Students must establish their Final Oral Examination/Dissertation Committee via the online approval system through Graduate Student Services and Progress. This must be submitted one month prior to the Final Oral Examination.
This step must be done even if the committee’s membership is identical to the preliminary examination committee established earlier. Students are advised to review the Graduate School website for rules for Examination Committee membership and responsibilities.
The committee must consist minimally of four members: At least three committee members (including the student’s advisor) must be from the student’s major field. At least one member (who can serve as the member of the field outside the major)must represent a field outside the student’s major. If the student has declared a minor, at least one member must represent the minor field. Co-advisors (if applicable) may represent the outside/minor field. Members cannot satisfy the requirement with respect to more than one field. Committee membership does not have to be the same as the student’s prelim oral committee.
Although the student’s advisor serves as a member of the Final Oral Examination Committee, another member of the committee is designated as the chair and functions in this capacity at the Final Oral Exam. The chair must be a senior faculty member, may be from either the major field or the minor field or supporting program, but CANNOT be the advisor. The chair and other members of the Final Oral Examining Committee are selected by the student and advisor following successful completion of the Preliminary Oral Examination. All committee members must be present at the final oral examination; the absence of any member results in an invalid examination. It is possible for one committee member to attend remotely; talk to the DGS or PLC for more information.
A minimum of three committee members (advisor, the outside member, and one SoN member) must be assigned as “reviewers” (sometimes referred to as “readers”). A complete listing of individuals who have faculty role status at the University, whether they are on the tenure-track, and which committee functions they can serve can be found on the Faculty Role List at https://apps.asr.umn.edu/faculty_roles.
It is possible to add an expert from outside the UMN to a student’s examination committee if the new member offers specific expertise in a narrow range or specific research focus, which is not provided by other members of the committee or other UMN faculty. Additional information regarding this process is found below.
The student’s primary advisor must be a SoN (internal) committee member regardless of any additional faculty role status they may have. If students have a minor, the minor advisor must serve as the outside member on the student’s committee regardless of any additional faculty role status they may have. If for any reason the minor advisor is dropped from the committee and not replaced with another individual with a faculty role status in that minor, the minor will be dropped from the student’s record. l
After Final Committee Members Are Selected
Once all final committee members have been determined, the student declares the membership. This is done through the online approval system.
This online form can only be initiated by students via their student log in.
When submitting examination committees, PhD students should note the following in the form:
Minors
If you are completing a minor, include in the notes what the minor is and that the committee member listed to represent the minor has the appropriate appointment on the faculty of that minor and at the Graduate School
If you are NOT completing a minor, indicate this in the notes section.
For members outside the Nursing major, identify in the notes the school/college outside the nursing major that the committee member listed represents and that the member has the appropriate appointment at the Graduate School
Once submitted, the request is electronically sent to the student’s primary advisor for approval. If the advisor approves, the request is then sent to the DGS (or designee) for approval, and then the college for final approval. Once approved, the committee will be officially recorded by the Graduate School.
If the advisor, DGS, or Dean’s Office rejects the committee membership request for any reason, the student will be notified and will need to resubmit.
After obtaining approval of the final committee, the student can request the Graduation Packet from the Graduate School. This packet consists of several items the student will need towards the end of his/her program. The Graduation Packet can be obtained through Graduate Students Services & Progress Degree Completion Steps
Procedure for External Committee Member to PhD Examination Committee
An external committee member is an expert outside of the University of Minnesota (UMN), with or without faculty appointments elsewhere, who serves on an examination committee in any role except as advisor or chair. It is possible to add an expert from outside the UMN to a student’s examination committee if the new member offers specific expertise in a narrow range or specific research focus, which is not provided by other members of the committee or other UMN faculty. The outside member’s appointment must be approved by the School of Nursing Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) and the School’s Dean.
To request an outside committee member the student’s advisor emails the following documents requesting appointment of an outside member to the DGS copying the student advisee:
A written letter conveying the need for the outside member that includes a summary of the expertise or specialty knowledge the faculty member has in the area of the student’s research, an explanation about the lack of a U of MN faculty member who can offer that expertise or specialty knowledge, and the contribution the outside member will make on the committee.
The curriculum vitae of the potential outside member
The DGS will evaluate the materials for meeting Graduate School eligibility requirements for committee membership (e.g., evidence for research expertise would include research grants, publications, etc. specialty expertise might include specialty clinical practice. (https://policy.umn.edu/education/gradexamcommittee). The DGS will make a recommendation to the Dean for appointing the individual to the committee. If approved by the DGS and Dean, the SoN Human Resources (HR) Director will create a temporary sponsored account for the outside committee member, which provides them with a U of MN Internet ID identification. If the outside member is not approved, the DGS will notify the advisor and student with a brief explanation.
The student and advisor should notify the DGS and SoN HR Director in writing within one week after the outside committee member has completed their work on the committee (i.e., after the examining committee has been completed) to which they were appointed so that the temporary sponsored account can be closed.