Committee Meeting Policy
Thesis and Dissertation Committee Meetings with Graduate Students
All MS and PhD students, regardless of whether they have a teaching or research assistantship, are required to meet with their research committees at least once every academic year until graduation (the final committee meeting for the thesis/dissertation defense does not count). Only the resident UT faculty members on these committees need be present at these meetings. The purpose of the meetings is to allow committees to gauge the student’s research progress and to allow students to benefit from the collective advice of their committee.
The student’s research adviser (i.e., committee chair) will report the occurrence of each year’s meeting to the departmental Graduate Adviser. Students are responsible for maintaining their own record of these meetings in order to gauge their compliance with this policy.
Continued financial support for a student is contingent upon their making good academic progress in their program of study, and meeting with their committee every year is part of the expected progress. It is also expected that faculty research advisers will make all reasonable efforts to see that their students adhere to this requirement.
This policy will be applied to all students currently in the graduate program irrespective of when they entered.