Everything you need to know to track, plan, and share your progress through the PAPA PhD program.
The PAPA PhD Tracker is a free, browser-based planning tool for Virginia Tech CPAP doctoral students. It lets you map your courses to semesters, track credit completion across all five requirement buckets, follow your 15 program milestones, and log Doctoral Mentoring Program (DMP) sessions.
It is not an official Virginia Tech or CPAP tool. It was built from the November 2024 CPAP Policy Guide and the April 2026 Qualifying Examination & Constellations update (approved April 23, 2026). Use it as a planning aid and always confirm decisions with your advisor and the VT Graduate School.
The PAPA PhD requires 90 total credit hours across six course buckets, plus dissertation credits.
Remaining credits after the five required coursework buckets are electives (which can include transfer-in credits). Dissertation credits (PAPA 7994) are taken throughout the program, with 3 of the 30 dissertation hours reserved for the DMP and unlocked once you complete 15 sessions. The tracker handles the math automatically.
The tracker is organized into four tabs. Here is what each one does:
The Dashboard is your at-a-glance view. It shows total credits earned, a breakdown by each requirement bucket, and your DMP session progress (with + and − buttons to log sessions). Check this tab first to see how your plan is shaping up.
The Planner is where you build your semester-by-semester course schedule. At the top is a Transfer In section — place any courses you transferred in here and they automatically count toward your elective total. Below that are your semesters, labeled Sem 1 through Sem 10 plus five Summer terms.
Tap any course row within a semester to assign a specific course to it. A small circle on each semester card lets you mark that term as complete. There are no per-term credit limits enforced — the tracker accommodates both full-time and part-time schedules.
The Courses tab shows every course in the program grouped by bucket. Tap a row to toggle it between complete and incomplete. Completed courses show a green checkmark and are visually dimmed. This syncs automatically with the Dashboard progress bars.
Elective and dissertation entries (labeled Elective 1â6 and Dissertation 1â10) have a small pencil icon next to their name. Tap it to rename them to the actual course or dissertation phase, such as "PAPA 6984 â Topics in PA" or "Proposal Development." The renamed label carries through to the Planner and the printed PDF report.
The Milestones tab lists all 15 program checkpoints in the order you should reach them. Each milestone shows its target timing and a brief description. Tap the circle to the left of any milestone to mark it done. Done milestones are struck through and slightly faded.
The tracker includes all 15 CPAP PhD milestones, updated to reflect the new constellation-based qualifying exam process.
| # | Milestone | Target timing | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scholarly ethics quiz | Year 1 (early) | Pre-QE |
| 2 | CITI human subjects training | Year 1 | Pre-QE |
| 3 | Plan of study submitted | Before 24 credits | Pre-QE |
| 4 | Constellation selected | Before QE registration | Pre-QE |
| 5 | QE request submitted | By May 1 (hard deadline) | QE |
| 6 | Submitted papers ready | By August 1 | QE |
| 7 | Foundations essay completed | By August 1 | QE |
| 8 | QE oral engagement | August only | QE |
| 9 | Qualifying examination passed | August | QE |
| 10 | Dissertation committee formed | After qualifying exam | Post-QE |
| 11 | Concentration lecture delivered | Before Dec 1 / May 1 (not summer) | Post-QE |
| 12 | Capstone seminar completed | Last semester of coursework | Post-QE |
| 13 | Prospectus defense | After coursework complete | Post-QE |
| 14 | Dissertation draft distributed | At least 2 weeks before defense | Post-QE |
| 15 | Dissertation defense | Final milestone | Post-QE |
May 1 — QE request deadline each year (June 1 in 2026 only, as a one-time grace period). Missing this means waiting a full year for the next August exam cycle.
August 1 — Submitted papers and Foundations Essay both due.
August — Oral engagement (15-minute presentation + 30-minute Q&A with 3-faculty committee). The regular QE runs once per year in August only. January is available as a retake window for students who did not pass the prior August exam. A second attempt must occur within one calendar year of the first. If a student fails on the second attempt, the full CPAP faculty convenes to assess the student's overall performance and decide whether they should continue to candidacy.
Tap the Settings button in the header, to the right of the "PAPA PhD tracker" title. The Settings panel opens inline above the tab content and contains all configuration options.
Name and email are optional. These fields save in your browser as you type and appear in full backups and full PDF reports. Share links omit them by default; the preview lets you explicitly include them. The summary report omits your profile.
Set the semester you began the program. This controls how Planner semesters are labeled (e.g., Fall 2024, Spring 2025, and so on).
Under Appearance, tap Light or Dark to switch themes. Light mode uses VT's maroon and burnt orange palette. Dark mode uses a neutral dark theme. Your preference is saved automatically.
Under Reset at the bottom of the Settings panel, the Reset all progress button clears your entire tracker in one step. A confirmation dialog appears before anything is deleted. The following are cleared: completed courses, completed milestones, DMP session count, all semester assignments, and any custom course names.
The following are not cleared: your name, email, start semester, and light/dark preference. This action cannot be undone, so download a backup first if you want to preserve your current state.
The full disclaimer is accessible in Settings. It covers the source documents, data privacy, and program accuracy notes. Read it at least once.
Both sharing options are under Settings → Share & Export.
Select Preview share link to review a snapshot of completed courses, milestones, DMP sessions, assignments, custom course names, start semester and appearance. Name and email are excluded unless you check Include my name and email in this link. Expand Exact data included in the link to inspect the payload, then choose Copy reviewed link. Custom course names may identify you even without a profile. The recipient sees a read-only view.
