Doctoral Committee

The doctoral committee is appointed by the dean of graduate division following a recommendation from the astronomy graduate chair. The graduate chair is strongly influenced by the preferences of the student, but a student should not formally invite faculty to be on the committee before discussing its membership with the graduate chair.

The University's requirements on the doctoral committee are:

• A minimum of five members of the graduate faculty.
• One of these is an "outside member" chosen from a field other than astronomy (physics is acceptable). Individuals cannot serve as an outside member in a department from which they received their degree.
• The chair and the outside member must be full members of the graduate faculty of the university.
• A majority of the committee members must be from astronomy.

Additionally, it is the policy of the astronomy program that:

• At least one of the astronomers on the committee should have an area of specialization different from that of the student.
• The chair of the committee should have had experience on other thesis committees.

An extra member?

The university requires that all members of the doctoral committee be present at the final examination (a.k.a. "thesis defense"). This requirement can cause problems if a faculty member leaves the university or goes on extended leave at the time that the dissertation is completed. It is therefore a good policy to appoint an extra member to the committee at the outset (making a total of six), so that if one member is unable to attend the final exam he/she can resign from the committee without having to be replaced by an astronomer unfamiliar with the student's progress.

Changing your doctoral committee

A student may request a change in his/her doctoral committee at any time. The change requires the approval of all the current and proposed members of the committee, the graduate chair and the Dean of Graduate Division. There is a graduate division form for making the change.

Role of the outside member

The following is excerpted from the graduate division manual:

The outside member of a doctoral committee at the University of Hawaii fulfills many roles: 1) provides disciplinary expertise and a perspective that may not be possessed by members of the graduate field of study; 2) represents the Graduate Division on the committee, ensuring that correct procedures are followed and that the student is treated fairly, and 3) that the level of research is of doctoral quality.

The doctoral student, in consultation with his or her major professor, should identify a regular, full member of the graduate faculty from another field of study to serve as the outside member. The individual should be familiar enough with the general dissertation area that he or she can read the dissertation and provide comments. At the same time, the major professor must ensure that the outside member really is external to the graduate field, an individual who is at "arm's length" from the faculty members in the doctoral student's graduate field of study.

Non-UH members of the doctoral committee

It is possible to appoint a suitably-qualified astronomer from outside University of Hawaii onto the doctoral committee either as an extra member or as one of the "internal" members (but not as the "external" member). Several astronomers from non-UH organizations on the Big Isle have served on doctoral committees in the past. Non-UH astronomers who are asked to serve on doctoral committees are appointed as affiliate graduate faculty members. Students are encouraged to consider adding a non-UH astronomer to their committee, but should discuss with their proposed committee chair how travel expenses are to be met, since the graduate program has no funds that can be used to bring committee members to Honolulu.