The increasing prevalence of mandatory Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) policies has ushered in rather dramatic dissertation genre change. The affordances of the medium offer expanded access and audience, availability of new compositional tools, and alternate formats, the implications of which are just beginning to appear in dissertations. Through genre analysis of 14 interdisciplinary, award-wining ETDs, I consider how the discursive opportunities offered by ETDs necessarily shift the "genre ecology" within which dissertations develop. Further, I catalogue emerging ETD convention and address tensions between emerging and "traditional" contexts. To provide context for this study, I examine the discourse that surrounds, constitutes, and creates dissertations, including vocal arguments against ETD policies, studies supporting ETD use, and dissertation awards discourse.