Graduate Student Annual Reports

The following is an excerpt from the Graduate School Handbook for Directors of Graduate Study:

... all doctoral students ... at Duke University will be required, as a condition of their enrollment, to file annually with their Director of Graduate Studies a written report on their progress towards the Ph.D. degree. This report will be due on April 15 of each year a student is enrolled in the Graduate School. The Director of Graduate Studies will subsequently certify to the Associate Dean of the Graduate School that this report has been received and will, where deemed appropriate, forward copies to the student's doctoral committee. The Graduate School will track the submission of the annual reports as a "milestone" in the student's official record. Failure to submit this annual progress report will jeopardize a student's continuation in the graduate program.

For students who have not completed coursework or qualifying/preliminary examinations, this report should identify the likely schedule of courses still to be taken, and the likely dates at which the student will sit for the Qualifying and/or Preliminary examinations. For students who have passed the Preliminary examinations, the report should specify annually the progress of their dissertation research, identify any portions of completed written work, establish a clear time-line for completion of any remaining chapters of the dissertation, and set a target date for final defense.

The Mathematics Department has the following requirements for graduate students in Mathematics:

• Write a summary of your academic activities that includes the information listed below.
• Submit the report to your mentor or advisor for feedback and revisions to be made.
• The final version should be given or emailed to to the DGSA Jenny Hirtz by the April 15 deadline. Your faculty supervisor should approve it either by signing the paper copy or sending an email to the DGSA.

First Year students:

• Courses taken in year one (both fall and spring)
• Likely courses to be taken in year two
• Status of their written and oral qualifying exams

Second Year students:

• Courses taken in year two (both fall and spring)
• Any remaining courses to be taken in year three
• Research directions and planned research advisor
• Projected date for the prelim exam

Third Year students:

• Any remaining courses to be taken
• Chair and committee members for the preliminary exam, expected date
• Proposed thesis topic.

Fourth and Higher Years:

• Thesis advisor and thesis defense committee members
• Outline of progress on thesis research
• Target date for final defense

ALL students should include information about:

• Summer plans (or next year's job if you are graduating)
• Summer programs to be attended
• Conferences attended (during the academic year or planned for the summer)
• Talks or posters presented outside of Duke
• Papers submitted for publication

While it may be esthetically pleasing to write your report in one continuous narrative, it is easier to extract the information if it is divided into sections as follows. If there is nothing to report in a section, omit it.

• Courses (taken and planned)
• Exams (completed and planned)
• Research Summary
• Summer Plans (including programs and conferences to be attended)
• Conferences (you have attended, talks or posters presented)
• Papers (submitted for publication)

Please give the location and dates for conferences and summer programs. You should feel free to adapt the subdivisions to meet your need but reports that do not follow these guidelines will not be accepted.