Doctoral Degree Requirements

All students in the Kinesiology PhD Program are responsible for keeping aware of the following requirements to complete the degree. For all current requirements to complete your degree (e.g., credits, courses, milestones, learning outcomes/goals, etc.) see your specific Named Option page in the Graduate Guide.

Graduate Seminar Requirement

All students are required to register for the Kinesiology 900 Seminar each semester that they are enrolled in the program. Any requests for a seminar waiver (due to TA course conflicts, research activities outside the Madison area, etc.) must be made to the Graduate Studies committee a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the start of the semester when the waiver is desired.

General Field Requirement

A doctoral minor or graduate/professional certificate is not required due to the broad areas of inquiry within Kinesiology. To ensure the breadth of study requirement is achieved, students are required to complete a minimum of 2 graduate level courses (at least 2 credits each) in Kinesiology, outside of their named option coursework.

Committees

Doctoral committees advise and evaluate satisfactory progress, administer preliminary and final oral examinations, evaluate a thesis or dissertation, and/or sign a degree warrant. For general guidance from The Graduate School on the role and composition of committees as well as an online tool to determine if your committee meets minimum requirements, see this policy page: policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1201. In addition to this general guidance, this program requires the following of doctoral committees: The dissertation defense committee has five members, at least one of whom must be from outside the Department of Kinesiology. The Chairperson must be from the Department of Kinesiology. Four committee members must be tenure-track faculty (full, associate, or assistant) holding professorial rank in any department with graduate program authority. The fifth committee member is not required to be tenure-track faculty but must have completed doctoral training or the equivalent. The Graduate School will check your committee members in reviewing the required defense warrant.

Preliminary Exam

During PhD study, a student must take and pass a Preliminary Exam, which are taken at or near the completion of PhD major, minor, and/or certificate course work. Successful completion signals the student’s entry into dissertator status. Generally, no additional course work, aside from research credits and enrollment in seminar may be taken after dissertator status has been awarded

The Preliminary Exam Committee

Consists of the student’s major professor/advisor and two other graduate faculty members, one of whom must be a Kinesiology graduate faculty member. Preliminary exam committee members often become PhD committee members, though this is not a requirement.

Eligibility requirements

A warrant is needed for the examination. The student should communicate with the GPM to ensure they have met the requirements and notify the GPM of when they plan to complete the preliminary exam. The GPM requests the warrant from the Graduate School once all coursework requirements have been met (or are in progress). Upon receiving the request, the Graduate School checks the student records for incomplete grades. If grades are in order, the Graduate School will issue a warrant..

Components of the Examination

The exam consists of a written exam followed by an oral exam.
There are two options for the written portion:

  1. consists of four 4-hour sessions taking place over two consecutive days OR
  2. consists of four 4-hour sessions taking place over 5 days.

The oral portion: must occur within two weeks following completion of the written portion, with no time limit.
The Graduate Studies Committee must approve exceptions to the format of either portion.

Scheduling

Provide the proposed exam dates to the GPM a minimum of three weeks before the scheduled oral examination. The student should work with the GPM to reserve spaces for the written and oral portions of the examination.

Evaluation/grading

All committee members will complete assessment rubrics for both the written and oral portions of the preliminary examination, which will be sent out by the GPM. If the examination is not satisfactory, the student may repeat it once. The GPM will work with the committee to obtain signatures from the committee members and will work with the chair to obtain a copy of the written exam questions and responses to keep on file. The Graduate School puts the student into dissertator status at the beginning of the immediately following semester.

Dissertator Status

Dissertator is a unique fee status for students who have completed all requirements for a doctoral degree except for the dissertation. To be eligible for dissertator fee status, a student must:

  • Pass the preliminary examination (written and oral portions)
  • Satisfy the doctoral minimum graduate residence credit requirement
  • Complete all minor and/or certificate requirements (not required by program, but student may pursue minor/certifcate)
  • Complete all program requirements except the dissertation
  • Clear all Incomplete grades or Progress grades in non-research courses (progress grades in 990 research may remain)
  • Earn at least a 3.0 cumulative graduate GPA
  • Have the signed and dated preliminary exam submitted to the Graduate School (electronically via the GPM).

Dissertator status is effective at the start of the semester following completion of all dissertator requirements for the doctoral degree except for the dissertation. Students can check on dissertator status by contacting their GPM. All dissertator requirements must be met before the first day of classes to be a dissertator for any given semester. If all dissertator requirements are completed before the first day of classes but the signed prelim warrant does not reach the Graduate School by that deadline, the student can still become a dissertator that semester. Submit the warrant to the Graduate School as soon as possible and enroll in exactly 3 credits (usually 990 research and seminar) for that semester.

