Our department uses a joint advising model to best support the needs of our doctoral students. All MPAP doctoral students are assigned to a common academic advisor in addition to a specific faculty advisor from their program area. The academic advisor and faculty advisor play a crucial role in guiding students, but they have distinct responsibilities and areas of expertise. The primary difference lies in their focus: academic advisors generally handle the administrative and big-picture aspects of a student’s degree, while faculty advisors provide specialized, in-depth guidance within a student’s chosen field of study.
Here is a breakdown of the differences between an academic advisor and a faculty advisor:
Role: An academic advisor is a professional staff member who is an expert on the university’s academic policies, procedures, and requirements. They work as part of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions (MPAP)’s professional advising staff, and their offices are located in the Education Building on the 11th floor (35 West 4th Street). The MPAP academic advisor for doctoral studies is Heather Hardy, hh1134@nyu.edu.
Focus:
Degree Requirements: Heather helps students understand and track their progress toward completing all curricular requirements for the degree.
Course Planning: Heather assists with class registration, schedule planning, and ensuring students take the right courses in the correct sequence to graduate on time.
Administrative Matters: Heather helps students make sense of school and departmental processes and policies, such as appointing a dissertation committee, applying for candidacy, taking IUDC courses, etc. Heather liaises with the Steinhardt Office of Doctoral Studies to process necessary forms related to these areas.
University Resources: Heather is a general resource for students, connecting them with various campus services such as Wellness, Accessibility Services, and Financial Aid. Heather also shares relevant opportunities such as funding award deadlines and Writing Center workshops.
Broad Guidance: Heather provides a broader, more holistic perspective on a student’s educational journey, helping them navigate the university system and make informed decisions about their academic path.
Role: A faculty advisor is a full-time professor or instructor from the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions. During coursework, faculty advisor assignment is primarily based on your proposed research interests and, to some extent, faculty availability. The faculty advisor can be the program director, although many students may have another member of the program faculty serve as an advisor. The faculty advisor orients you to the program and oversees your progress through the doctoral program up to the appointment of a dissertation chair.
Focus:
Disciplinary Expertise and Research Advisement: Faculty advisors provide specialized guidance within the student’s specific field of study. They have a deep understanding of the discipline and its curriculum. Their primary role is to provide research guidance and support. They may also continue in this role as dissertation chair and/or provide feedback regarding the formation of a dissertation committee.
Course Selection (In-Depth): They can recommend specific courses, electives, and course sequences that will best prepare a student for a particular career or research direction. Faculty advisors are required to sign off on student’s course courses each semester.
Career and Professional Guidance: They can discuss career opportunities within the field, share professional contacts, and offer advice on professionalization, research, art making, and other opportunities to build a resume. They can provide letters of recommendation for grant and award applications.
Mentorship: They often serve as mentors, helping students develop their intellectual, artistic, and vocational interests and fostering a deeper understanding of the field.
Once selected, the dissertation committee chair serves as your chief advisor, though you may continue to consult with your assigned faculty advisor or other faculty for additional information. Although you may appoint an advisor as your dissertation chair, this is not required. Your dissertation chair must be a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or clinical faculty member who has expertise in your topic area and in the research method that you are using. Additional information on who can serve on the dissertation committee can be found under Dissertation Proposal.
The dissertation committee chair is the faculty member with whom you will work most closely in preparing your dissertation.
When you are ready to make this decision—for full-time students, this will generally be during the spring semester of your second year – your assigned advisor can provide advice and feedback on this process and serve as a resource after the committee formation. Once you select a committee, the members must be officially appointed prior to submitting the doctoral proposal for faculty review. The Request for Appointment of Dissertation Committee form can be accessed online.
Once DMA students identify the topic of research for their capstone project, they must reach out directly to faculty from the DMA Governance Committee to determine who their capstone advisor will be. The capstone advisor provides support during all stages of the capstone project, including the abstract (pre-proposal), proposal and final project. The 2-page abstract must be submitted to mpap-doctoral-studies@nyu.edu at least two weeks before the last day of class, the semester prior to enrolling In Performing Arts Research Collegium. The capstone advisor joins the instructor of Performing Arts Research Collegium to evaluate the 10-15 page capstone proposal. After the proposal is approved, the student must reach out to two additional members from the DMA Governance Committee to request the appointment of a capstone committee. The capstone advisor serves as the chair of this three-person committee, which will both provide support towards completion and evaluate the final project.
As a student, you share the responsibility of advising: you are encouraged to be proactive, candid, and reflective, and are expected to bring a sense of collegiality and professionalism to your relationship with faculty. It is your responsibility to initiate meetings with your advisors several times each academic year. When planning for meetings, you should be sensitive to faculty schedules and be aware that faculty availability may be limited during winter, spring and summer breaks. Please follow these guidelines in requesting your advisor’s assistance:
Be prepared for advising meetings and use the time wisely; bring specific questions, necessary paperwork if signatures are needed, a list of options if advice about courses is requested, etc.
Request letters of recommendation or feedback on writing (grant applications, etc.) in a timely manner in advance of deadlines
Be in active communication with advisors and committee members; seek face-to-face meetings whenever possible