Soil Science Graduate Advisory Committees

Selection of an Advisor

In most cases, the graduate student will be assigned an Advisor at the time the letter of acceptance to the Graduate School is mailed. This arrangement is not intended to preempt the student’s involvement in selecting someone with whom the student desires to study. Rather, this procedure is followed to ensure that a Graduate Faculty member is willing to advise and work with each student admitted. Furthermore, assistantships are awarded either from grants to specific research programs or from other sources to strengthen specific research programs within the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. The Advisor is essential to the early planning of a student’s program and for selection of the Advisory Committee.

Advisory Committee Appointment

An Advisory Committee, which is composed of at least three members for a Master’s program and four members for a Doctoral program, is selected in consultation with the Advisor during the student’s first semester in residence. One member of the advisory committee for either Master’s or Doctoral programs, must be from outside the Soil Science faculty, and if a minor is chosen, should represent the minor field of study. An advisory committee member from outside the department is not required for non-thesis Master’s programs. Subsequent requests for changes in the Advisory Committee should be sent in writing, by the Chair of the Committee, to the DGP for processing through the Graduate School. Once appointed, the Advisory Committee will provide ideas and suggestions relevant to the research being proposed and will assist in preparing an appropriate Plan of Work for the graduate student.

Plan of Work

The Plan of Work (POW) is initiated by the student in the Student Information System of MyPack Portal section of the university website and in consultation with the chair of the Advisory Committee. The POW is reviewed and must be approved by all members of the Advisory Committee and the DGP.  The latter submits the POW to the Dean of the Graduate School for approval. Students are encouraged to develop and submit a POW by the end of their 12 initial months in a degree program. The DGP will only endorse a Request to Schedule Master’s Oral Examination after the POW has been reviewed and submitted to the Graduate School. Doctoral students are required by the Graduate School to have an approved POW before a Graduate School Representative will be assigned and a Request for Approval to Schedule Doctoral Oral Examination will be approved. The Request to Schedule Master’s Oral Examination must be submitted at least 10 working days (two weeks) prior to the proposed examination and the Request for Approval to Schedule Doctoral Oral Examination must be submitted at least 10 working days (two weeks) prior to the proposed examination (see the section on Theses or Dissertations and Examinations).

The Graduate School Representative

The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences requires that a Graduate School Representative be appointed for Doctoral oral examinations. The appointment of the Graduate School Representative is made by the Dean of the Graduate School after the Doctoral student’s Plan of Work has been approved. The Representative is selected at random from any discipline not represented by a regular member of the Advisory Committee. The Graduate School Representative has a unique role on the Doctoral examination process and serves to protect the interests of the student, the Advisory Committee, and the Graduate School. The Graduate School Representative also is a “disinterested person” to whom the Dean may turn for judgement and counsel. Because the primary responsibility of the Representative is that of an observer, the Representative should never take a dominant role in the oral examinations, although he or she should be invited to participate and is expected to contribute to the scholarly atmosphere of the examination.