Examining Committees

The graduate examining committee consists of the adviser(s) and other faculty from both in and out of the department. The committee serves two purposes: 1) to provide guidance to the student during the graduate program and 2) to evaluate the quality of the work performed by the student by reading/approving the thesis and by questioning the student during a final oral exam (i.e. thesis defense). A student is allowed only one committee request in the workflow at a time.

The Ph.D. examining committee is formed right after the degree plan is submitted and approved, and serves as the committee for the preliminary oral exam and the final exam (thesis defense). The final oral examination committee in not required to be the same members who served on the prelim oral committee. Ph.D. committees have at least four members: three from the student's major field (one not in the immediate research area) and one from the minor or supporting program (outside the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering). If you have declared a minor, at least one member must represent the minor field. Members can’t satisfy the requirement with respect to more than one field.

The student and his/her adviser suggest committee members deemed appropriate based on the topic of research for the student's thesis. Unlike the M.S. committee, where the adviser serves as the chair, a doctoral student’s adviser cannot serve as chair on the Ph.D. examining committee. Students must assign committee members at least one month prior to the exam. Students assign their examining committee members by going to the Onestop website. Students can also use this website to update members of the examining committee. Students will receive a confirmation email once their committee has been approved.

Committee members must be graduate faculty members within the University, with the exception of external committee members. Prior to submitting the names of the suggested committee members to the DGS, students must contact the faculty they intend to have on their committee and determine their willingness to serve.

Thesis Reviewers for final oral examination: A minimum of two major field reviewers and one minor/outside reviewer are required. In the case of multiple minors, there must be a reviewer for each minor. Advisors must serve as reviewers. Every designated reviewer on the doctoral dissertation reviewers report must certify that the dissertation is ready for defense before the doctoral final oral examination may take place.

Advisor role: Must represent the majority on the preliminary oral and final oral committees. May serve as chair for the preliminary oral examination. The chair of the final oral examination committee may not be the candidate’s advisor.

Co-advisors role (if any): May represent the major or the minor/outside field on the preliminary oral and final oral committee. May serve as chair for the preliminary oral examination. The chair of the doctoral final oral examination committee may not by the candidate’s co-advisor.

To check to see if committee members are on the graduate education faculty role list go here. 

Find the Role list. 

Click on Faculty Role list database. 

Log in with your umn credentials.

Occasionally there is not sufficient expertise among the faculty to examine a student with a very narrow or specific research focus. In these instances, the college may consider a request for an expert outside the University of Minnesota to serve as a member of the student's examining committee. Students interested in including an external committee member on their examining committee should discuss the possibility with their adviser and the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).

There are two types of external committee member appointments: 

• One time only assignments - This type of appointment is graduate student-specific i.e. the external member is serving on one student's exam committee. This type of appointment does not provide graduate faculty status. 

• Ongoing faculty service - The external expert provides ongoing service to the graduate program in various capacities, which may include serving on multiple student exam committees, teaching, or research responsibilities. This appointment may include graduate faculty status. External faculty members who will serve as advisors or co-advisors must have an adjunct faculty appointment. 

If it is deemed necessary to request an outside expert to serve on the student’s examination committee, these are the steps that need to be take. 

1. The student’s adviser must get the outside experts CV and write a letter to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in support and detailing why this expert in necessary to be on the committee. 

   • What’s the student's name and thesis title? 

   • Who else will be on the committee?

   • What is the role of the external committee member in the student thesis work? 

   • Explanation as to why there is nobody at the U who could do this better than the suggested external advisor 

   • Any arguments why we should allow this specific person to join the committee will help the GSC to make a decisions quickly.

2. The CV and nomination letter should get sent to the DGS and the graduate programs coordinator. They will present these two things to the next GSC meeting to discuss with the GSC members. 

3. If all are in favor, then the DGS will sent the CV and adviser nomination letter to the Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Science and Engineering. The Dean will need to approve this expert. Once approval is granted from the Dean, the student/adviser will get notified. 

4. At that point, they need to send payroll/administrator the paperwork (HRIF form) and let them know to set up a Person of Interest (POI) record for this person in Peoplesoft. This could take two weeks. 

5. After the POI is created, the external member can then be added to the online committee workflow request. 

6. The whole process usually takes 3-4 weeks.