Sociology Department

Sociology Department> Degree Programs> Graduate Program> Guidance Committee

By the third enrolled semester in the PhD program, a student must form a guidance committee of three or more faculty members (usually three), with one member designated as the committee chair. The committee takes over primary responsibility for academic counseling from the student’s temporary advisor. It can but does not need to include the temporary advisor as a member. The guidance committee usually forms the core of the student’s later dissertation committee, hence its members should typically be university graduate faculty, and the chair should be a regular or affiliate faculty member of the Department of Sociology. One member (other than the chair) from outside the department is permitted, but an outside member is not required until the Phase II dissertation committee stage. Students are strongly advised to exercise great care and forethought in selecting committee members. Each student should attempt, as much as possible, to include faculty with expertise in each scholarly subject that she or he is looking to pursue and the ability to provide professional counseling and mentoring relevant to her or his aspirations.

The guidance committee is not officially established until the student has obtained the signatures of all members on the internal department Guidance Committee Form and has submitted it to the graduate secretary, so this should be done promptly. If at some later point a student wishes to change the composition of the committee, she or he must submit a new form with the signatures of all members of the revised committee.