Removal of Dissertator Status

A dissertator who enrolls for more or fewer than 3 credits will be removed from dissertator status for the fall or spring term in which the enrollment is not exactly 3 credits. During the summer, however, an enrolled dissertator may ask their advisor to request an overload of 1-2 additional credits in a short session and still retain dissertator fee status, if the course is related to dissertation research or professional training that is not offered in regular semesters. The removal of dissertator status may have the following consequences:

  • Graduate assistant (TA/PA/RA) salary rates may have to be adjusted to the non-dissertator rate, or percent limitations
  • Fees are assessed at the non-dissertator rate
  • Full-time status may change to part-time, possibly affecting loan deferral, visa status, etc.

If a dissertator wants to pursue a graduate degree or certificate in another area, the dissertator fee status will be discontinued, and regular graduate fees will be assessed, with possible consequences listed above. Find more information about the tuition and fees for a dissertator and non-dissertator on the Office of the Registrar’s Tuition and Fees webpage. For more information on Dissertator status, please see the UW-Madison Policy Library.

Dissertation Proposal 

Dissertation Committee Membership

The dissertation defense committee has five members, at least one of whom must be from outside the Department of Kinesiology. The Chairperson must be from the Department of Kinesiology. Four committee members must be tenure-track faculty (full, associate, or assistant) holding professorial rank in any department with graduate program authority. The fifth committee member is not required to be tenure-track faculty but must have completed doctoral training or the equivalent. The Graduate School will check your committee members in reviewing the required defense warrant. For your defense, your committee will be required to meet Graduate School policy.

Dissertation Proposal

You must propose your dissertation to a committee. An oral and a written proposal are required for a dissertation. The student must enroll in 742-990 (Research or Thesis) during the semester of the proposal. The student provides information on the proposal time, date, location, and subject matter to the GPM, who announces the proposal to faculty and graduate students at least one week before the proposal. The student must give a written copy of the dissertation to proposal committee members at least seven days prior to the proposal’s scheduled oral defense.

The timing of the proposal relative to the defense varies by lab so it is important to talk to your advisor. Many mentors use the proposal is to get input and approval from the dissertation committee for making a final decision about the research approach taken for the dissertation project. The format of the oral presentation and written proposal will be as determined by the major professor/advisor with the approval of the other members of the committee. The proposal committee members tend to remain and serve as the defense committee members, though this is not required. If the proposal committee approves your proposed dissertation project, then you continue with your research plan until you have the dissertation.

The student should inform the Graduate Studies Coordinator of the proposed title and committee members, at least two weeks prior to the scheduled date. The GPM will create the dissertation approval form, send it to your committee prior to your scheduled proposal, and collect e-signatures on the document. A copy of the signed form will be saved in your student file and will be sent to you for your personal records.

Learning Assessment Rubric

An assessment rubric is required for the dissertation proposal. This will be distributed by the GPM to the committee members, and once all responses have been collected, the feedback will be sent to the student.


Dissertation Defense

Request Warrant

Consult with advisor and defense committee of five members, which is normally the same as the Proposal Committee, to determine date and time when all are available to attend. You must notify the Graduate Studies Coordinator when you are ready to defend your dissertation and request a warrant at least three weeks prior. A warrant is paperwork that is used to communicate to the Graduate School that a student has met all requirements for a specific academic designation. The warrant request includes: committee member names (finalized), planned defense date, (tentative) dissertation title, and minor(s) or certificationes if applicable. The Graduate School will review the warrant, and the Kinesiology GPM will notify you once it has been approved. Requesting a defense warrant does not obligate you to defend. If necessary, you can re-request the warrant later. Additionally, you will need to arrange a room to defend in. Defense must be announced/posted at least one week prior to the event.

Oral Defense

You defend the dissertation by making a presentation and answering questions from a defense committee. You must give dissertation draft copies to the defense committee members. Then you defend the dissertation draft, i.e. you make a presentation and answer questions related to the dissertation at a time and place that the committee agrees to. If the majority of your committee members find that your defense is acceptable, then the members will sign a warrant document. By their signatures, they warrant to UW-Madison administrators that you qualify for a PhD.

Degree Deadlines
The Graduate School sets Degree Deadlines each Fall, Spring, and Summer semester. The deadline reflects the date by which a student must complete all activities associated with an academic event (PhD defense) so it will go on record effective with the associated semester. You can find future degree deadlines on the degree completion page of the Graduate School’s website.

PhD Completion
Graduate School online instructions for PhD completion are here. To get the PhD degree, you will be required to
upload a PDF of your dissertation and your signed warrant to ProQuest/UMI ETD Administrator site.

License

Kinesiology Graduate Student Handbook Copyright © by Graduate Studies Committee. All Rights Reserved.

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