Faculty & Staff | Thesis/Dissertation Committees

Frequently Asked Questions: Thesis/Dissertation Committees

1. What are membership requirements for a Dissertation committee? A Master's committee?
2. What information do I send the Graduate School to appoint a committee?
3. Can there be co-chairs of a dissertation committee?
4. What is an outside member?
5. What constitutes an outside committee member for an interdisciplinary program?
6. Why can't a faculty member or other person from another school or industry serve as a full voting member?

1. What are membership requirements for a Dissertation committee? A Master's committee?
A Dissertation committee is composed of a minimum of three graduate faculty members. The chair and one member are from the student's program/department; and one member must be from an outside program/department.

A Master's thesis committee is composed of a minimum of one graduate faculty member.

Many departments have their own requirements. It should be noted that the Graduate Dean or her designee appoints committees. While students and departments can recommend the composition of the committee, the Graduate School retains the responsibility for appointment.

2. What information do I send the Graduate School to appoint a committee?
The Graduate School requires a memorandum from the Graduate Program Director which includes the name of the student, student ID, whether it is a thesis or dissertation committee, the members of the committee, designating who is chair and outside member for a dissertation committee, and the department of each member.

3. Can there be co-chairs of a dissertation committee?
While the Graduate School frowns on the practice of more than one chair of a committee, it may be appropriate for some committees where the subject is interdisciplinary or the chair is from another UMass campus. The Graduate Program Director must provide sufficient justification for this practice and co-chairs will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

4. What is an outside member?
The outside member is a University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate faculty member who has been appointed with graduate faculty status from a different department than that of the student. The purpose of this committee member is to ensure consistency of dissertations across disciplines and serves as the Graduate School 's representative on the committee.

5. What constitutes an outside committee member for an interdisciplinary program?
In the case of interdisciplinary programs, e.g., Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience and Behavior, etc., membership may come from departments which are included in the program so long as the outside faculty member's primary program/academic department is not the same primary program/academic department as the chair of the committee.

6. Why can't a faculty member or other person from another school or industry serve as a full voting member?
In some limited cases, another faculty member or industry member may serve as a member of the committee. A memorandum to the Graduate Dean is necessary in justifying why this person should be on the committee. Careful consideration is necessary, especially if the proposed person is a member of industry, and might hold up the dissertation due to nonacademic reasons. At the discretion of the Dean, these persons can be appointed as "Consulting Members" and sign off on the dissertation. A "Consulting Member" does not have voting privileges.