What the UCI Catalogue has to say

The UCI Catalogue is the sole authoritative source on academic requirements. About the dissertation, it says this:

Dissertation. Students must submit a dissertation describing original publishable research and present a public defense of the dissertation as the final requirement of the Ph.D. program as detailed below.

Important! The deadline for filing your dissertation is not the last day of the quarter! Make sure you file your dissertation with the University in its final formatted form, approved by your committee and have filed all your dissertation defense paperwork no later than the deadline specified on this page. If you fail to meet this deadline, nothing the department or your advisor can do will fix it and your degree date will be pushed to the following academic term. This is especially important if you have a job lined up that requires the PhD or you are nearing the maximum time in the program of 6 years.