Use this form to add or remove faculty members on an existing PhD committee.

Download the Form

Student Instructions

1. Fill out the student information fields.
2. In consultation with your advisor/major professor, provide the name and department of each member of your committee that you wish to add or remove. To add a member, select ✔ and to remove a member, select X.
3. If an added committee member is to be a chair or co-chair, check the appropriate box under the committee member’s name. If the committee member is to be removed, it is not necessary to check any boxes underneath the name.
4. Gather the signatures of committee members being assigned to or removed from 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. For colleges with no departments, consult your Director of Graduate Studies.

Departmental Instructions

1. The department head must check the appropriate boxes for each added member of the committee.
2. If a proposed committee member will be a chair or co-chair, be sure to check either “Tenure-Track” or “UT Joint Faculty”. If neither apply, the member cannot be a chair.
3. Pay particular attention to proposed committee members for whom a CV is required. Such categories are marked by (*) on the form.
4. The department head should check that the committee that results from this revision is well-formed, according to the Guidelines for PhD Committee Service.
5. 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.

Rules for PhD Committee

The following is a summary of the Guidelines for PhD Committee Service:

Committee Membership

• The committee must have at least 4 members.
• At least 2 committee members must be UT tenured or tenure-track faculty members.
• At least one committee member must be from outside of the student’s department/interdisciplinary program. This external member can be from outside UT.
• UT tenured or tenure-track faculty without a doctoral degree and other experts in the field may serve on PhD committees with department head approval.
• Emeritus faculty can serve on committees on which they are serving in that capacity at the time of retirement.

Requirements for Committee Chairs

• Committee chairs must hold a doctoral degree.
• UT tenured, tenure-track, and joint faculty holding a doctoral degree may chair PhD committees.
• The chair is typically from the student’s department/interdisciplinary program, but department heads can make exceptions.
• UT employees holding a non-tenure track assistant professor, associate professor or professor title may co-chair committees if their appointment is within the student’s major. (The other co-chair must be a UT tenured, tenure-track or joint faculty member.)
• Emeritus faculty can chair committees on which they are serving in that capacity at the time of retirement.

The policy provides for exceptions to the above, and in the case that exceptions are needed, the department head petitions the Dean of the Graduate School.