Effective Fall 2021, Senate Regulation 715 regarding doctoral committee composition has been revised. The updated regulation applies only to UC San Diego PhD and DMA (SD 717) programs. The committee rules for Joint Doctoral Programs with San Diego State University, CSU San Marcos, and UC Irvine remain unchanged; they are still required to have a five member committee (with the exception of AuD and EdD committees, which remain as they are). A formal request to change the JDP committee rules would need to be submitted by both applicable campuses for UC San Diego Graduate Council review.
For a full description of the revised committee rules, please see the "In-Depth Committee Overview" link in the "Useful Links" section on the right. You may also view the relevant Senate documents here. The Senate website will be updated soon.
Master and Doctoral students should work with their faculty advisor/PI to form their thesis/dissertation committee and let their graduate coordinator know once it is ready for approval. The graduate coordinator will submit it in the Committee Membership tool for GEPA approval.
It is highly recommended to submit committees at least two weeks before the student's qualifying exam or defense. This gives ample time for the department chair and GEPA to review and approve of the committee.
Basics of a Master (MA/MS) committee
The full rules are listed on our website.
There must be three UC San Diego faculty members.
At least two members must be from the student's home department/program.
Basics of a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) committee
There must be four UC San Diego faculty members.
Three members must be from the student's home department and one member must be from outside of the department, preferably tenured.
Basics of a Doctoral (PhD/DMA) committee
The full rules are listed on our website.
There must be four UC San Diego faculty members.
At least two members must be from the student's home department/program.
At least one member is tenured or emeritus.
At least one member must have their primary appointment in a different department than the committee chair. Note: faculty with evenly split appointments still have a primary appointment.
Joint Doctoral Program Committees
JDP rules vary by program. Please see the summary chart and the JDP Committee Regulation and Table document below, which lists the previous Senate Regulation 715 for 5 member committees below. Please consult the program directly or contact Sara Miceli in GEPA with any questions.
Determining Faculty Eligibility for Committees
Faculty can serve on committees based on their official UCPath appointments. Faculty appointments can be verified in the committee tool via Committee → Faculty Title Lookup. This tool pulls UCPath appointment information for all faculty on campus.
Once the appointment has been verified, then the Committee Membership Table should be consulted. This table shows the roles and eligibility of faculty appointments. The Committee Membership Table refers to UC San Diego appointments and faculty.
To determine eligibility for individuals outside of UCSD, please refer to the table below:
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about specific members and their eligibility should be sent to the appropriate GEPA advisor. The answers often depend on the specific student's committee composition and cannot be answered generally.
General Doctoral and Master's Committee Rules
Committee Member Roles and Eligibility effective Fall 2021