Doctoral Regulations and Procedures

Academic Load

Full-time doctoral students normally take nine semester credit hours. The minimum course load for full-time status is six credit hours. Additional courses above this load require permission from the appropriate department chair. If a student demonstrates exceptional academic performance, the department chair or designee may approve a maximum one-course overload. A student’s enrollment may be restricted when deemed in the best interest of the student.

Academic Standing

Academic Probation

Whenever the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of a student who has doctoral status falls below 3.0 and/or the student earns a U (Unsatisfactory) grade in dissertation milestone or research coursework, the student will be placed on academic probation. 

A student who receives a U (Unsatisfactory) grade in dissertation milestone or research coursework will be required to complete an improvement plan to meet dissertation milestones or research requirements during the subsequent semester. The student must earn an S (satisfactory) grade in the subsequent semester to be removed from probation status.

Academic Dismissal

Students will be dismissed from their doctoral program whenever any of the following conditions occur:

  • Students on conditional status fail to satisfy the conditions of their admission.
  • A final grade of C is received in any two graduate courses.
  • A final grade of F is received in any graduate course.
  • The cumulative grade point average has not been raised to at least 3.0 within the first twelve credit hours attempted after the first semester in which the student was placed on Academic Probation.
  • Two grades of U are earned in dissertation milestone or research coursework.

Academic dismissal is entered on the student's permanent record.

To appeal academic dismissal, the student must submit a petition, in writing, detailing the existence of any exceptional, mitigating circumstances to the Chair of the academic department with responsibility for overseeing the doctoral program or their designee within 30 days of the receipt of the dismissal notice. The College Dean and/or Department Chair or designee will provide his/her decision to uphold the dismissal or recommend a dismissal reversal and notify, in writing, the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost or designee, who will review the case and make a final determination of the action to be taken. Such action will be carried out in a timely manner not to exceed 30 days following receipt of the petition by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost or designee. If confirmed, academic dismissal is final.

Students may appeal their academic dismissal from the University only once.

Dismissal for Cause

The University reserves the right to dismiss a student at any time and without further reason, if the student exhibits the following undesirable conduct:

  • Academic performance issues, academic misconduct, non-academic misconduct.
  • Actions that pose a risk to the health, safety, or property of members of the University community, including, but not limited to, other students, faculty, staff, administrative officers, or the student himself/herself.
  • Conduct that disrupts the educational process of the University.
  • Any other just cause.

Loss of Doctoral Status and Readmission

Under certain circumstances (other than graduation), a doctoral student may lose postgraduate status and will no longer be considered a student at Embry-Riddle. This can occur when:

  • A student voluntarily withdraws from the University.
  • A student is dismissed from the University and the dismissal becomes final.
  • A student fails to meet the requirement for continuous enrollment. This occurs when a student does not complete at least one course in a two-year period.
  • A student does not complete the degree requirements of a doctoral program within seven years of starting the post doctoral program.
  • Students who fail to maintain continuous enrollment for any reason are required to apply for readmission under the catalog in effect at that time.

Dissertation

The dissertation is required of every candidate for the doctoral degree. The dissertation is an original, critical treatment of a topic chosen by the candidate and approved by the Dissertation Advisory Committee, composed of individuals delegated by the appropriate department as detailed in the specific department guidelines. It is written in English.

If the doctoral candidate has collaborated with others in carrying out the research upon which the dissertation is based, the candidate’s own contribution to the research must be specified and clearly stated in a separate section immediately preceding the text. 

The dissertation, when completed, must be of publishable quality and able to be published, although publication is not required.  It must not be restricted by any entity outside the University from being published.  It is expected to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge of the discipline.  If all or part of the dissertation is published, a statement that the publication is based upon the dissertation must be included in the publication.  Other criteria may be imposed by the appropriate department.

When preparing the dissertation document, the doctoral candidate will follow the procedures detailed in the University’s guidelines for the preparation of dissertations and theses, which are available through the office of the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, the doctoral department offices, or the University website.

An interruption in dissertation research registration requires written approval in advance from the Department Chair or designee.

