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Faculty signature requirements vary depending on the type of degree. 

Master's thesis (Plan I and Plan III) Final Report Forms must be signed by the entire faculty committee, and the program/department director/chair (or equivalent faculty with signing authority, i.e. department vice chair).

Doctoral dissertation Final Report Forms must be signed by the entire faculty committee, and the program/department director/chair (or equivalent faculty with signing authority, i.e. department vice chair).

Doctoral project (AuD only) Final Report must be signed by the entire faculty committee, and the program/department director/chair (or equivalent faculty with signing authority, i.e. department vice chair).

Master's degree comprehensive exams (Plan II) and professional master's degree forms may be signed by a staff designate.* 

*The Graduate Council (in March 2021) approved department/program faculty leadership to delegate signature authority to staff designates for approval of academic master’s comprehensive exams (Plan II) and professional master's capstone reports. (See the full announcement here)

• Each program may determine its own delegation of authority for master’s comp examinations (plan II) and professional master's forms.

• To implement a staff designate, the graduate program faculty are required to vote on all master’s comp exams and professional master’s capstone projects at the end of each quarter. Once unanimous faculty approval is given, the designated staff member has authority to sign the final report forms (via DocuSign) on behalf of faculty advisors and department chairs/program directors.

• There is no need to notify GEPA that the staff delegate process is being used. Please note that the name of the staff designate must be listed on the DocuSign routing, even if a role account is used for the email address.

See the DocuSign instructions on the DocuSign Forms page.