Working with your Advisor

In recent years, each doctoral student has worked with a primary and a secondary advisor. The primary advisor is assigned, and the secondary advisor is identified by the student. The primary and secondary advisors are committed to advancing the doctoral student’s educational experience and career development through interpersonal engagement which facilitates the student’s socialization into the doctoral program and professional development.

Students are encouraged to seek support from multiple faculty members while in the program; however, the primary advisor is expected to work with the student throughout their graduate experience with mentoring plans to help fulfill expectations in the mentor‐mentee relationship. The Rackham Graduate School provides a number of resources that can be used to assist with planning mentoring relationships, including the Mentoring Others Results in Excellence (MORE) program for faculty and students, mentoring forms and guidelines, a mentoring handbook for graduate students, and mentoring workshops. Please visit the Rackham website for more details and resources in planning mentoring relationships with your advisors. The secondary advisor remains available throughout the student’s graduate training as detailed in the section below.

Primary Advisor

The primary advisor is assigned upon entry into the doctoral program. This assignment is based on application materials, including the student’s research statement, and is determined based on the advisor’s willingness to undertake the responsibilities outlined below.

Primary Advisor Responsibilities

• Meet with the student on a regular basis.
• Introduce and review both departmental and Rackham policies, responsibilities, expectations and resources as a regular part of your meetings, including review of the doctoral handbook.
• Encourage students to attend orientation‐type programs sponsored by Rackham, the School of Public Health, the International Center, and CRLT.
• Monitor and guide student’s academic progress.
• Write an annual review letter to the student that discusses their progress (generally sent by the Department Chair).
• Assist students with course selection and development of a cognate.
• Sign off and provide feedback on student progress including annual review and candidacy.
• Work with the student to establish milestones between start of the program, candidacy, and completion.
• Promote student’s advancement in research productivity in their area of interest.
• Support student through preparation of the preliminary examinations.
• Guide student in forming a dissertation committee.
• Oversee professional development.
• Provide opportunities for student to socialize to the field.
• Support student in seeking funding opportunities.
• Communicate with the secondary advisor on student progress.

Secondary Advisor

Students are strongly encouraged to identify a secondary advisor by the end of their first semester enrolled in the program. The purpose of the secondary advisor is to have an additional faculty advisor within the department who can step in if the primary advisor is unable to continue in their role, either temporarily (e.g., if they take a sabbatical or temporary leave) or permanently (e.g., if they leave the department). Beyond this expectation, the role of the secondary advisor is left to the discretion of both the student and the faculty member serving in that capacity.

Students are encouraged to speak with their primary advisor to assist with the process of identifying a secondary advisor. After identifying a potential secondary advisor, students should have a conversation with that individual to be sure that they are willing and able to serve in that capacity. Once a secondary advisor has been identified and that faculty member has agreed to serve in the role, the student should send an email to Jackie Cormany (at jcormany@umich.edu) to let her know who will be serving in the capacity of secondary advisor. Both the student’s primary and secondary advisor should be copied on this email.

Secondary Advisor Responsibilities

• Assume the role and responsibilities of the primary advisor in the event that the primary advisor is unavailable (e.g., sabbatical, leave).
• Assume any of the roles and responsibilities of the primary advisor with specific direction from the primary advisor.

For any number of reasons (e.g. student’s evolving research interests, changes in faculty availability), changes in an assigned primary or identified secondary advisor may be warranted as students make their way through the doctoral program.

Students may petition for an alternative primary advisor (e.g., the secondary advisor or other) at any time. In this process, they should speak with all faculty involved, including the potential new faculty advisor to confirm their willingness to serve in this capacity, as well as their current faculty advisor. Students are advised to review “Guidelines for Changing Advisors” below before initiating this process.

The Doctoral Curriculum Committee will work with the student and the HBHE Department Chair to reassign a primary and/or secondary advisor to the student. A re‐assessment of the students’ funding package can also be done at that time.