Once all coursework has been competed, the qualifying exam taken, and the Doctoral Committee and DrPH Director have determined that the doctoral project is complete, the student will present their doctoral project during an oral defense.
In order to present their doctoral project defense, students must:
- Attain an overall and degree program GPA of 3.30 at USF
- Not have any "I" or "M" grades (this includes "IF" and "MF" grades)
- Be enrolled in a minimum of (2) credit hours during the semester of the defense
- Complete the Doctoral Project (Chapters 1-5)
- Obtain approval from their doctoral committee
- Obtain approval from the DrPH Director (completed document must be sent at least 4 weeks prior to the defense date)
- Work with the doctoral committee to schedule a date and time for the defense by the reported deadlines
- Complete the DrPH Final Defense Form in Archivum
- Submit the Doctoral Project Defense Announcement Form to cophdoctoral@usf.edu for distribution to the public
Procedures for conducting the doctoral project defense are as follows:
The presentation and defense are open to the public and as such, must meet the requirements of the Sunshine Laws for the State of Florida. The doctoral committee deliberation is not public.
- The Defense will be scheduled on Microsoft Teams by the Office of Doctoral Training (after the Final Defense form has been approved by all parties).
The length of the examination period will generally not exceed three hours. Throughout this time the Defense Chair (Major Professor) is to be in charge of all proceedings.
The Defense Chair, at any time during the course of the examination, may request all visitors to leave.
- Presentation:
The Defense Chair should open the proceedings by introducing the candidate and the doctoral committee.
The examination should begin with a presentation by the candidate designed to summarize the doctoral project.
Questions: Following the presentation the student will be questioned about the doctoral project. The order of the proceedings is described below:
The examination will consist of questions about the research by the doctoral committee.
It is suggested that questioning should be limited to about 15 minutes for each committee member with subsequent rounds of questioning as necessary.
Questions from the faculty‐at‐large and/or the public may be allowed following the presentation. It is suggested that questioning from the general audience be limited up to 5 minutes per person.
Deliberations and Voting: Following the completion of these proceedings, the Defense Chair:
will ask all visitors and the candidate to leave and will re‐convene the doctoral committee only.
will preside over the deliberations and voting of the doctoral committee.
is responsible for tallying the votes and informing the candidate of the final decision. The voting is to be limited to “pass” and “fail” votes. The vote of the doctoral committee must be unanimous. If unanimous agreement cannot be reached, the Faculty Chair notifies the DrPH Program Director, who will endeavor to resolve the dispute in an expedient fashion.
withholds his/her own signature on the DrPH Final Defense Form (in Archivum) until all required revisions are satisfactory.
- enter the results in the Archivum Final Defense Form.