5.3 THE COMPREHENSIVE DEFENSE HEARING
Once completed, the Director of PhD in Leadership Studies distributes the two publishable papers to the committee. The committee discusses the publishable quality of the comprehensives. If the comprehensives are deemed publishable, a hearing is schedule.
The oral defense of the prospectus is an open hearing that includes the student, the comprehensive committee, student colleagues, and other Capital faculty. During open hearings, students take 5 minutes to present the first paper. This presentation is then followed by an approximate 40-minute dialogue with the comprehensive committee and others attending the open hearing. The purpose of this dialogue is to help students refine, delimit, and/or clarify the research design. This process is then repeated for the second paper.
The style of the presentation is formal (business formal dress) and professional (quality of presentation materials).