Each research graduate student has a graduate committee made up of multiple faculty, including the chair (aka advisor). Graduate committees form the heart of a student’s mentoring network. This guidance is designed to assist committee members with their roles and provide options for good practices for their graduate committee work [2].

All graduate committee members are expected to:

  • Provide expertise that complements and expands on that of the advisor. 
  • Assist the advisor in providing guidance, consultation, and advice on the student’s research, professional development, and career goals.
  • Participate in twice-a-year progress meetings. This time commitment is likely to save time over the course of the student’s degree as the committee has multiple, early, opportunities to provide feedback on the student’s research.
  • Work together with other committee members to provide the student with clear and consistent advice even when their own opinions conflict or diverge on the direction of the research.
  • Help evaluate progress and advise on next year’s objectives.
  • Evaluate any research proposal in a timely fashion, and participate in any comprehensive exams, final thesis and oral defense. 
  • Ensure academic standards in the discipline. 
  • Ensure Professional Conduct. The graduate committee has a key role to ensure that the relationship between the student and advisor remains professional.
  • If a committee member suspects that the advising relationship is deteriorating, please consider talking privately with the advisor. They may greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss different mentoring strategies. Since this can be difficult if the advisor is more senior than the committee member, consider enlisting another faculty member or the department head/chair. Proactive steps can resolve emerging problems and early intervention can stave off a more difficult situation later if the student decides to leave their advisor.
    • It is also possible that the student comes to a committee member with concerns; the committee member can direct them to any of the following resources who will provide support:
      • Graduate Program Coordinator in their department.
      • Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, Donna Negaard, donnan@montana.edu

 

[1] Adapted from University of Calgary, https://grad.ucalgary.ca/fgs-services/graduate-supervisors-and-leadership/supervisor-resources/best-practices-supervisory-committees

[2] MSU’s policy for committee members can be found at Master's Committee Policy and Doctoral Committee Policy.