Students should have a doctoral thesis committee formed within three months of completing their preliminary examinations. Students may, at any time, switch or add committee members, but a basic committee must be in place before fall registration.
Students are required to have a thesis committee meeting once each year, preferably within two months of their 646 seminar. A student who has gone over a year without a committee meeting will not be able to register for the next term and will not receive a stipend. For each committee meeting the student should prepare a progress report and a list of future experiments with a timetable for their completion. A report of each meeting should be submitted to the GPC Chair on a Progress Report Form.
Remember that the function of the committee is to guide and support the student throughout the student’s research and writing. Committee meetings are most important when things are not working. Regular committee meetings can serve to reduce the time to degree.
Learn More: Rackham Graduate School Dissertation Handbook →