Progress through the PhD Degree

Fostering a Mus/Ethno Community

• The Mus/Ethno Division is committed to fostering a supportive community of both mentors and peers for each student in the program. The 0-credit-hour course MUS [TBD], Musicology/Ethnomusicology Forum, is an opportunity for the entire Division to come together to support each other’s work-in-progress and to learn from invited speakers. Students are expected to enroll in this course every semester, unless they have an unmovable conflict with their outside coursework or TA assignment. Faculty will also be expected to attend regularly.
• The Division strongly recommends that when students are making course selections, they should expose themselves to as many different perspectives, specialties, methodologies, and research areas as possible, rather than focusing on a single area of specialization.  Participation in Division ensembles is also strongly encouraged as an important form of professional training.
• As students begin to form their comprehensive exam and dissertation committees, they should reflect on this breadth of experiences and consider how their committee will help them fulfill their intellectual and professional goals, and how their committee is an opportunity to foster different networks within an intellectual community. Students may wish to consider a range of criteria when selecting a committee, including breadth/range of scholarly specialization, methodology, and practical/professional expertise.

Assessment of Progress to the PhD

• Every entering student will meet with their assigned Division Graduate Counselor at the start of their first semester to review the degree program benchmarks, enroll in first-semester courses, and begin conversation about potential second-semester coursework. 
• In October of each year, every student who is not in doctoral candidacy will meet with their assigned Division Graduate Counselor prior to course pre-registration for spring semester, to review completed coursework, assess their progress to degree according to the benchmarks specified below, and determine appropriate fall semester coursework. 
• In January of each year, every student will submit a brief self-report on progress to degree, using a form provided by the Division. The self-report will include coursework completed, as well as intended coursework and degree benchmark completion for the upcoming Spring and Fall semesters. 
• The Division will review student self-reports alongside faculty reports on student progress and will provide each student by March 1 with a brief written evaluation indicating satisfactory, satisfactory-with-reservations, or unsatisfactory progress to degree. The written evaluation may also indicate suggestions from the Division for the student to take into consideration in their continuing work.  If the Division determines that the student is making unsatisfactory progress, the Division will provide the student with clear and explicit guidelines on expectation for resolution of their “unsatisfactory progress” status (see Unsatisfactory Progress to Degree below).  
• In March of each year, every student who is not in doctoral candidacy will meet with their assigned Division Graduate Counselor prior to course pre-registration for fall semester, to review completed coursework and assess their progress to degree according to the benchmarks specified below, discuss the Division written evaluation if they choose, and determine appropriate fall semester coursework. 

Standard / Satisfactory Progress to the PhD Degree

• The standard progress-to-degree timeline for all Division graduate students will involve three years of organized coursework that concludes with comprehensive exams and the defense of a dissertation prospectus at the end of the 6th semester.  Dissertation research (Fieldwork, archival research, etc) is to be conducted during the 7th and 8th semesters, and writeup and defense of the dissertation during the 9th and 10th semesters. In certain cases, additional coursework (language study, etc.) may be needed for a student to complete their dissertation research; in this case, additional courses may be taken in the 7th and 8th semesters. A more detailed description of the standard timeline with specific benchmarks is provided below. 
• It is understood that some students may need extra time to advance to candidacy and / or to progress from candidacy to completion of their dissertation, owing to required remedial work in music, certificate programs, other additional coursework they consider necessary for their pre-professional training, and/or personal circumstances.  Students may fall up to two semesters behind the standard timeline specified below without negative effect on their satisfactory progress to degree, but funding is not guaranteed by the Division for this additional year.

Unsatisfactory Progress (and waiver/resolution)

• If a student falls more than 2 semesters behind the suggested benchmarks prior to doctoral candidacy, they will be considered as making “unsatisfactory progress” and will be notified of their status and the expectations for resolution (See below).
• If a student falls more than two semesters behind expectations for graduation after advancing to doctoral candidacy, they will be considered as making “unsatisfactory progress” and will be notified of their status and the expectations for resolution (See below).
• The Division will waive “unsatisfactory progress” designation, by petition, for students whose inability to meet suggested benchmarks is connected to disability or significant adverse personal circumstances.  However, the Division cannot commit to providing more than five years / 10 semesters of funding overall to any student, regardless of circumstances affecting progress through degree benchmarks.
• If/when a student is alerted by the Division of “unsatisfactory progress”, they must quickly inform the Division (within two weeks, in writing, via the Division Head) how they intend to return to “satisfactory progress” status within a semester (details on necessary action will be provided to the student in each case), in order to remain in the program and continue receiving financial support.  This response can also include a student’s petition for the Division to waive “unsatisfactory progress” status, per above.  
• If the Division does not waive the “unsatisfactory progress” designation, and if a student does not resolve their “unsatisfactory progress” according to their plan within a semester, their financial support from the Division will be suspended until they have returned to “satisfactory progress” status.