Advisory Committee and Degree Program

When a doctoral student is accepted into a program, the program’s dean, director, or department chair appoints an academic advisor who is responsible for the student’s program until an advisory committee is appointed. The name of the student’s advisor will be included in the official notification of acceptance sent to the student by the Graduate School. The student will develop a degree plan* with the advisor. The degree plan will be reviewed by a department committee that will consist of not fewer than three members of the Graduate Faculty, with two being from the major department. This committee shall have the authority to review the student’s coursework and to evaluate it through written and/or oral examinations with respect to the student’s program. The student’s advisor chairs the advisory committee and administers this authority. When a student presents a minor, a faculty member from the minor department must approve the proposed program through signature on a separate form submitted for the addition of the minor. It is the student’s responsibility to work with her/his advisor to develop the degree plan, which must be forwarded through the department chair to the Dean of the Graduate School before the completion of eighteen semester credit hours at TWU.

*Clinical doctorate programs and a few other programs may have a degree audit in place of the degree plan, which will be automatically established upon admission to the program. (Programs that do not have a degree audit will show a program shell that identifies courses within the program but does not provide guidance for when courses should be taken.)  Students are encouraged to go to Student Planning to review their audit and course planning options. Students should then follow up with their advisor for further guidance.