Culminating
Events:
Culminating event for the degree program
Monograph
Dissertation Advising Committee Information
1. The Final Recital and the written monograph are undertaken after the completion of the written preliminary examinations, and in consultation with the major adviser, the Department Chair, and the Doctoral Advisory Committee.
2. Upon completion of the preliminary examination, a Doctoral Advisory Committee (DAC) shall be appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies to adjudicate the Final Recital and to guide the monograph. When the student, in consultation with the major advisor and Department Chair, has identified a tentative advisory committee, the Chair gives those names to the Director of Graduate Studies for consideration. The Director of Graduate Studies officially appoints the DAC. The DAC consists of no fewer than three persons: two faculty members from within the department and a third person from outside the department.
3. Students may not present the Final Recital until the preliminary examination has been completed and the DAC has been appointed.
Dissertation Examining Committee Information
1. When the monograph is complete, the
major advisor of the DAC asks the Director of Graduate Studies to appoint an outside reader. The DAC plus the outside reader comprise the Doctoral Examining Committee (DEC) for the monograph defense.
2. Doctoral candidates must schedule a
defense of the monograph with the Associate Dean at least one month before the requested defense date. Forms to schedule the defense are available from the Graduate Secretary.
3. Doctoral candidates must submit a
defense copy of the monograph to members of the DEC and to the Associate Dean at least two weeks prior to the defense.
Advisor/Committee Information
Changes in membership of a Doctoral Advisory Committee or a Doctoral Examining Committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. The change also must be communicated to the Associate Dean and to the Graduate School.
Preliminary Exam Description
The written preliminary examinations are administered several times each calendar year, and span two consecutive days of six hours of examination each day.
Subject Areas/Major Components of the Preliminary Examination
The examinations consist of the following:
Written examinations relating to the major and minor areas, and to musical style, requiring the student to comment articulately upon the style and historical significance of musical compositions, and to discuss and defend the principles of performance on the basis of which s/he would undertake to perform any composition in his/her major area.
At what point in the program is the student expected to take the preliminary examination
Written examinations should be taken no later than the end of the fifth year to allow for the successful completion of the Final Recital and the writing of the monograph. Preliminary examinations must be successfully completed before formal work on the monograph may be undertaken and before the final recital may be presented. All but the final recital must have been presented by the time the preliminary examinations are taken.
Writing the Questions for the Preliminary Examination
Faculty members within the student's major and minor subject areas are involved in preparing the examination questions.
Evaluating the Preliminary Examination
At least two graduate faculty members read each section of the written preliminary examinations.
Criterion for Passing the Preliminary Examination.
Students typically are graded "Pass" or "Fail" based on a consensus of the examination readers.
Administering, Scheduling, and Proctoring the Preliminary Examination
Students planning to take the written examinations should request a list of dates from the graduate secretary and submit a written request to the Associate Dean one month prior to the administration date. Students are notified in writing of the specific dates and administration times of the preliminary examinations for which they have been scheduled.
Dissertation/Monograph Philosophy
After the successful completion of the written preliminary examinations, the Final Recital (Music 954) and written monograph are undertaken. The Doctoral Advisory Committee serves as both the adjudicators for the Final Recital and as faculty members who guide the student in writing the monograph proposal and in the actual writing of the final document. Students register for Music 899 during the writing of the monograph proposal, and Music 999 after the proposal has been officially approved. Doctoral candidates are required to register for a minimum of 6 credit hours of monograph research (Music 999) during their program as a whole and must register for a minimum of 1 such credit each semester.
Philosophy of the Proposal
After a proposal for the monograph has been developed by the student in consultation with the DAC, the student prepares a final copy for approval. Each member of the DAC must sign the final proposal. Once all DAC members have signed the title page, the student copies the final proposal and delivers within thirty days one copy to each member of the DAC, the Department Chair, the Associate Dean, and the Graduate School.
Criterion for Passing the Dissertation and the Defense.
All members of the Doctoral Examining Committee attend the oral defense, and vote to pass or fail the monograph and its defense after the conclusion of the public presentation.
Dissertation Defense Scheduling
Early in the semester in which a defense is anticipated, the monograph major advisor notifies the Director of Graduate Studies and requests from the Director that the Doctoral Examining Committee (that is, the Monograph defense committee) be appointed. The Doctoral Examining Committee consists of the Doctoral Advisory Committee plus at least one additional graduate faculty member from Temple or another university, but not from the faculty of the student's home department. One month prior to the requested defense date, the "Permission to Schedule Dissertation/Monograph Defense" form bearing all appropriate signatures must be submitted to the Associate Dean. This form is available in the Main Office. Two weeks prior to the oral defense, the student submits individual copies of the abstract and the completed dissertation/monograph to (1) the Associate Dean, (2) the Director of Graduate Studies, and (3) each member of the Doctoral Examining Committee.
Announcing the Dissertation Defense
The graduate secretary notifies the Graduate School and posts notices of the impending defense on bulletin boards located within Boyer College.
