Composition of Master's Thesis Committees

A master's thesis committee must consist of a minimum of three members, at least two of whom must be members of the graduate faculty. The chair of a master’s thesis committee must have graduate faculty status as approved by the faculty member’s dean’s office and Graduate Academic Affairs. 

Composition of Doctoral Advisory Committees

For a Ph.D. dissertation, the doctoral advisory committee must consist of a minimum of four members, at least three of whom must be members of the graduate faculty. One of the members must be an external member whose primary appointment is either outside the candidate's department or outside the University. The external member must be familiar with the standards of doctoral research and should be in a relevant discipline supportive of the student's dissertation topic. The chair of a Ph.D. Dissertation committee must have graduate faculty status as approved by the faculty member’s dean’s office and Graduate Academic Affairs. Additional criteria for chairing dissertation committees may be prescribed by the appropriate academic division.

Within the School of Education and Health Sciences, committees for dissertations in practice (DiPs) must consist of a minimum of three members, one of whom should be from outside the institution with demonstrable experience pertaining to the subject of study. With the approval of the Department Chair and the Chair of the DiP committee, exceptions can be made regarding the external member's institutional affiliation and qualifications.  The chair of the DiP committee must have graduate faculty status as approved by the faculty member’s dean’s office and Graduate Academic Affairs. Adjunct Ed.D. faculty members may serve on DiPs, and adjunct faculty members may chair DiPs with the approval of the Ed.D. faculty. 

For both Ph.D. dissertation and DiP committees, composition of the doctoral advisory committee is recommended by the chair of the relevant department/program, requires concurrence by the dean (or designate) of the academic division and approval by the Associate Provost for Graduate and Professional Education or their delegate.