Graduate Students are responsible for assembling their faculty committees the first year; making research progress each year; scheduling annual meetings with their faculty committee before the start of fall semester each year; knowing and complying with the requirements for their degrees contained in their graduate group policies.
Graduate Advisors oversee planning of the annual faculty advising committee meeting, and ensure that a report from each committee is forwarded to each graduate student, the graduate group chair and the graduate program coordinator after each annual meeting and at other times as appropriate or necessary.
Graduate Group Chairs ensure that every graduate student has an annual faculty committee meeting in conformance with the relevant graduate group policy. They may serve as "backup advisors" or "backup committee members" in cases when a primary faculty advisor is unable or unwilling to continue serving in that capacity and the graduate student is unable to identify a replacement.
Graduate Advisors oversee planning of the annual faculty advising committee meeting, and ensure that a report from each committee is forwarded to each graduate student, the graduate group chair and the graduate program coordinator after each annual meeting and at other times as appropriate or necessary.
Graduate Group Chairs ensure that every graduate student has an annual faculty committee meeting in conformance with the relevant graduate group policy. They may serve as "backup advisors" or "backup committee members" in cases when a primary faculty advisor is unable or unwilling to continue serving in that capacity and the graduate student is unable to identify a replacement.
- Open and consistent communications with your advisor and committee are critical to your successful progress.
- Work closely with your faculty advisor to see how she or he wants you to submit your work to the committee. Normally, all chapters or sections of chapters are submitted to your advisor for first review. After your advisor provides feedback and you make necessary changes, typically you then send your work on to the committee.
- Ask your advisor how she or he would like you to interact with committee members to get feedback from your committee members on your work.
- If you receive feedback on your work that is unclear to you or appears contradictory, take your concerns to your advisor and committee chair.
- Your advisor and committee members are busy people, yet they should be responsive to you, just as you need to be responsive to them. Meet with your advisor to discuss your work and progress. Send your committee members periodic updates on your progress.
- If you are not receiving timely feedback on the work you submit to your committee, contact your chair with your concerns. You need to strike a balance between persistence and becoming bothersome.
- Your advisor and chair will determine when it is time for you to defend your dissertation proposal and your dissertation. You will need to take an active role in scheduling the dates of defense. Along with your chair, you will need to schedule these defenses well ahead of time so committee members can read and contemplate your work in an ample amount of time.
- When a proposal or dissertation defense is scheduled you should provide the necessary forms for the committee members to sign.
