Q. Thesis and Dissertation Committees

Thesis Committees 

Thesis committees must include three members. At least two of the three members must be Tenure Track psychology faculty, one of whom must be the chair. The third member of the committee may be a Tenure Track or Instructional faculty member from the Department of Psychology or a Tenure Track faculty member from another department at 花季传媒. Exceptions are permitted with the pre-approval of the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies. Additional committee members (beyond the required three) are also permitted. Once the committee has been formed, its membership should not change. If some need arises for changing the membership, see the Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies. All members of a thesis committee must approve the thesis proposal as well as the completed thesis.

Members of thesis and dissertation committees are expected to physically attend both the proposal and final defense meetings. If physical attendance is foreseeably problematic or overly restrictive and rescheduling prohibitive or otherwise infeasible, other arrangements may be made (e.g., video conferencing or phoning in) with the approval of both the committee chair and the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies. For unforeseen events where other arrangements can be made (e.g., illness prevents physical attendance, but not virtual attendance), the committee chair has the discretion to determine how to proceed, informing the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies of the circumstances as soon as possible.

For all required forms for thesis proposal and defense, please see the Checklist and Timeline for Psychology Master鈥檚 Degree.

Dissertation Committees

Dissertation committees consist of four members and three of them must be Tenure Track psychology faculty. One of the three Tenure Track psychology faculty members must chair the committee. The fourth member must be a Tenure Track faculty member from another department at 花季传媒 who serves as the college representative. Students can opt to have an additional fifth member, which might be encouraged by their faculty mentor, depending on the nature of their dissertation project. This optional member cannot be a Tenure Track Department of Psychology Department of Psychology faculty member; they must have a doctorate in their field (e.g., Ed.D., M.D.) and may or may not be affiliated with 花季传媒. Exceptions to this committee structure may be permitted with the pre-approval of the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies. Once the committee has been formed, its membership should not change. If some need arises for changing the membership, see the Assistant Chair for Graduate Studies. All members of a dissertation committee must approve the dissertation proposal as well as the completed dissertation.

Members of thesis and dissertation committees are expected to physically attend both the proposal and final defense meetings. If physical attendance is foreseeably problematic or overly restrictive, and rescheduling prohibitive or otherwise infeasible, other arrangements may be made (e.g., video conferencing or phoning in) with the approval of both the committee chair and the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies. For unforeseen events where other arrangements can be made (e.g., illness prevents physical attendance, but not virtual attendance), the committee chair has the discretion to determine how to proceed, informing the Assistant Chair of Graduate Studies of the circumstances as soon as possible.

For all forms, including approval forms for the proposal meeting, committee members, and the defense meeting, please see the Checklist and timeline for Ph.D. Degree.