Dissertation Advisory Committee

Each student will have a Dissertation Advisory Committee to assist in advising and guiding the student through the dissertation in all of its phases. This Advisory Committee will be formed either upon candidacy (or as soon thereafter as appropriate) or when the dissertation proposal is accepted, depending upon the particular doctoral program guidelines.

The composition of the Dissertation Advisory Committee should be of individuals of assistant professor rank or higher and will follow the guidelines of the particular doctoral program.

Dissertation Oral Committee

The role of the Oral Committee is to provide explicit final judgment of the quality of the work of scholarship submitted and defended by the doctoral candidate. 

The voting members of the Oral Committee are appointed by the Department Chair in consultation with the office of the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. The Committee will consist of the members of the Dissertation Advisory Committee and one full-time faculty member with the rank of assistant professor or above who is a member of a department other than that of the candidate. Other department-specific criteria may apply to the membership of the Committee and are described in the Guidelines for the formation of the Dissertation Advisory Committee.

Additional guest members, with or without vote, may be appointed to the Oral Committee by the Department Chair in consultation with the office of the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. Such guest members are expected to be recognized experts in the field of the candidate’s dissertation.

The Oral Committee will also have a member representing and appointed by the office of the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. This person will serve as an ex officio representative of the University in a parliamentary capacity to assure that each final oral examination follows procedures consistent with University expectations and rules of order and to assure that all appropriate necessary documentation is in order and complete.

Dissertation Oral Examination

The purpose of the oral examination is to determine whether the candidate has satisfactorily presented a significant, original thesis in the dissertation and whether the candidate has adequately defended the dissertation.

The presentation and defense of a significant, original dissertation is the culmination of the work for the doctoral degree. Everything else is considered preliminary for this presentation. Prior coursework prepares the student for research work on the dissertation, and the Qualifying Examination is used to determine whether that preparation is adequate. In effect, the oral examination provides an explicit final judgment of the quality of the work of scholarship but also implicitly judges the quality of the entire graduate education of the candidate leading up to and culminating with the presentation and the defense of the dissertation.

The candidate is eligible to take the oral examination only after completing all other requirements for the degree. The oral examination will focus on the subject matter covered by the dissertation and in the specific field in which the dissertation is written.

At least six months must have elapsed since the candidate’s admission to candidacy for the degree. The oral examination will be administered at locations specified in the Guidelines for each program.

The dissertation must have been registered with the office of the University Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at least two weeks prior to the oral examination. Oral examinations will be scheduled by the department chair but not less than five weeks prior to the Commencement ceremony elected for degree conferral.

The vote of the Oral Committee will be taken by the chair. More than one dissenting vote by the committee will signify that the candidate fails this exam. The candidate will be allowed one repeat examination if there is a failure of the examination unless a majority of the voting members of the Oral Committee vote against a repeat examination.  

The copyright for the dissertation belongs to the candidate.

The candidate is required to supply a digital version of the dissertation to the library, which will be published through the University’s subscription to UMI’s ProQuest online dissertation services.

Doctoral Teaching and Research Assistantships

The University may provide doctoral assistantships (tuition waivers and/or financial stipends) to selected, qualified students in certain doctoral programs. They are designed to assist graduate students early in their doctoral studies with the cost of maintaining enrollment in the doctoral program and to provide teaching and/or research experiences that contribute to an enrichment of the academic experience. It is expected that following the assignment of the doctoral student to a research advisor, grant and/or contract support (when available) will be used to fund financial stipends supporting the student and to help defray course tuition and research credit costs.

To be eligible for a University-funded assistantship (Graduate Teaching Assistantship), a student must be enrolled in a doctoral degree program and be performing satisfactorily. Satisfactory performance includes maintaining a CGPA of 3.20 or higher out of a possible 4.00 through the end of the semester preceding the appointment.

Doctoral teaching assistants who act as the teacher of record (i.e., having primary responsibility for teaching a course for credit and/or assigning final grades for such a course) must be credentialed for teaching according to university policy.

