Advisory Committee
- Advisory Committee information
- When to request committee appointment
- How to request a committee appointment
Each student in a doctoral program will have a Doctoral Advisory Committee appointed. The Advisory Committee consists of three representatives from the major field and one from each minor field. This committee administers the qualifying examinations and, in the case of a performance major, the major field representatives approve and grade any required recitals or performances. One of the major field representatives serves as the chair of the committee. For performance majors, the student's teacher is ordinarily the chair of the committee.
Visiting faculty members are not ordinarily appointed to doctoral committees. They can be appointed for purposes of recital attendance/grading when they are a student's studio teacher, however, in which case they are appointed as chair. For qualifying exams, an advisory committee should include three permanent members of the student's department. If cases where the student's studio teacher is a visiting faculty member, one of the other members from the permanent faculty should be asked to serve as chair.
Faculty with the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, or Professor of Practice will ordinarily not be appointed to doctoral committees, but their departments may petition the director of graduate studies to allow exceptions if they regularly teach doctoral students.
The mechanism and timing for appointing faculty to a student's Advisory Committee differs in some cases for major and for minor field representatives, and for different majors and minors.
When to request committee appointment
Performance majors (including conducting and composition) should appoint their major field Advisory Committee before arranging the first recital.
Musicology and music education majors should appoint their major field Advisory Committee before arranging qualifying examinations. PhD students in music theory arrange their Advisory Committee in consultation with the music theory department chair.
The minor field representatives can be appointed near the end of the coursework stage of the degree, but should be completed by the end of the last semester of coursework. Students formally declare their minors (see the information on minors for how this is done) long before they declare their minor field representatives.
Note: The Other Required Credits general elective option does not have a minor field representative.
How to request a committee appointment
For most majors and minors, to request your committee, submit the form below. Signatures are not required, but the student must speak with each person on the list before submitting the form to the Graduate Office. This form may be submitted separately for the major and minor field representatives.
For a minor in Music History & Literature or Music Theory, the student must complete the appropriate form (also available in the Music Graduate Office):
- Minor Field representative in Music History & Literature Form
- Minor Field representative in Music Theory Form
requesting that a musicology or music theory faculty member be assigned as his/her minor field representative. These forms require faculty signatures, and are then submitted to the Music Theory and Musicology department office (in the Simon Center Building room M225H), which will submit them to the Music Graduate Office after action by the department chair.
Music theory majors should consult with the department chair.
How to request committee changes
Sometimes an advisory committee member needs to be replaced. A committee change can be requested using the form below. It is important that the faculty member leaving the committee first agree to be replaced.