Dissertation Defense Committee

Who can be on the committee (need at least four committee members):
         1.The GSAS representative must be from a different department than the student. They may also be from any of the other graduate schools at the University. They must be tenured or tenure-track and hold a doctorate. 
         2. Faculty from outside the University may sit on the committee as one of the core members but may not be the GSAS representative. These need approval from the department and the GSAS. See below for approval process.
         3. Professors Emeritus may serve as a dissertation advisor or committee member if they are within two years of having become Emeritus.  After two years, the Emeritus faculty would need approval by the department and GSAS. 

From the Graduate Record:   Completed dissertations must be submitted to the department for examination by the dissertation committee. This committee, chaired by the primary advisor, will consist of a minimum of four tenured or tenure-track members of the faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. One member of the committee will serve as a representative of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to affirm that the student has been assessed fairly and with due rigor. This representative is appointed by the student’s director of graduate studies and must hold a primary appointment outside of the student’s department. This representative may be drawn from the tenured or tenure-track faculty of other graduate schools at the University, but must hold a Ph.D.  A director of graduate studies may petition to permit a reader from outside the University who holds a Ph.D. to serve as one of the four core members of the committee by providing the associate dean with the reader’s CV and a statement regarding the reader’s particular suitability for the committee. This external reader may not serve as the representative of the Graduate School. Once these minimum requirements have been met, additional committee members from within the University or other institutions may be added. Through its chair, the dissertation committee may invite other members of the departmental faculty to take part in the examination; the doctoral examination may be given before the entire faculty of the department concerned.

Thesis Defense Committee

The thesis should be read by and/or defended in front of at least two graduate faculty members.