See a read-only tracker with sample data: View example shared tracker
Opens a clean, VT-branded progress report in a new browser tab. The report includes your credit summary, full semester plan, course completion checklist, and milestone checklist. Use your browser's print dialog (Ctrl+P on Windows, Cmd+P on Mac) to print or save it as a PDF.
For a smaller disclosure, Print summary (no profile) includes only credit totals, DMP count, start semester and the report date. Full reports include your profile and detailed plan. Review the output before sharing it.
See an example of the printable PDF report: View example PDF report
If browser storage is blocked or full, a status message warns that changes remain only in the current tab. Download a backup before closing the page. An unreadable saved copy is preserved until you explicitly restore a valid backup.
Go to Settings → Backup & Restore and click Download backup (.json). This saves a small file to your computer containing your entire tracker state, including your name, email, custom course names, assignments, and preferences. Keep it in a private location outside this public website repository or any publicly shared folder. A full backup is a recovery file, not a minimal report for an advisor.
In the same Backup & Restore section, click Restore from file and select your saved .json file. The tracker validates the complete file before asking to replace your plan. An invalid file or failed save leaves your current plan unchanged. Older backups that omit your name and email keep the profile already on this device.
No. This is a personal project built by Dean Lefor for himself and his classmates. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Virginia Tech or the CPAP program. Always confirm your plan with your advisor and the VT Graduate School.
The tracker saves progress in this browser without uploading it to an application database. Other people using this browser profile and scripts running on this website can access saved data. Shared links and exports contain the data you choose to share. Hosting and font providers receive ordinary requests. See Privacy and your data.
Only if you have a .json backup file saved from before you cleared the data. There is no server-side storage, so progress that is gone from your browser cannot be recovered externally. This is why regular backups (Settings → Backup & Restore → Download backup) are strongly recommended.
Try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac). Make sure you are using a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge). The tracker does not support Internet Explorer. If the issue continues, try opening it in a non-incognito browser window, since private browsing may limit storage or discard it when the session ends. The tracker shows a warning when saving is unavailable.
Yes. The tracker is responsive and works on mobile browsers. The Planner tab in particular is easier to use on a larger screen, but all features are accessible on a phone.
Not automatically, since there is no account or sync. To move your progress to another device, download a .json backup on the first device, then restore it on the second device under Settings → Backup & Restore. To keep two devices in sync, you would need to export and import each time you make significant updates.
Two options are available under Settings → Share & Export. Preview share link lets you review the data before copying a read-only URL. Name and email are excluded by default. Anyone with the URL can read and retain it. Print / Save as PDF produces a formatted report they can review on-screen or print.
That depends on your cohort and any transition agreements made by the program. The April 2026 Qualifying Examination & Constellations update replaced the prior 3-of-5-fields exam, but students who entered before that change may be subject to different procedures. Contact your advisor and the CPAP Graduate Director to confirm which rules apply to you.
Constellation I — Public Management: Management & Leadership + Complex Organizations
Constellation II — PA Foundations: Theory & Context + Normative Foundations
Constellation III — Public Policy: Public Policy Process + Policy Design + Policy Inquiry
Constellation IV — Custom: Any two courses combined from Constellations I, II, or III
To sit for the QE, you must complete all courses in your chosen constellation plus at least 5 of the 7 total foundation courses.
The deadline is May 1 each year (June 1 in 2026 only, as a one-time exception). The regular QE takes place once per year in August before the start of fall semester. If you miss the May 1 deadline, you must wait until the following year's cycle.
January is a retake date only, available to students who did not pass the previous August exam. It is not an option for a first attempt. If you fail the August exam, you may retake it the following January or August, but the second attempt must occur within one calendar year of the first.
If a student does not pass on the second attempt, the full CPAP faculty convenes as a committee of the whole to review the student's entire performance and decide whether the student should continue to candidacy.
No. The April 2026 update explicitly prohibits working with your advisor or any faculty member while developing the Foundations Essay. It must be completed independently.
The concentration lecture (PAPA 7964) must be scheduled after completing 9 research concentration hours and before your prospectus defense. Deadlines are December 1 for fall semester and May 1 for spring semester. It cannot be delivered in summer. You are responsible for assembling your own audience of at least 6 people.
The Doctoral Mentoring Program (DMP) counter tracks your mentoring sessions. A minimum of 15 sessions is required. Use the + and − buttons on the Dashboard to log sessions as you complete them. The progress bar shows how many you have completed out of 15.
Once you reach 15 sessions, you become eligible to register for 3 credits of the special DMP section of PAPA 7994 (Research and Dissertation). Those 3 credits count toward your 30 dissertation credit hours. You will work with the DMP instructor and Tyler Wiltshire on permission and registration for those credits when the time comes.
Let Dean know at its_broken@deanlefor.com. The tracker is a living document and corrections are made as errors are found or the program requirements change. In the meantime, always verify requirements against the official CPAP Policy Guide and your advisor.
This tracker is built from the November 2024 CPAP Policy Guide and the April 2026 Qualifying Examination & Constellations update (approved April 23, 2026). It is meant for planning and tracking only, not as an official advising tool. There may be errors or omissions, and program requirements do change. Always confirm your plan with your advisor and the VT Graduate School.
This tool is not affiliated with or endorsed by Virginia Tech. The tracker saves progress in this browser without an application-server backup. Clearing site data removes it; private browsing usually removes it when the session ends. Share links and exports contain the data you choose to share. See Privacy and your data for details about storage and external resource requests. Back up your data regularly using the .json export in Settings.
The constellation-based QE process replaced the prior 3-of-5-fields exam. Students who started before April 2026 should confirm which QE procedures apply to them.
Finally, if you do not graduate because a website told you that you had enough credits: not liable. đ