Use this form to designate faculty members to serve on your doctoral committee for the EdD, DNP, DrPH, or DSW programs.

Download the Form

Student Instructions

1. Fill out the student information fields.
2. n consultation with your advisor/major professor, provide the name and department of each member of your proposed committee. If you have more than 5 members, use the Revise Doctoral (Non-PhD) Committee form to add more members.
3. If the committee member is to be a chair, check the appropriate box under the committee member’s name.
4. Gather the signatures of committee members being assigned to your committee, using either physical signatures (with a pen) or electronic signatures. To use electronic signatures, email the file to each in turn (do not send to both at the same time). They will send the signed file back to you to send to the next person.
5. Deliver the form to your department head. If you are using electronic signatures, email the signed form to your department head. Otherwise, take the signed form to your department head personally, send it by mail, or scan it and email it to your department head.

Departmental Instructions

1. The department head must check the appropriate boxes for each proposed member of the committee.
2. See Requirements for Well-Formed Committee to see the requirements for a well-formed committee for each degree type. The department head should check that the committee is well-formed, according to these requirements.
3. The department head should sign where indicated, if they approve the assignments presented in the form, and can confirm that the committee is well-formed.There are two ways to sign the form and deliver to the Graduate School
   • If the student emailed the filled out form to you, you may apply an electronic signature where indicated. Once the file has been saved, it can be emailed to gradspec@utk.edu, along with any accompanying CVs.
   • If the student delivered a printed form to you, you will need to apply a physical signature and then submit the form and any accompanying CVs to the Graduate School for processing in one of the following ways
     • Scan the signed form and email it to gradspec@utk.edu.
     • Send the form by mail to the Graduate School.
     • Return the form to the student to deliver the form in person to the Graduate School main office.

Requirements for Well-Formed Committee

DNP Degree

A well-formed committee for the DNP degree must have at least three committee members.

• One member must be a doctorally-prepared faculty member from the College of Nursing.
• One member must be from the community, and will serve as a voting member.
• The Chair must have rank of Assistant Professor or higher.

DrPH Degree

A well-formed committee for the DrPH degree must have at least four committee members, with a fifth member recommended from outside the university.

• The Chair must be a full-time UT faculty member, with an appointment in the Department of Public Health.
• Three members (including the Chair) must have the rank of Assistant Professor or higher.
• One member must be from an academic unit outside of the student’s major.

DSW Degree

A well-formed committee for the DSW degree must have at least three committee members.

• Two members (including the Chair) must be doctorally-prepared faculty members with an appointment in the College of Social Work.
• One member must be from an academic unit outside of the student’s major or external to the university.

EdD Degree

A well-formed committee for the EdD degree must have at least three committee members.

• The committee chair must be a doctorally-prepared faculty member with a tenure track appointment in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
• Two members (including the Chair) must be doctorally-prepared faculty members with an appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor or above in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.
• One member may be a faculty member from outside of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.