Scheduling a Remote Defense

Updated 6 December 2022

Graduate School policy permits defenses by teleconference, as long as participation is synchronous. That is, the candidate and all committee members must participate in real time. Video recording a defense for one or more committee members to view later is not permitted.

While the Graduate School is not equipped to coordinate your remote defense, you and your committee members can find apps and assistance for setting up a teleconferenced defense here:

• Clemson Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) has launched a Resource page providing information and apps for students, faculty and staff working remotely.
• Clemson Online’s Tools page hosts additional resources for teleconferencing, eLearning and collaboration, including instructional videos.

The Grad School’s GS7M — Final Exam and Master’s Thesis Approval Form and GS7D — Doctoral Dissertation Defense and Approval Form have been updated to facilitate an all digital workflow and submission.

These PDF forms permit digital signatures and feature a “submit” button for forwarding the form to the Registrar. Instructions have been added for making full use of the interactive form features:

• Download/save the form to your device rather than trying to complete and sign it using your browser's PDF extension.
• Have one committee member (preferably your advisor) digitally sign the form and forward it as an email attachment to the next committee member to sign; then have that member forward to the next member. If you send your GS7 to all committee members at the same time, you’ll end up with multiple PDFs — each with one signature — and Enrolled Services will not be able to process multiples.
• The last committee member to sign may click the “submit” button which will generate an email with attachment to Enrolled Services (the registrar’s records database), OR may return it to you, the candidate, and you may submit it while keeping the PDF for your own records.
• You may still submit your GS7 as a printed copy, in person or by regular mail, with either digital or handwritten signatures, at any time the Enrolled Services office is open.

Your thesis or dissertation submission process for both format review and publication is done online.