Doctoral Supervisory Committee Roles and Responsibilities

For information regarding establishing/revising doctoral committees, please review the step-by-step instructions.

In consultation with members of the degree granting units, The Graduate School appoints a doctoral supervisory committee to guide and assist each student in working toward a doctoral degree. This committee oversees the student's academic work throughout the program. All members of the supervisory committee are responsible to the student and to their Graduate Faculty colleagues to ensure the quality of doctoral degrees from the University of Washington Graduate School. Details regarding the composition of a doctoral supervisory committee are located in Graduate School Memorandum #13

Voting Members

All appointed supervisory committee members (see special responsibilities and qualifications of Chairs and Graduate School Representatives below) are voting members of the doctoral supervisory committee. These individuals are productive scholars in the student's major field and/or sub-fields. 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 General Examination;

approving the Candidate's dissertation proposal;

conducting the Candidate's Final Examination

Chair

In addition to the voting member responsibilities, the chair(s) of a committee must:

hold an Endorsement to Chair a doctoral supervisory committee;

be able and willing to assume principal responsibility for advising the student

have adequate time available for this work and be accessible to the student

attend both the General and Final Examinations and additional committee meetings, as necessary

sign the dissertation signature page acknowledging approval of the dissertation and completion of the degree

Graduate School Representative (GSR)

The Graduate School Representative (GSR), is a voting member on a doctoral committee whose responsibilities are to:

hold an Endorsement to Chair a doctoral supervisory committee;

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;

present no conflict of interest with the departments of either the student or the supervisory committee chair (dissertation advisor). Such conflicts could include budgetary relationships, primary or joint appointments in common with primary or adjunct appointments. Shared adjunct appointments are permissible;

participate in conducting both the General and Final examinations;

provide a report to The Graduate School immediately following the examinations (this form is sent to the GSR one week prior to the examination along with an explanation of examination responsibilities)

GSRs are selected by the student in consultation with the committee chair and/or the Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC - faculty advisor). All endorsed Graduate Faculty, with the exception of affiliates, are eligible to serve as GSRs. GSR assignments are unlimited with the exception that faculty are limited to no more than four concurrent appointments within a specific department.

Student

The student's responsibilities relating to his/her supervisory committee include:

providing all members with a short summary of the program of study and research interests and an examination timeline;

providing necessary General Examination materials to all committee members in a timely manner;

providing necessary Final Examination materials to all committee members in a timely manner (this includes a draft of the entire dissertation to reading committee members);

keeping the committee membership current and notifying the department's Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC - faculty advisor)/Graduate Program Assistant (GPA - staff member) of any committee changes in a timely manner

Questions regarding doctoral committee roles and responsibilities may be directed to Graduate Student Services (please note the e-mail address and phone number listed below).