Forming a Committee

Forming a Committee

Graduate students are responsible for forming committees for their first and second comprehensive examinations and the prospectus/dissertation. 

The first and second comps committees: 

• Must have a minimum of three members, with at least two from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.

• Must have one chair or two co-chairs, with at least one from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.

• Can have an outside member.

• Do not need to be nominated to the Graduate School.

• The chair of the first and second comps committees must be different. 

The Master’s thesis/prospectus/dissertation committee: 

• Must have a minimum of three members, with at least two from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.

• Must have one chair or two co-chairs, with at least one from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.

• The MA thesis/prospectus/dissertation committees must be nominated to the Graduate School by the GPD.  

• The Graduate School issues a memo of nomination once approved that is to be circulated to the committee.

• Any changes to the committee must be submitted for approval to the Graduate School with a memo.

• Members from institutions outside of UMass Amherst must receive temporary graduate faculty status by the Graduate School.

Graduate Faculty Status

Committee members from institutions besides UMass Amherst must be nominated to the Graduate School for Graduate Faculty Status. To nominate a committee member, the GPM/GPD submits a Graduate Faculty Status Request - One-Time Committee Status application along with the member’s date of birth, CV and a brief statement of the applicant’s relevance to the dissertation for which they would be sitting. This application is submitted to the Graduate Dean for approval.