CSSI’s Dissertation Completion Program is a spring semester program that provides graduate students the time, space, and resources needed to cross the finish line in the completion of their dissertation or final creative project. Whatever your discipline, our staff are ready to offer specialized services and expertise to assist you through the final stages of your work.  

DCP participants work in residence at our center and attend bi-weekly accountability meetings and workshops throughout the semester. Workshops are designed to provide DCP participants with additional skills, information, and the opportunity to receive feedback on specific components of their projects. 

Program Features & Benefits

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Dedicated Workspace

Work within quiet assigned offices to support focused writing and research. Receive full access to the center's meeting rooms, printing stations, and break areas.

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Supportive Community

Connect with fellow students and collaborate with CSSI staff who can assist with all administrative, IT, and research needs. 
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Collaborative Learning

Participate in regular cohort meetings, workshops, networking events, and opportunities for professional development. 
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Research Funding

Receive up to $1,000 to defray the costs of research travel or development during program enrollment. 

How to Apply

Applications open: Wednesday, September 25th 

Application deadline: Monday, November 4th 

Participant notifications: Monday, December 2nd 

Orientation lunch: Thursday, January 16th

Start: Tuesday, January 21st 

End: Friday, May 9th

The Dissertation Completion Program aligns with the Spring Semester calendar. 

Applicants must be affiliated with the University of Iowa. 

Currently enrolled PhD students who have completed all required coursework for their doctoral program and have passed any required comprehensive exams are eligible to apply. Priority will go to graduate students conducting social science research who anticipate defending their dissertation within one year of the program end. 

Applications for the 2024-2025 Dissertation Completion Program are currently closed. 

Applications for the 2025-2026 program are anticipated to open in the fall of 2025.

APPLICATIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED

Program Participants

2024

Sun Joo Lee, a doctoral student in the School of Music, focused on a project titled “The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Group Singing to Improve Voice Quality and Mood for Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease” during her time in the 2024 Dissertation Completion Program. Through this research, Sun Joo aims to “offer community-based therapeutic group singing as a social intervention to address motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease” which would benefit both patients and caregivers.

To learn more about Sun Joo Lee and her work, read the full article.

Tasha Lindo, a doctoral student in the Literacy, Culture, and Language Education program in the College of Education, worked on her dissertation titled “Engaging in critical conversations with secondary school Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) girls: Conceptualizing identities in an AAPI young adult book club" during the 2024 Dissertation Completion Program.

Inspired by her time as a Filipina English language arts teacher, Tasha aimed to discover how AAPI high school girls read and respond to AAPI young adult literature. In an afterschool book club, she documented the ways in which issues of identity, sex, race, gender, and class were discussed.

Read the full article to learn more about Lindo's dissertation and her DCP experience.

Haofeng Ma, a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science, focused on his dissertation titled “Native Tongues, Language Policy, and Political Attitudes” during the 2024 Dissertation Completion Program at the center. He is studied how language policies affect attitudes toward the government, particularly among citizens whose native language is not the same as their resident country’s official language(s). 

According to Haofeng, policies often dictate which language(s) must be used in public service provisions, and this choice of official language can impose “significant barriers” in accessing these public services and potentially impact political attitudes.

Read the full article to learn more about Haofeng's research and how he benefitted from the program. 

Pamela Nwachukwu, a doctoral student in the College of Dentistry studying dental care access for underserved populations, developed her dissertation titled "Impact of Medicaid Dental Policy Changes on Dental Care Access for the Medicaid Population" during the 2024 Dissertation Completion Program. Her dissertation focuses on assessing the impacts of health policy changes on dental care access for Medicaid beneficiaries.

To learn more about Nwachukwu's dissertation and the progress she made during the program, read the full article.

Chad Rhym, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, worked on his dissertation titled “100 Years of the Golden Rule: Interrogating Racialized Norms in Journalistic Objectivity” during the 2024 Dissertation Completion Program at the center. 

With experience as a journalist, Chad aims to investigate the past, present, and future of “journalistic objectivity” as a racial project. He conducted interviews with three generations of Black and white journalists about how they define, critique, and defend this journalistic concept.

Learn more about Chad's dissertation in the full article.