Academic advisors are the means by which the Department and the University supervise a student's education at this advanced level and ensure that the student fulfills academic regulations. An initial advisor is appointed to guide the student in stage 1 of Advanced Graduate Standing (AGS).
The advanced graduate standing advisor is appointed by the department chair, ordinarily on the suggestion of the doctoral studies committee (DSC), and the student is informed of this appointment in the letter announcing the student's admission into the doctoral program. The advisor in Stage 2: Doctoral Program Study and Stage 3: Doctoral Candidacy is nominated by the student and then reviewed by the DSC and finally appointed by the department chair if the faculty member is willing to accept the appointment.
Students wishing to change from one advisor to another are permitted to do so. Students must initiate the procedure used to designate an advisor by completing the Change of Advisor form. Contact your department office to obtain a form from the assistant to the department chair. Faculty who have served as a student's advisor but believe that they should withdraw from the advisory relationship are expected to communicate their reasons to the department chair in a letter with copies going to the student and the student's folder. By Graduate School regulation, dissertation committee chairs for students seeking the PhD degree must be members of the Graduate School faculty.