Course/research advisers, and full project/thesis/dissertation committees, are not assigned, but are selected by mutual agreement of the students, the graduate faculty members (formally reflected by their signatures on approved Plans of Study), the CEAE graduate adviser, and the Graduate School. For a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) or graduate research assistant (GRA), the student's supervisor is, de facto, the course/research adviser unless other arrangements known to both parties have been made. Doctoral students normally must secure a course/research adviser commitment before being admitted to the program.
Most students seek a course/research adviser by contacting the faculty member whose expertise is most relevant to the topic they intend to study. Alternatively, some students begin by contacting a faculty member whose expertise and activities are closely related to their future career plans. In any case, the student must find a faculty member who will provide assistance in finalizing the Plan of Study and is willing to supervise the writing of the dissertation, thesis, or project report on a mutually agreed upon topic.
Committee members must have regular or special appointments to the KU graduate faculty. A master's committee has at least three members: typically the student's course/research adviser, another member of the CEAE faculty, and a member from outside the department. A doctoral committee has five or more members. The student and the course/research adviser should discuss the proposed membership of the committee carefully, and then the student will approach each person, asking him or her to serve on the committee.
