Dissertations (and masters theses) go into the processing pipeline very shortly after graduation in May (even when a student finishes in December). Since 2012, as part of the process of completing a dissertation, students submitdigitally to https://thesis.rice.edu/. Students can request brief periods of "embargo" when their thesis isn't visible, but most become available fairly quickly once approved by Graduate Studies. Once released, the thesis is available via the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive.
Training material on accessing dissertations in the RDSA is available here.
