The student and his/her Thesis Advisor are responsible for initiating arrangements for the appointment of Thesis Readers and Final Oral Examination Committee. The departmental academic coordinator will assist with the appropriate forms and other important information.
The Committee of Thesis Readers and Final Oral Examination Committee must...
- consist of four voting members. Two members MUST have a primary faculty appointment in the student’s sponsoring department; the other two members must have appointments in two different departments other than the sponsoring department.
- The student's advisor of record must serve as a Thesis Reader and a member of the Final Oral Examination Committee. Alternates are not permitted to serve in place of the advisor. If the advisor is unable to attend the Final Oral Examination, the examination must be rescheduled. Co-advisors may serve in this role.
- All faculty members must serve on the Committee representing the department of their primary faculty appointment. The only instance when the faculty member can serve in his/her joint appointment capacity is if he/she is the student’s advisor.
- The senior faculty member without a primary appointment in the student's Department will serve as Chair of the Committee and MUST hold the rank of Associate or Full Professor. Co-advisors may not serve as Chair.
- Most often, the committee is comprised of duly appointed faculty members of a University department and must hold, at the time of selection, an appointment of Assistant Professor or higher. Occasionally, one adjunct or one scientist faculty member, but not both, may serve on the Committee. Neither may serve as the Chair.
- The Committee of Thesis Readers may be increased to five members, provided that all other committee composition requirements are satisfied. The fifth member may serve on the Final Oral Examination Committee but that individual does not have voting privileges.
- All members of the Committee must be present at the scheduled exam location; teleconference participation is NOT permitted.
- Access to the most current faculty ranks can be found on the school's website at this address.
- be comprised of three Departments of the University, TWO being from the Bloomberg School of Public Health. It is permissible to have three different BSPH departments represented on the committee.
- have appropriate alternate members to serve on the committee. The selection of alternates is very important for ensuring the exam can take place at the originally scheduled date/time. Choose alternates that will fulfill the committee composition requirements, regardless of who is able to attend. One alternate should be from the sponsoring department; the other from a non-sponsoring department.
Room Scheduling and audio/visual equipment requests are the responsibility of the student. Room requests must be submitted to schedule@jhsph.edu
June 2012