Social distancing measures related to the Coronavirus may prevent a thesis or dissertation committee from meeting face-to-face. When illness or caution prevent someone on the committee from attending the defense, remote participation is appropriate.
The Graduate School will be very flexible regarding defenses. Committee chairs and students should agree on the best method for a given defense. ALL committee members must participate in the defense, whether in person or virtually. This flexibility extends to students who need to defend remotely.
It is the chair’s responsibility to ensure that all committee members sign-off on the final defense form. Scanned signatures are allowed and additional time will be extended so that a form can be signed by all members. When this is not possible, we will accept the defense form with the chair’s signature, accompanied by emails from each committee member stating their approval.
Please remember that milestone forms are needed in order for the Graduate School to clear students for graduation. Please do your best to send the forms electronically as soon as possible following a defense.
Final and proposal defense thesis forms should be sent to Julie Green (jhgreen@uncc.edu) and final and proposal defense dissertation forms should be sent to Aura Young (Aura.Young@uncc.edu).
This flexible interpretation of our policy will remain in effect for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.
