Ph.D. Program – Doctoral Committees

Doctoral Committees are tasked with guiding Ph.D. students in conducting their dissertation research and writing. Starting in the second year, the Doctoral Supervisory Committee (Supervisory Committee) is primarily responsible for guiding students toward their preliminary exams, general exams, and the final exam and dissertation, with the greatest burden placed on the Supervisory Committee Chair. A subset of the Supervisory Committee, called the Doctoral Reading Committee (Reading Committee), approves the dissertation itself.

Doctoral Supervisory Committee

The Supervisory Committee is comprised of a Chair, a Graduate School Representative (GSR), and at least two additional faculty members. All appointed Supervisory Committee members are voting members of the committee. With the exception of the GSR, committee members are scholars with expertise in the student’s regional, theoretical, or methodological areas of interest. These members are responsible for:

• approving a course of study which will fulfill the general course requirements of the student’s major and supporting fields;
• conducting the student’s Preliminary Exam;
• conducting the student’s General Exam;
• approving the Candidate’s dissertation proposal;
• conducting the Candidate’s Final Exam

Chair: The Chair of the Supervisory Committee assumes principal responsibility for advising the student, attends the preliminary, general, and final exams and any additional committee meetings, and signs the dissertation signature page acknowledging approval of the dissertation and completion of the degree.

When determining your committee chair, please note that your chair must be a member of the Graduate Faculty. Graduate Faculty are members of the University faculty who have been designated by the Dean of the Graduate School as actively participating in graduate education. Please see the database of all Graduate Faculty.

GSR: The GSR is a voting member of the Supervisory Committee who does not have a primary, joint, or affiliate appointment at the Jackson School; this person should not have any type of appointment at the Chair’s department either (see GSR eligibility policies). The GSR must attest to having no conflict of interest, defined by the Graduate School as having no budgetary, personal, research and/or publication-related relationships. The GSR’s responsibilities are to represent the broad concerns of the University with respect to high standards of scholarly performance; provide, for the Graduate School, a non-specialist’s view of the quality of the student’s work, ensuring that the student’s mastery of the subject matter is broad and comprehensive; assure that all procedures are carried out fairly and according to the guidelines of the Graduate School; participate in conducting both the General and Final examinations; assure that the required 4 members are present for the exams – Chair, GSR, and at least two other members.

To find out what appointments a potential GSR has, use the graduate faculty locator.

Doctoral Reading Committee

The Reading Committee is comprised of at least three faculty members on the Supervisory Committee that are appointed to read and approve the dissertation. It is the responsibility of a reading committee to (a) ensure that the dissertation is a significant contribution to knowledge and is an acceptable piece of scholarly writing; (b) determine the appropriateness of a candidate’s dissertation as a basis for issuing a warrant for a Final Examination and; (c) approve a candidate’s dissertation.

Appointing your Doctoral Committee

The Supervisory Committee, consisting of a minimum of three members of the Graduate Faculty at the UW (as stated on this webpage), is appointed by the Graduate School no later than four months prior to the General Exam. The Chair and at least one other member of the Supervisory Committee must be voting members of the Jackson School Faculty (check the “Core Faculty” list). The GSR must also be a member of the Graduate Faculty (i.e. must be listed as Graduate Faculty on this webpage) and must be endorsed to chair a doctoral committee.

Students are welcome to find additional members outside of the Jackson School.

With the help of their FA, students are expected to seek out potential Supervisory Committee members during their first year in the program. By autumn quarter of their second year, students should have selected the remaining two or three members of their committee (including the GSR). If you are having trouble determining your GSR, please ask your Chair for advice.

To formally appoint the Supervisory Committee, students should fill out this form and return to the GPA. On the form, please select whether the committee member has agreed to be a part of your Reading Committee in addition to your Supervisory Committee. Some GSRs elect to be a part of the Reading Committee, while others elect not to. All other committee members have the implied responsibility of being on your Reading Committee, but out of courtesy, please ask them to both be a part of the Supervisory Committee and the Reading Committee. You must submit the form to the GPA no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday of the 10th week of autumn quarter in your second year.