Formation of Doctoral Dissertation Committee

A student is eligible to form a Doctoral Dissertation Committee after Advancement to Candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.

A student’s faculty advisor will serve as the Chair of Doctoral Dissertation Committee. The Chair will be responsible for identifying Committee members for their student’s dissertation committee. The student is encouraged to plan the composition of the student’s research committee with the Chair of the Dissertation Committee.

Approval of the composition of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee by both the GRD committee and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and requires the presence of expertise in the substantive area and in the necessary methodology for the proposed dissertation.

The Dissertation committee should be composed of at least four members which must include:

The Chair of the Dissertation Committee,
At least one additional faculty member from the Department of Health and Human Performance,
A committee member who is outside of the department who can be either a full-time or adjunct faculty member at the University of Houston, or can be an individual who does not hold faculty status at the University of Houston.

If a dissertation committee member is not a full-time/adjunct faculty member of the University of Houston, the Dissertation Committee Chair will require approval from the GRD Committee for that individual to serve as a dissertation committee member.

Notification of any changes to the composition of committee (i.e. reconstitution or resignation) should be made in writing to the GRD committee and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies. All changes to the composition of committee once formally approved should be approved by the GRD committee and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.