Dissertation Committee Nominations

The Dissertation Committee members are selected by the student, after which the committee is established formally by the Program and Rackham to supervise the dissertation and monitor the student’s progress.  The student may revise their doctoral committee at any time during the year by submitting revision(s) in writing to the Graduate Program Assistant no later than two months prior to the student's dissertation defense.

Schedule

Its first meeting takes place no later than 4 weeks after the Dissertation Prospectus Defense.  In this meeting, the committee and the student draft and sign the Dissertation Completion Plan (see the Dissertation Plan form).  The Committee then meets with the student every semester to advise them on the project, and assess its progress. 

Members of the Committee

The Rackham School of Graduate Studies requires that a dissertation committee must have at least four members, three of whom are regular Rackham faculty members (see Rackham Handbook for rules of committee constitution). 

In the Program in American Culture, the Dissertation Committee may have an additional member, but having more than five people on this committee is not advisable.  One faculty member will be designated as Chair of the Dissertation Committee, and will serve as the student's primary advisor during the period of writing the dissertation.  The chair of this committee must be an American Culture budgeted faculty member.  The remaining members can be either AC budgeted faculty or AC Faculty Associates, the latter pending the approval of the Graduate Director and other committee members.  At least two disciplines related to the dissertation project must be represented on the committee.  (This means that the committee does not have to include a “cognate member.”)

Occasionally, when a student has established a working relationship with a scholar who is at the University of Michigan but is not an AC Faculty Associate, or someone who is at another institution, that person may join the Dissertation Committee.  This person may only be an auxiliary member of the committee; they may not serve as the chair.  A copy of that committee member's vita should be submitted to the Chair and the Dissertation Committee members.  According to Rackham requirements, if any of the members of a student's committee are from outside the University of Michigan, the student must complete a Rackham Special Assignment form providing a short statement (one paragraph) detailing the member's expertise in the dissertation topic and indicating why he or she would contribute significantly as a member of the dissertation committee. 

Dissertation Defense

Once an entire draft of the dissertation has been completed, the student, after consultation with the dissertation chair, should establish a date for the dissertation defense with the Program.  After successful completion of the dissertation and the dissertation defense, the Ph.D. is granted.  Contact the Rackham Office of Records and Dissertations (106 Rackham, 763-0171) for complete information about the dissertation format check and degree requirements. 

Students must be registered for a full term (eight hours) in order to defend.  Students should not register until he or she is certain to be ready to defend unless the student’s fellowship requires registration at the beginning of the term.  A late registration fee is not assessed to students who are defending. 

The Rackham Office of Records and Dissertations will provide students with a file containing the Final Oral Examination Report and the evaluation forms which students must bring to the defense.  The dissertation committee will sign the Final Oral Examination Report and indicate whether or not the student must make any corrections or revisions to the dissertation.  If changes are required, the graduate assistant will hold the file until the changes have been made.  The committee Chair should notify the Program office when all corrections and revisions have been completed.  The Chair will then sign the Final Oral Examination Report.  The graduate assistant will make a copy of the original Final Oral Examination Report and the evaluation forms for the student's file and will deliver the original to Rackham Office of Records and Dissertation.