Thesis/Dissertation/Record of Study Advisory Committee FAQs
HOW DO I FIND MEMBERS FOR MY ADVISORY COMMITTEE?
It is a student's responsibility to determine who will serve on an advisory committee, unless the program appoints a pre-determined Chair and/or members. You can consult with a graduate advisor in your department or search for faculty eligible to serve on advisory committees in the database on the Graduate Committee Faculty Portal (GradCom).
HOW DO I ADD MEMBERS TO MY ADVISORY COMMITTEE?
To establish an advisory committee, students must submit an official degree plan for approval through the Graduate and Professional School's Document Processing Submission System (DPSS). During creation of the degree plan, you will select the member(s) of your advisory committee.
How do I add a special appointment to my committee?
Your department should initiate the request by submitting a Graduate Committee Faculty nomination. Keep in mind that special appointments do not count toward the minimum number of Graduate Committee Faculty necessary to form the committee, and are not considered voting members.
How many committee members am I required to have?
The required number of committee members varies by program. Please refer to your program’s page in the Graduate Catalog for requirements specific to your degree.
My committee member is leaving the university; can they stay on my committee?
The committee member may remain with committee and department approval. However, they must also be willing to continue to participate in all committee meetings, discussions and examinations, and must sign off on your thesis/dissertation. Please discuss this with your committee and department head.
One of my committee members scheduled a last-minute trip abroad for field work and now won’t be at my final exam. What do I do?
As long as it is not the Chair, you are allowed one committee substitute who is a faculty member of standing equal to the committee member they are replacing. If possible, your department should contact gradprocessing@tamu.edu before submitting the Report of the Final examination to either let us know of the change or verify that the substitute is eligible to serve.