Doctoral Committee

Each Ph.D. student must have an appointed Ph.D. committee to guide their research training. Committee selection is typically based on faculty expertise in the student's research area, and requests to serve are made by the student. The Ph.D. committee shall be nominated to the Graduate School by the AEPS Graduate Program Head as soon as possible after successful completion of the qualifying examination. Ph.D. committees must be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.

Ph.D. Committee Member Roles: A student's Ph.D. committee must consist of at least four members of the Graduate Faculty. At least two of these four members shall be from the AEPS graduate program.

Each committee shall have a Ph.D. committee chair, Outside Field Member, Outside Unit Member, and include the student's faculty adviser. The Ph.D. committee chair and adviser are typically one and the same. For students pursuing a graduate minor, the Ph.D. committee shall include a Minor Field Program Member representing each graduate minor. For students pursuing a dual-title degree, either the Ph.D. committee chair or a co-chair must be a Graduate Faculty member of the dual-title program.

• Outside Field Member: Each Ph.D. advisory committee shall have appointed at least one Outside Field Member. The Outside Field Member must have a disciplinary expertise different from the student's primary field of study and is responsible for broadening the disciplinary perspective available to the student and the committee. The Outside Field Member may be from student's graduate program but may not also serve as a major program member. In cases where the student is also pursuing a dual-title program, any dual-title Graduate Faculty member of the advisory committee may serve as the Outside Field
• Outside Unit Member(s): Each advisory committee shall have appointed at least one Outside Unit Member. The Outside Unit Member is responsible for bringing to the attention of the student and the committee non-academic issues (including, for example, conflicts of interest) that may impact a student's progress. Outside Unit Members must have their primary academic appointment in an administrative unit different than the advisory committee chair(s) and faculty advisor(s).
• Minor Program Member(s): Advisory committees assigned to students pursuing graduate minors shall include at least one Minor Program Member for each Each graduate minor pursued by a student shall be represented by at least one Minor Program Member who is a member of the Graduate Faculty and a member of that minor graduate program. Minor Program Members are responsible for providing the students and the committee with information, advice, and perspective on student progress in fulfilling the graduate minor requirements in the graduate program they represent.
• Special Members: Advisory committees may include Special Members who are not members of the Graduate Faculty but are otherwise qualified and have expertise in the student's research area. Special members do not have to be affiliated with Penn State.