
With respect to the time limit for completion of the dissertation, NELC
wishes to exercise the option of extending this limit to seven years due to
the amount of decipherment, textual reconstruction, and extended fieldwork
required as part of dissertation research.

With respect to re-certification procedures, NELC proposes the following
policy: Students who began their doctoral studies after July 1, 1993 are expected
to deposit the dissertation within seven years of their first registration
subsequent to the filing of Form 150, certifying that the student has
passed the preliminary examination and met all requirements for the PhD
except for completion and acceptance of his or her dissertation.  Students
who have not completed the dissertation within this seven-year period are
required to submit a revised dissertation proposal and to pass an oral
examination demonstrating a satisfactory grasp of the current scholarship
in the field.  The dissertation committee and graduate group chair shall
constitute the re-certification committee for this purpose.  Upon
satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements
for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

NEUROSCIENCE (approved October 2003)
(1) the first stage is the thesis committee meeting (which occurs at least twice/year when the student is at the re-certification stage); this meeting is the equivalent of a repeating prelim exam, because our prelim exam is a thesis proposal defense.

(2) the second stage is the yearly review of student progress by the NGG academic review committee (ARC); the ARC assesses the progress of all NGG students, using amongst other resources the thesis committee reports, and provides feedback to students and their advisors regarding student progress.

PARASITOLOGY (approved October 2003)
Students who are on dissertation status for 5 years must retake their prelim. This would consist of both an oral examination of the basic knowledge base as well as a written and oral presentation of research progress.

PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES (approved October 2003)
The student is required to present a 50 min seminar open to the public on research completed thus far. This is followed by a meeting of the student, thesis committee, advisor, and 3 members of the Graduate Group Executive Committee in which a precise time line for completing the thesis research and its defense is presented by the student. Upon satisfactory re-certification, the student must complete all requirements for the PhD, including deposit of the dissertation, within two years.

POLITICAL SCIENCE (approved February 1993)
If students have not completed all requirements for the Ph.D. (including deposit of the dissertation) within four years after the semester in which they pass the department qualifying examination, they must submit to their full dissertation committee (i.e., the supervisor and two readers) a copy of all written work they have completed on their dissertation. The committee members will evaluate this material, and report to the whole group, recommending that one of the following actions be taken:

The student is required to retake the qualifying examination (if the committee believes there is a question about the continued currency of the student's research). The student is disqualified from continued doctoral candidacy (if the committee believes the written work provides insufficient evidence of progress toward the completion of an adequate doctoral dissertation). Other conditions are imposed on the student's dissertation research, such as the committee believes will ensure the currency and timely completion of the student's work toward the Ph.D.

SOCIAL WELFARE (approved January 2004)
Evaluation for Recertification of Dissertation Status in Social Welfare: At the end of the five year period for completion of the dissertation, students who need more time to complete their dissertation may apply for one time extension, a recertification of dissertation status for a period of up to two years. Since only one recertification is permitted, application for the full two year extension is advised.

While a student's advisor, chair, or the doctoral program director can provide occasional reminders of these time limitations, it remains the student's responsibility to understand the time limitations for dissertation work as set by the University, and to make timely application for an extension, if desired.

Application for recertification is made to the doctoral program director during the fifth year (semesters nine or ten) of dissertation status. The standards for granting an extension are: There is a full committee working with a student on a dissertation; the student's dissertation work represents an extension of preliminary degree work and is conducted in constant consultation with the dissertation chair and committee; a plan for completion within two years is realistic, particularly in relation to the student's prior diligence in completing work; the Dissertation Committee Chair supports the student's plan for completion of the dissertation.

An application for an extension consists of the following steps: The student meets with the dissertation chair about an extension and the chair calls a meeting of the full dissertation committee. If a full committee has not been constituted by this point, then the process ends here without an extension granted; the Dissertation Committee hears a student presentation detailing work thus far on the dissertation and a plan for completion within two years. In addition to fielding questions about the dissertation work and the feasibility of the completion plan, the student may also be orally examined on the broader social welfare context of the dissertation work, to demonstrate currency in the field. The presentation is given in a closed meeting to dissertation committee members and steering committee members. The Dissertation Committee makes a recommendation to the doctoral program director on whether or not the student should be awarded an extension.

Upon receiving the recommendation of the dissertation committee, the doctoral program director makes the final decision about whether or not the extension is granted. The doctoral program director will inform the student of a decision. Decisions to recertify will be relayed to the University administration by the program director. Appeal of any decision in this process is made first to the steering committee, then to the full graduate group at its next regular meeting, and then to the Dean of the School of Social Work .