Dissertation defense schedule

Dissertation Defense Details

  • Videoconference Set Up
  • Tips for Effective Videoconference Dissertations

Submitting your Announcement of Public Defense of the Dissertation

Update: 09-01-21

Defenses may be held entirely in person, hybrid where some attendees are in person and others online, or the defense may take place entirely online.  The dissertation chair has the discretion to approve the option, but is asked to be sensitive of requests for remote attendance.

Create a Videoconference via Teams: If a hybrid or entirely online defense is held, the student will be responsible for setting up the virtual defense through the required platform, Microsoft Teams. 

  • Review tips on creating and managing webinars in Microsoft Teams. 
  • Please have the Dissertator send out invitations to those they would like to attend the session. Encourage the invitees to download the software or app of the platform being used in advance so they have a chance to troubleshoot.
  • Functionality is better over the apps than over web browsers. Chrome and Firefox are optimal if using a desktop or laptop browser. 
  • Videoconference dissertations should be scheduled 30 minutes before the scheduled defense time, allowing the dissertator and their audience ample time to troubleshoot and be acclimated to the virtual space. 
  • Include videoconference link and other meeting details in multiple communication so that it can be easily accessed by the invitees.  
  • For Microsoft Teams, become familiar with the additional features, including the "Poll" capabilities, which not only helps lighten up the event, but allows people to send encouragement to the dissertator.  
  • Advisors should begin with a brief explanation for the audience for how to use the platform. The most important reminder is to tell invitees to mute themselves unless they are speaking to reduce ambient noise and other distractions. Be sure to ask invitees if they are familiar with how to do this and if not, feel free to walk them through the mute feature. If there are audio issues, it can be helpful to turn the video off.
  • Advisors should record the session for the person defending as a memento for this occasion. This is a recommendation and optional. 

Dissertation Defense Schedule 

March

Elizabeth Flasch

Program: Nursing

Dissertation Director: Aimee Woda

Date/Time: March 24, 2026, 8:00a.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Testing a New Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument for Pediatric Nursing"

Shannan Cantu Santoli

Program: Nursing PhD

Dissertation Director: Dr. Lisa Hanson

Date/Time: March 24, 2026, 1:00p.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "A Retrospective Study of the Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Postpartum Blood Loss"

Brian Burns

Program: History

Dissertation Director: A. Kristen Foster

Date/Time: March 24, 2026, 1:30p.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Contests of Masculinity"

Jessi Reidy

Program: Behavior Analysis

Dissertation Director: Tiffany Kodak

Date/Time: March 25, 2026, 8:30a.m.

Defense Location: Virtual Defense Link

Dissertation Title: "Teaching Professional Skills to Future Behavior Analysts Using Behavior Skills Training and Self-Assessment"

John Bodenschatz

Program: Computational mathematical and statistical sciences

Dissertation Director: Daniel B Rowe

Date/Time: March 25, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: Cudahy 414 or Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Improved Simulation, Bayesian Estimation, Phase Activation, and Non-Cartesian Reconstruction in FMRI"

Shari Fehrenbach

Program: Nursing PhD

Dissertation Director: Aimee Woda PhD, RN

Date/Time: March 25, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Using Chatgpt AI to Analyze Clinical Judgment in Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation From Prelicensure Nursing Students"

Hadiya Adams

Program: Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology

Dissertation Director: Alan W. Burkard

Date/Time: March 26, 2026, 8:30a.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Integrating Aspects of Multicultural Counseling With Children: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study"

Lora A. Strigens

Program: Educational Policy and Leadership

Dissertation Director: Jody Jessup-Anger

Date/Time: March 26, 2026, 12:30p.m.

Defense Location: Schroeder Complex 112 or Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Capital Projects as Catalysts for Strategic Change and Transformation in Higher Education"

Kaylen Vine

Program: Clinical Psychology

Dissertation Director: Lucas Torres

Date/Time: March 26, 2026, 2:30p.m.

Defense Location: Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Black Americans' Culturally Grounded Decisions on Mental Health Treatment Initiation After Injury: A Mixed-Method Study"

Holly Nerone

Program: Educational Policy and Leadership

Dissertation Director: Eric Dimmitt, PhD

Date/Time: March 27, 2026, 8:00a.m.

Defense Location: Straz Hall 5512 or Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Stories of Stress: Experiences of Students in a Second-Degree, Graduate-Level, Prelicensure Nursing Program"

Samuel Turpin

Program: Religious Studies

Dissertation Director: Michael Cover

Date/Time: March 27, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: AMU 313

Dissertation Title: "Humanity's Salvific Dilemmas: Disentangling the Plight in Romans"

Melanie Simone Lorenz

Program: History

Dissertation Director: Alison Efford

Date/Time: March 27, 2026, 12:00p.m.

Defense Location: Sensenbrenner Hall 302

Dissertation Title: "Carrying The Midwife’s Bag Across the Atlantic: Immigrant Midwives and the Fate of Midwifery in the United States, 1850s – 1920s"

Thomas Shomer

Program: Computational mathematical and statistical sciences

Dissertation Director: Marta Magiera

Date/Time: March 27, 2026, 2:30p.m.

Defense Location: CU 401 or Microsoft Teams Link

Dissertation Title: "Fourth- and Eighth-Grade Students’ Achievement in Statistics: An Exploratory Study of TIMSS 2019 Data from the United States"

Alexander Gebhard

Program: Computer Science

Dissertation Director: Debbie Perouli

Date/Time: March 30, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: CU 414

Dissertation Title: "From Legacy to Resilience: Securing Industrial Protocols in a Connected Era"

Elizabeth Schick

Program: Religious Studies

Dissertation Director: Michael Cover

Date/Time: March 30, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: AMU 313

Dissertation Title: "Hearing the Voice of the Bridegroom": A Johannine Nuptial Christology for the 21st Century

April

Kathryn Barber

Program: Clinical Psychology

Dissertation Director: Jacklynn Fitzgerald

Date/Time: April 7, 2026, 11:30a.m.

Defense Location: Virtual Link

Dissertation Title: "Dimensional and Temporal Associations Between Executive Function Domains and Trichotillomania and Skin Picking Disorder Symptoms"

Oscar Momanyi

Program: Theology

Dissertation Director: Dr. Joseph Ogbonnaya

Date/Time: April 10, 2026, 10:00a.m.

Defense Location: AMU 313

Dissertation Title: "Reimagining African Ecclesiology: Appropriating the Ecclesial Thought of Pope Francis for the Renewal of the Church in Kenya"