Library deposit is the final degree requirement for Graduate Center doctoral and master's students. If you are preparing to graduate, review the the Dissertations and Theses guide and consult with your program office for requirements and deadlines.

Questions? Contact the Dissertation Office at deposit@gc.cuny.edu.

There is no single source for a comprehensive dissertation search. WorldCat and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global include most American dissertations. Dissertations @ The Center for Research Libraries lends non-American dissertations to member borrowers. Library catalogs and specialized repositories contain other titles. Request any dissertation through Interlibrary Loan. Though not every title is available through ILL, it is worth a try.

In 1961, CUNY's Graduate School and University Center became the doctorate-granting institution for The City University of New York, using a consortial model of graduate education that drew upon faculty and facilities from across CUNY.

The first graduates of the first Ph.D. program deposited their dissertations in 1965.

Print copies

Bound copies of most dissertations from 1965–2015 are located in the library and shelved chronologically, then alphabetically by student's last name:

• 1965–1988: 2nd floor
• 1989–2015: 1st floor Dissertation Reading Room

To aid browsing, bound copies were color-coded by degree program, creating the multi-color shelves that are now the hallmark of the Dissertation Reading Room. See the dissertations color chart for more information.

Some programs offered joint degrees with other CUNY schools, and bound copies of these dissertations were cataloged by and shelved at their respective campus libraries. These include:

• Ph.D. Program in Business: locate bound dissertations at Baruch College's Newman Library
• Ph.D. Program in Criminal Justice: locate bound dissertations at John Jay College's Lloyd Sealy Library
• Ph.D. Program in Engineering: locate dissertations at City College's Cohen Library

Bound copies of master's theses are located on the 2nd floor (see map). Theses are shelved chronologically, then alphabetically by student's last name.

In November 2015, the library ceased archiving print copies of dissertations and theses, moving to a fully electronic thesis and dissertation program.

Digital Access

As of 2014, all Graduate Center dissertations, theses, and capstone projects are posted to CUNY Academic Works. Some are immediately available to read and download, and some become available after an embargo period set by the author. Digitized versions of pre-2014 dissertations and doctoral capstone projects are available to the CUNY community via our Retrospective Dissertations, 1965-2013 database (CUNY Login required).

Some pre-2014 works have been added to CUNY Academic Works at the author's request, with more being added each month. Browse by year to view select dissertations going back to 1966. Alumni who graduated before 2014 and would like to make their own GC dissertation publicly available should email deposit@gc.cuny.edu for assistance. We are unable to add pre-2014 master's theses at this time.

Doctoral dissertations are also available in ProQuest's Digital Dissertations subscription database (log in with your GC network ID). The database includes digital reproductions from the UMI microform going back to 1965.