Doctoral students receiving University-funded assistantships must be registered as full-time students as determined by individual department guidelines. 

University-funded assistantships providing financial support are generally awarded on a 12-month basis and require the recipients to devote twenty hours each week to carry out their assigned duties. In the case of partial levels of assistance, the number of hours per week worked is determined by the department but will not fall below ten hours per week.

While holding a university-funded assistantship, a student’s total University employment (including the assistantship) may not exceed twenty-five hours per week. Students holding an assistantship may have other university employment, but it must be approved by the sponsor of the assistantship.

University-funded assistantships providing course credit tuition waivers and financial support to doctoral students are generally available until the end of the semester the student sits for the Qualifying Examination. 

Oversight of a doctoral student’s performance while supported by a University-funded assistantship (tuition waiver or financial support) is the responsibility of the immediate supervisor and the department chair.

Non-university-funded doctoral research assistantships (Graduate Research Assistantships) funding doctoral candidates doing research for their dissertation (usually following admission to candidacy) are the responsibility of, and are expected to be provided by, research advisors with funding from grants or contracts supporting the faculty research. The level of financial support and the duration of such support will be decided by the research advisor in consultation with the department chair but is expected to be reasonably consistent with University guidelines as advised by the office of the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies.

Graduation Requirements

The following summary of graduation requirements is provided for all students. An Embry-Riddle doctoral degree will be conferred upon the successful completion of the general requirements of the University and the specific requirements of the degree sought.

  • All course, dissertations, and other academic requirements, as appropriate, must be met.
  • The student will have registered, presented and successfully defended a doctoral dissertation as determined by the doctoral department.
  • All debts and obligations to the University are satisfied.
  • The student is not under University investigation for misconduct or other disciplinary matters.
  • A student must be enrolled in the term in which he/she graduates.
  • The student is expected to complete the degree within seven years of matriculating into a doctoral program unless a specific extension has been granted by the department chair and approved by the University Dean of Research and Graduate Studies.
  • An application for graduation and the request to participate in Commencement exercises must be initiated by the student and received within the time limit specified by the Office of the Registrar.
  • Participation in graduation exercises will not be permitted, a diploma will not be awarded, and a transcript will not be complete, until all the degree requirements have been satisfied.

Doctoral students earning Master's degree

  • Doctoral students admitted straight from a Bachelor’s degree will earn the Master’s degree and the doctoral upon completion of all requirements for the doctoral program.
  • The Master’s degree will be conferred once all Master’s requirements are fulfilled if utilizing Master’s degree for teaching credentials in the department.
  • Courses utilized toward the Master’s degree will be designated by the department on a Plan of Study.  These courses will be moved to the Master’s transcript prior to degree conferral.

Qualifying Examination and Admission to Candidacy

The student must pass a written qualifying examination in the field of study.  At the discretion of the department, the qualifying examination may also include an oral examination. Upon successfully passing the qualifying examination, the student is considered for admission to candidacy for a doctoral degree.

Usually, students will sit for the qualifying exam during or immediately following their last semester of coursework. If the performance on the examination is unsatisfactory, the doctoral program chair will determine whether the student is allowed to retake the examination or any part of the examination according to the individual program requirements. 

Admission to a doctoral program does not automatically include admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The faculty of the department must evaluate the progress of the student and determine that the student has completed all course and other requirements, has passed the qualifying examination, and is otherwise qualified to fulfill the research requirements leading to completing the doctoral dissertation. 

Departments may follow different procedures for formal admission to candidacy. The student should consult with the department chair or dean for information on these procedures.

Time Limitation for Degree Completion

The student has seven years from the date of admission to the doctoral degree program to complete the degree. No Embry-Riddle course older than seven years at the time of graduation may be used in the program of study for a doctorate degree. (Prerequisite courses are exempt from this requirement.) Transfer courses older than seven years, earned at other universities, may be accepted at the discretion of the appropriate program coordinator. Students who do not maintain continuous enrollment (missing enrollment at the University for a period of two years) must file for readmission to the University, although seven years is measured from when the student was first admitted to the program.