Dissertation Defense

Meet with your committee and determine a date and time. Some faculty travel extensively, so it is a good idea to start this process early.

Once you have a confirmed time, contact the Student Services Office. They will help in booking rooms for both the public and closed door sessions.

Tip: Some faculty travel extensively, so it's a good idea to start this process early. Room reservations can also be tricky depending on the time selected. The more notice you can provide, the more likely one of your top choices for rooms will be available.

Your chair must be someone outside of the department who is an Academic Council member. Your Oral Examination Committee must have a total 5 members including the University Chair. If you need help finding one, your advisor and other committee members should be able to help. University policy regarding chairs and your committee can be found in the Stanford Bulletin.

Deliver a draft of your dissertation to each of your committee members 30 days prior to your defense. Some committee members may prefer just an emailed draft, however others may prefer a paper copy so be sure to check on preferences of each of your committee members!

Bring your University Oral Examination Form to the Student Services office (Gilbert 118 or via email) at least 2 weeks before your defense. The Student Services Office will bring this back to you or your advisor at your defense.

If you’d like the Student Services Office to create and post flyers for your defense, please send them a picture to use and your title 2 weeks before your defense.

Following your defense, please turn in the University Oral Examination Form to the Student Services Office as soon as possible.

Visit the e-dissertation/thesis center in Axess 

This is often your advisor, but can be any Academic Council member on your committee. They will need to log in to Axess and approve your dissertation before the deadline once you’ve uploaded your dissertation.

Turn in your signed signature page and title page to the Student Services Center at Tresidder (see the guidelines PDF for formatting instructions).

Signatures must be actual ink signatures on acid-free paper. Only your reading committee should be included on your signature page. Do NOT include your defense chair or any committee members only present for the defense.

Upload and submit your dissertation.

This video that will walk you through the upload process.