CEC Dissertation & Thesis Submission and Embargo Policy

From AP.6.10.9 Dissertation Submission and Embargo & AP.6.9.4 Thesis Submission.

Students are required to submit their dissertations and/or thesis to University Dissertation and Thesis Services (UDTS). All submission procedures related to degree conferral are defined by UDTS. For further information, consult the UDTS website.

Post Dissertation/Thesis Submission Edits

After submission of the final dissertation/thesis to the Library (UDTS), edits will be permitted only for:

Substantive formatting issues as defined in AP.6.10.9.
Incidences of fraud or plagiarism:
- Should fraud or plagiarism be detected after submission, CEC will conduct a full review of the dissertation/thesis. The department (or concentration) Chair and at least one graduate faculty member, not from the student’s dissertation/thesis committee, will form the Review Committee and conduct the dissertation/thesis review.
- The Review Committee will determine the extent of the academic dishonesty and recommend sanctions to the Associate Dean.
  - Depending on the extent and intent of the academic dishonesty, sanctions can range from dissertation/thesis correction for mild, unintentional academic dishonesty to rescission of the dissertation/thesis and degree for substantive, intentional academic dishonesty.
- The sanction will be communicated to the UDTS Coordinator.

Initial Embargo Request

A student may, in accordance with UDTS procedures, submit a signed petition to embargo to delay, all or part of their dissertation/thesis, preventing online and on-campus access to it for a period of time. Once the embargo period has passed, dissertations/thesis will be made available for on-campus and online access.

CEC permits students to initially embargo their work for 2 years for:
- Pending Patents
- Intended business opportunities
- Government restrictions
- Pending publications
- Intended book publication
- Personal concerns

Embargo Extension Requests

In accordance with UDTS procedures, an alumnus who wishes to extend their embargo request past the dissertation/thesis initial release date is required to secure the approval of CEC’s Associate Dean and the Graduate Division in the Office of the Provost.

CEC permits alumni to extend their initial embargo request for up to 2 additional years for:
- Pending Patents
- Government restrictions
- Personal concerns

The maximum embargo time permitted by CEC is four years, including the extension. Renewal embargo request decisions are not reviewed beyond the Graduate Division.