Ph.D. Program – Administrative Structure and Advising

Ph.D. Program Director

JSIS Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Celia Lowe, serves as the Ph.D. Program Director. The PhD Program director oversees all aspects for the program, makes decisions regarding individual student requests for deviations from the typical schedule or requirements of the program, on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the faculty advisor. In collaboration with the GPA, the Director is also responsible for monitoring student progress and reporting unsatisfactory progress or other student problems to the Graduate School.

Graduate Program Adviser (GPA)

The Graduate Program Adviser is Dr. Jesús Hidalgo. He is responsible for advising and assisting students on administrative matters related to the Ph.D. program, specifically degree requirements, policies and procedures, and graduation requirements. As the first point of contact for Ph.D. students, the GPA directs students to the appropriate resources or advisers for matters that require additional decision-making on non- administrative matters.

Faculty Advisors

All Ph.D. students will have an official Faculty Advisory throughout their studies. Please work with the GPA to fill out a faculty advisory form before starting your first quarter. In general, faculty advisors will be the JSIS faculty member you identified during your application process

as your primary faculty mentor. You may change your official faculty advisory at any point during your studies by updating your faculty advisor form with the GPA. FAs may or may not go on to serve as Chairs or Members of the Supervisory Committee.

Faculty advisors serve the following roles during your study:

• Orient students to JSIS during their first year of studies
• Serve as faculty contact for questions about your coursework and academic trajectory
• Help identify resources on specific intellectual trajectories, graduate classes, grant and fellowship applications, doctoral dissertations, etc.
• Guide students toward other faculty who can support the student to make concrete progress on their dissertation prospectus in the first year and who can serve on their formal Doctoral Supervisory Committee (“Supervisory Committee”).
• Complete yearly APR by 1st Day of Spring quarter

All FAs and/or Supervisory Committee Chairs are advised to acquaint themselves with their obligations and deadlines in the Ph.D. Program as they supervise the work of students. Both a FA and a student will sign an agreement confirming these expectations and making this faculty assignment official at the beginning of the academic year (see Appendix A).

We understand that this commitment is up to revision as faculty members’ schedule and students’ potential research interests could vary over the course of the program. Changes to faculty advisors are acceptable/encouraged if FA and/or student think this modification is in the best interest of the student’s progress but must be communicated to GPA and Ph.D. Program Director in advance for approval.

Students are welcome to reach out to other faculty to serve as informal/formal advisors throughout your time at the school. If you have any questions or concerns around advising, please reach out to GPA or Ph.D. Program Director.