For students registered in a Master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation, the committee must be approved prior to the second term of registration in the thesis or dissertation.
Committee approval process
By the end of the first term of registration in the Master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, the program will recommend the appointment of members of the Master's or doctoral committee, whose appointments must be approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The Master’s/Doctoral Committee is requested by the student. In consultation with their academic program, the student will complete the Master's / Doctoral committee form (available from the "Student Forms" webpage under "Thesis and dissertation forms") and forward for approval to Graduate Studies through the UWinsite Student system. Note: for Major Research Papers the Committee is approved by the department only.
Committee Composition:
The Senate Policy on Graduate Faculty Designation provides clarity on the roles that faculty members, adjuncts and limited term appointees can play in the supervision of graduate students. The two main points are:
1. The majority of the members of a Master's or doctoral committee must have graduate faculty status. Review a list of current graduate faculty members.
2. The supervisor or at least one co-supervisor must be from the student’s program and have full graduate faculty status.
An AAU member who does not hold graduate faculty status may serve on committees as an internal program reader, external program reader, or co-supervisor as long as the two points above are satisfied.
The Doctoral committee will consist of:
- A research supervisor or co-supervisors from the program. The supervisor or at least one co-supervisor must have full graduate faculty status. Refer to the list of current graduate faculty members.
- Two program readers - faculty members from the student's program.
- One outside program reader from the University of Windsor. The outside program reader may not be cross appointed to the program in which the student is registered.
- Additional members may be added with the approval of the program coordinator and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council of Graduate Studies. The majority of the committee members must have graduate faculty status. Review the guidelines on committee composition above.
- For the final oral defense of the dissertation the committee will be supplemented by an independent external examiner. Refer to the external examiner guidelines.
The Master's thesis committee will include as a minimum:
- A research supervisor or co-supervisors from the program. The supervisor or at least one co-supervisor must have full graduate faculty status. Refer to the list of current graduate faculty members.
- One program reader - a faculty member from the student's program.
- One outside program reader from the University of Windsor. The outside program reader may not be cross appointed to the program in which the student is registered.
- Additional members may be added with the approval of the program coordinator and the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The majority of the committee members must have graduate faculty status. Review the guidelines on committee composition above.
The Master's Major Paper/Project committee will include:
- A supervisor, who is a member of graduate faculty.
- One other program faculty member.
- Additional members may be added with the approval of the program coordinator.
For Major Research Papers the Committee is approved by the department only and does not require graduate studies approval.