Reason for Asking for the Information
The Graduate School regulations permit one of the regular members of a PhD or MS graduate committee to be persons who are not part of the UW Graduate Faculty. To document that these persons meet the standards expected of committee members, we require that you (the student and their advisor) provide us with the basic information on the person proposed. The information will be added to the student’s permanent academic file. The necessary information should easily fit on a single page.
Information Requested
About the Person Making the Request
- Name and contact information (email would be sufficient)
- Thesis or dissertation title, if known, or very brief (1-2 sentence) description of the topic of the thesis or dissertation
- Advisor’s name
- Date of request
About the Person Being Proposed
- Name and contact information (email sufficient)
- Current position and title (if multiple, please list all or the one most relevant to service on a graduate committee)
- Highest academic degree, including institution and field of study
- Brief description of the relevance of their expertise with respect to the thesis or dissertation project
Advisor Concurrence
A written indication that the committee chair (advisor) approves of the nomination.
The simplest solutions would be either:
- The advisor to sign the sheet giving the information requested following the line: “I approve” (signature, name typed or printed)
- An email from the chair/advisor to Jim Miller, jemiller@wisc.edu, indicating approval
The Environment and Resources (E&R) office will not approve the nomination until the advisor concurrence is received.
E&R Program Action
The final decision on approval of a nomination rests with the chair of E&R, who will add their signature to the request upon approval (or as necessary, request additional clarifying information prior to final action).