Information Regarding Candidacy

Guidelines and Expectations Regarding Candidacy

Formation of the Thesis Committee

Once a student has been admitted to candidacy, the student, in consultation with the thesis advisor and the DGS, selects a dissertation advisory committee. Typically, the committee is the same as the QE committee. The committee must be chaired by a graduate faculty member other than the research advisor. The dissertation committee will be composed of at least four graduate faculty members, at least two of whom will be from the student’s CPBP curricular track and one of whom must be from outside the student’s CPBP curricular track.

General Guidelines and Expectations

Students must meet the following minimum requirements:

The student is required to demonstrate satisfactory progress toward the completion of his/her dissertation in each semester, as determined by the committee and the mentor; and
The student must demonstrate professional conduct in his/her interactions with peers, faculty, and the program.

The procedures to be followed should the student not meet these expectations are described below.

At the mid-point of each semester, the mentor should tentatively assess each student's performance. If the mentor feels that the student's progress and/or conduct have been unsatisfactory, s/he should notify the student, the student's PhD committee chair, and the DGS in writing. If the student's progress and/or conduct remain unsatisfactory at the end of the semester, the mentor should assign a grade of Unsatisfactory. The reasons for this grade must be specified in a written letter to the student. The letter should also include specific recommendations regarding how the student can improve his/her performance. The letter should be signed by the mentor and the committee chair. A copy of the letter should be sent to the program and DGS. The DGS will take the following actions:
- Unless extenuating circumstances exist, the DGS will place the student on academic probation.
- The DGS will notify the GEC and the Program Director, and they may make additional recommendations to the student and/or mentor.
The committee chair should take the following actions:
- The chair should call a meeting of the PhD committee, to be held within the next 45 days. The meeting should be conducted as a regular committee meeting (see below). The committee chair should draft a letter describing the outcome of the meeting. Areas of deficiency and the committee’s recommendations for improvement and future progress should be clearly noted in the letter. Likewise, the SACS form should indicate the student’s areas of strength and weakness.
- A follow-up committee meeting should be held by the end of the semester and the committee should recommend the grade to be assigned.
The student will remain on academic probation until the student’s research progress becomes satisfactory. As per the Graduate School's academic regulations, the accumulation of three grades of Unsatisfactory for research hours will result in dismissal from the program and the Graduate School.

Guidelines and Expectations Regarding Ongoing Committee Meetings

In the committee letter generated following the QE, a timeline for the next committee meeting is described (3, 6, or 9 months). Students need to be cognizant of this schedule and begin scheduling committee meetings at least 4-6 weeks in advance of the expected date, as it is they who are responsible for ensuring that committee meetings take place on time. Some committee members have extraordinarily busy schedules and so in some cases, 4-6 weeks may not be enough advance time.

The student is required to submit a written progress report to the committee at least two weeks in advance. The student is the primary author of this report and is the one responsible for its preparation and timely distribution. The student can and should have feedback from his/her mentor about this report. The student should check with his/her mentor about the timing of preparing this report. At minimum, the report should include:

A reiteration of the abstract and
A restatement of the overall objective and the specific aims of the project

There should then follow, for each aim,

A 1-2 paragraph summary of the student’s overall progress on that aim, from the inception of the project;
A more detailed presentation of the student’s progress since the last committee meeting;
A highlighting of any areas of concern that were identified in the last meeting and how they have been addressed; and
Other tangible evidence of progress, such as presentations, manuscripts authored or co-authored, etc.

At the committee meeting, student will make a formal oral presentation with this same outline. As with the written document, the student can and should get feedback from his/her mentor regarding the oral presentation. Also, as with any academic presentation, the student should be prepared to defend his/her progress, results, and conclusions to the committee. Please note that the committee meeting is a time for the committee to evaluate the student and his/her progress – and so the student is to be the primary presenter and defender of the work. Finally, committees and/or mentors may have progress reporting requirements that go over and above these, and the student should, of course, adhere to them.

Following all committee meetings, the committee chair will draft a letter summarizing the outcome of the meeting to the CPBP. A chair may also ask the student to draft the letter. The letter is circulated to all committee members for approval. The final summary letter will be kept in the student’s file in the CPBP office. In addition, the committee will complete the student evaluation form to be used as part of the SACS accreditation process. Please copy the DGS and Program Coordinator on e-mails related to committee meetings, including those that include the progress report, summary report, and student evaluation form. These items will become part of the student’s permanent record.

Committee meetings will continue in this way throughout the student’s progress through the program.