Resources for Current Ph.D. Students

Ph.D. Student Handbook, 2025-26

The Ph.D. student handbook provides a roadmap of how to efficiently progress through the Ph.D. program successfully.

Make sure to view the PA Ph.D. Handbook.

Conference Travel Funding

The department encourages students to attend and present at academic and professional conferences during your time in the program. Please review the department's travel guide in preparation for conference attendance.

FIU's Graduate and Professional Student Committee (GPSC) offers up to $500 for domestic conferences. The GPSC funding request form is here, see their website for more details.

The Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs provides award funds up to $400 each year. Click here for the application.

Annual Progress Reviews

Each year, the PhD. Committee conducts an Annual Progress Review meeting with each Ph.D. student. The intent of the review is to assess student's progress in the PhD program and to address any concerns that the student may have. The meetings for the Annual Progress Reviews are held in the Spring semester.

You will need to complete the Annual Progress Review online in your MyFIU portal. Students should provide a copy of the completed evaluation as well as a brief summary of their work addressing the points below via email to the program coordinator no later than three weekdays prior to the date of the evaluation meeting:
• Coursework (taken and planned) along with your grades and your overall GPA
• Dissertation (progress and/or plan defense proposal/dissertation)
• Teaching/TA work
• Publications/R&Rs/conference papers
• Service (at FIU or in professional associations)

Dissertation Chair Form

By the end of the spring of the 2^nd year in the program, all students need to select a dissertation chair/major professor. Please see the dissertation chair selection form here.

Dissertation Proposal Form

Upon successful completion of the comprehensive examination, a student should finalize the dissertation proposal in consultation with their dissertation committee. Students are required to complete and share their short proposal form with the program director no later than one week prior to formally defending their dissertation proposal in an oral presentation.

iThenticate Title Page

The Request for Oral Defense online dissertation milestone requires major professors to create an iThenticate plagiarism report for students’ dissertations. The iThenticate title page, to be completed by the student in advance of their dissertation defense, shall be added to the iThenticate report. The purpose of the title page is to provide additional clarification and thereby prevent delays, multiple resubmissions, or extra work on the part of the student or major professor.

Comprehensive Examination

The PhD comprehensive examinations are tentatively scheduled as follows:

Fall 2025:

- Written Exam: Thursday, November 6th & Friday, November 7th, 2025

- Dissertation Proposal: Friday, November 14th, 2025 (one week after the written exam)

- Oral Exam: Friday, November 21st, 2025

Spring 2026:

- Written Exam: Thursday, April 2nd & Friday, April 3rd, 2026

- Dissertation Proposal: April 10th, 2026 (one week after the written exam)

- Oral Exam: TBD, April 2026

Dissertation Funding Sources

Doctoral Evidence Acquisition (DEA) Fellowship
The Doctoral Evidence Acquisition (DEA) Fellowship is specifically intended to support doctoral students for whom their current means of financial support would significantly interfere with or preclude their ability to collect the evidence needed for their doctoral research. A DEA Fellow is awarded a stipend to enable evidence acquisition that otherwise would not be possible. Evidence acquisition activities that might be supported by the DEA Fellowship include, but are not limited to, off-campus library/archive research, field work, experiments, interviews, collection of specimens, etc. Click here for more information and to apply for the Doctoral Evidence Acquisition Fellowship.
Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF)
The Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF) provides support to highly-qualified FIU doctoral students during the writing phase of their dissertation. It is intended to facilitate the timely completion of high-quality manuscripts and dissertations. Dissertation Fellows are expected to graduate within one year after receiving the award. Click here for more information and to apply for the Dissertation Year Fellowship

University Graduate School Resources

Graduate students can stay up-to-date with UGS' policies and procedures, academic resources, events, etc. by visiting the University Graduate School's website.