When you’re admitted into a program (e.g., Language and Literacies Education, Curriculum & Pedagogy) at the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, you’re assigned a faculty advisor, identified in your Offer-of-Admission letter. The faculty advisor is someone who can help you figure out the best way for you to make progress in your program—they can give you advice on which courses to take, they can help you prepare for the comprehensive exam, and they can advise you on how to plan for your doctoral research and dissertation.

In the LLE program, your advisor typically becomes your supervisor once you’ve finished coursework and move on to preparing to take the comprehensive exam, which is in the form of a written dissertation proposal (and is thus the first step toward forming your doctoral dissertation supervisory committee).

In the C&P program, your advisor (but also likely your intended supervisor) typically guides you through the comprehensive exam, which is in the form of an essay, and becomes your supervisor once you’ve moved on to form a doctoral dissertation supervisory committee.

The advisor that was assigned to you does not need to become your doctoral dissertation supervisor.

As you make progress in the program, through coursework, graduate assistantships, or research fellowships, you may find that your academic interests (e.g., research topic, theoretical approach, methodological approach), your work style (e.g., work schedule, preferred pacing, level of independence), or even simply your personality align more with a professor other than the advisor that was assigned to you.

You’re free to ask the professor with whom you’ve established rapport to become your supervisor. Just remember that it’s good manners to discuss it with your advisor first and let them know of your intent to work with another professor as soon as you can.

It’s also not uncommon for your advisor to suggest to you that you work with another professor—as your advisor gets to know you better, they may realize that another professor may be better suited to help you achieve your objectives, especially with regard to your doctoral research and dissertation.