PhD
Doctoral Degree (PhD) Roadmap
Welcome to your PhD journey. Use the Snapshot POV timeline for a quick high-level overview of your milestones, or explore the In-Depth POV tabs below to access required forms, policy guidelines, and navigation tips.
Snapshot POV
First Year
Foundation
Intermediate Years
Development & Candidacy
In-Depth POV
First Year: Setting Your Academic Foundation
Your primary goal during your first two semesters is establishing your advisory team and formalizing your required curriculum track.
Role of the Advisory Committee
Your graduate advisory committee plays a critical management role throughout your doctoral path. Their core functional responsibilities include:
- Collaborating with you to formulate your formal Graduate Study Plan (GSP) by your second semester.
- Establishing realistic, tailored milestones and operational timelines for project delivery.
- Reviewing course development metrics and providing ongoing research trajectory counseling.
- Assembling, testing, and verifying multi-stage comprehensive examinations and your public defense.
- Reviewing and submitting your required evaluation logs to the Graduate School.
Finalizing Appointment & Submission
The routing workflow is digitized. The tracking file can be initialized on the central page by you, your primary advisor, or your department’s graduate coordinator.
Go to Appointment of Committee FormCommittee Composition Rules
The advisory board must consist of a **minimum of 4 UAF-approved members** who hold an earned Ph.D. or corresponding terminal degree credential.
- Your primary committee chair must be an active, approved UAF faculty member.
- External discipline specialists or retired/emeritus faculty may serve as active voting members with department clearance, but **they cannot serve as your sole committee chair** (they may serve as a co-chair).
- Interdisciplinary program structures must explicitly include at least one member hailing from a recognized Ph.D.-granting department path.
Milestone Action & Rules
In close coordination with your advisory team, map out your full structural timeline of coursework and research credit tracking. Your GSP acts as an agreement of mutual expectations between you and your faculty committee, safeguarding your academic trajectory as long as you maintain continuous program enrollment.
How to Build Your GSP
Consult with your advisor/committee before filling out the form, then execute these sequential steps:
- Open the Form & Catalog: Open the active GSP form link. In a separate browser window, launch the or matching the exact academic year you officially started your program path in the .
- Locate Your Program: Click on the "Programs" menu at the top of the catalog page. Use the downward dropdown arrow next to "By degree type" and choose the degree you are seeking to view the live list of approved programs. Click your track.
- Verify Credit Benchmarks: Pay strict attention to the Minimum credit requirements (located at the top of your program page), required thesis credits, and specific modules or coursework distributions mandated by your division.
- Input Chronologically: When entering modules into the dynamic GSP form data fields, begin with the very first course you have taken or plan to take. To append additional rows for future tracking semesters, click the checkbox in the last column labeled "add another".
The 2nd Semester Deadline
Both your Advisory Committee Form and your GSP must be fully routed and approved by the Graduate School before the end of your second semester in a UAF graduate degree program. Missing this mandatory tracking checkpoint risks your formal academic standing.
Annual Requirement
Each year, students, advisors, and committee members participate in an annual review to assess progress toward degree completion. As part of this process, students are required to submit a brief 2–5 page evaluation highlighting research or project milestones, academic achievements, challenges encountered, and goals for the coming year. You can use our , pdf template, or create your own self-eval template.
Go to Annual Progress Report FormStrict March 15th Deadline
The AAPR is due **every year by March 15**. Neglecting this mandatory document is the single most common reason Ph.D. candidates are placed on sudden academic probation.
Intermediate Years: Development, Exams & Candidacy
The middle portion of your program centers on finishing advanced academic modules, defending your comprehensive examinations, and executing intensive lab/field research.
Annual Requirement
Each year, students, advisors, and committee members participate in an annual review to assess progress toward degree completion. As part of this process, students are required to submit a brief 2–5 page evaluation highlighting research or project milestones, academic achievements, challenges encountered, and goals for the coming year. You can use our , pdf template, or create your own self-eval template.
Go to Annual Progress Report FormStrict March 15th Deadline
The AAPR is due **every year by March 15**. Neglecting this mandatory document is the single most common reason Ph.D. candidates are placed on sudden academic probation.
Comprehensive Exams
Before moving to advancing to candidacy, you must pass your written and oral comprehensive exams. For the oral defense portion, an objective faculty member from outside your department must be assigned by the Graduate School to oversee the integrity of the evaluation.
Two-Week Buffer Rule
You must submit your **Outside Examiner Request** at least **2 weeks prior** to your scheduled oral exam date. The final Exam Report form must follow within **10 days** of your defense.
Achieving Candidate Status
Once your primary GSP coursework is behind you and your comprehensive exams are complete, you submit this form to officially advance to candidate status. This establishes with the grad school and degree services that you have met all degree requirements except for your written dissertation and dissertation defense.
Timing Tip
Submit this document immediately after passing comps. At the absolute latest, it must be approved **one full semester prior** to your intended graduation semester.
Final Year: Dissertation Defense, Clearance & Hooding
The ultimate leg of your journey involves processing graduation applications, organizing your public defense, satisfying formatting criteria, and preparing for your hooding ceremony.
Annual Requirement
Each year, students, advisors, and committee members participate in an annual review to assess progress toward degree completion. As part of this process, students are required to submit a brief 2–5 page evaluation highlighting research or project milestones, academic achievements, challenges encountered, and goals for the coming year. You can use our , pdf template, or create your own self-eval template.
Go to Annual Progress Report FormStrict March 15th Deadline
The AAPR is due **every year by March 15**. Neglecting this mandatory document is the single most common reason Ph.D. candidates are placed on sudden academic probation.
The Initialization Phase
Log in to to submit your application for graduation. If you are having trouble applying to graduate, please contact uaf-degree-services@alaska.edu.
You must also :
- Schedule your dissertation defense
- Fill out a public defense announcement form
- Request an Outside Examiner
The 2-Week Mandate
Both your **Public Defense Announcement** and your **Outside Examiner Request** must be filed with the Graduate School **at least 2 full weeks before** your defense date.
Post-Defense Processing & Workflow
Within two week fo your dissertation defense, you must submit a Report on defense form (button below)
Finalizing your written dissertation and graduation parameters requires moving through a structured multi-stage clearance process:
- Draft Review Assumption: The Approval of Dissertation Form is initiated once your chair and advisory committee are ready to review your dissertation in its entirety. It is presumed at this point they have seen your chapters separately and possibly the whole draft at one point, so this form is initiated when you think there will be very little edits left.
- Student Notification & Email: The student will send an email out to all committee members with the most recent draft and tell them that the form will be initiated.
- Committee Sign-Off: This form goes to each committee member for their approval signature.
- Departmental & Collegiate Clearance: When they have all signed, the student needs to submit the draft to the department chair and dean to read and sign.
- ProQuest Submission: Then, once the approval form is all signed, the student will submit their dissertation to ProQuest in PDF form.
- Graduate School Formatting Check & Acceptance: Then the graduate school will check it for formatting compliance and once it is compliant the graduate school will submit it to ProQuest and select accept and then their dissertation will be published to ProQuest.
3-Credit Rule & Formatting Tips
You must be actively registered for **at least 3 graduate credits** during the specific semester you defend your doctoral work.
Need More Detail?
I am thinking a lot of these ins and outs can be included in further detail in our formatting page. Explore manuscript guidelines on our dedicated Dissertation Formatting Requirements Page.