UH & COE Session 1* Deadlines

Spring Session 1 General Academic Deadlines

• First Class Day* — Jan. 13, 2025
• Martin Luther King Holiday — Jan. 20, 2025
• Last Day to Add a Class* — Jan. 21, 2025
• Last Day to DROP or Withdraw without a Grade* — Jan. 29, 2025
• Last day to DROP or WITHDRAW with a “W”* — April 16, 2025
• Spring Holiday—March 15, 2025
• Spring Term Official Closing* — May 6. 2025,
• Deadline for Posting Final Grades, Faculty* May 12, 2025

Spring Session 1 Thesis/Dissertation and Graduation Deadlines

• Dates for Regular Graduation Application — Nov. 4. 2024 – Feb. 21,025
• Dates for LATE Graduation Application — Feb. 22, 2025 – March 21, 2025
• Last Day for Final Defense — April 28, 2025
• COE Manuscript Review Deadline — May 9, 2025
• Deadline for Electronic Upload of Dissertation and Thesis — May 12, 2025

*Deadline dates for Sessions 2,3,4, and Mini are different. Please review the Academic Calendar.

College-Approved Final Draft of Thesis or Dissertation

The format and style of presentation for a thesis or dissertation should conform to the most acceptable standards of scientific and scholarly writing in the discipline. Before preparing a thesis or dissertation, every student should refer to the College guide for the preparation of theses and dissertations at the CITE Training Library - Dissertation Resources.

After a successful final defense, the committee chair records the approval of the defended thesis or dissertation in MyAdvisor. At the defense or thereafter, using the dissertation and thesis signature form, the student gathers signatures from all advisory committee members and the dean of the College of Education. The advisory committee must review the completed finalized draft of the thesis or dissertation before collecting the signature of the dean of the College of Education and ahead of the final submission process.

The College's Office of Graduate Studies evaluates theses or dissertations for adherence to the College's formatting guidelines, electronic text matching, and electronic archiving requirements by the University of Houston. Once the office approves the thesis or dissertation formatting, students submit their work to the College (MyAdvisor) and University (The Texas Digital Library) as a Portable Document Format (PDF).

To receive a college-approved thesis or dissertation evaluation and instructions for submission, contact Bernice Roberts at broberts2@uh.edu (Office of Graduate Studies, 256 Farish Hall) before noon of the final draft deadline for an evaluation appointment.

Completed Submission of Thesis or Dissertation

All the student and College approval processes for submission of a thesis or dissertation must be complete no later than the final grading deadline for faculty during the first regular academic session of the academic term, as published in the graduate Academic Calendar.

A completed submission of a thesis or dissertation includes the following:

1. College approval of defended thesis or dissertation, including final draft review
2. Assignment of final grade(s) — not to exceed the six (6) hours required on current degree plans — for thesis or dissertation courses by the professor of record
3. All components of the electronic submission to the University and College, for archiving

Early Submission of Thesis or Dissertation

If the student meets all the requirements for a completed submission of thesis or dissertation prior to the early submission deadline, they can request a reduced course load to one credit hour for a thesis or dissertation course via a Graduate and Professional Student Petition (instructions). The early submission deadline is the last day to add a class in the first regular academic session of the academic term, as published in the graduate Academic Calendar. 

The Associate Dean of Graduate Studies (Office of Graduate Studies, 256 Farish Hall) will review the petition request, no later than the early submission deadline. Any student who meets the requirements for a completed submission but does not submit a petition by the deadline must remain in the required three credit hours of enrollment for a thesis or dissertation course.