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Graduate Student Handbook

Graduate Committees and Primary Academic Advisors

Except for certain professional programs, most graduate programs utilize a graduate committee system for advising and evaluating graduate students.

Formation of Master’s Committee

At the beginning of a student’s work toward the master’s degree, the chair of the student’s graduate program, in consultation with the student, designates a primary academic advisor who may also serve as the Chair of their committee when applicable. The primary academic advisor may be the chair of the graduate program or another faculty member. All committee appointments are made in consultation with the student’s graduate advisor, graduate program chair, and with approval of the Graduate Council for community members serving on the committee. Committees are formed and modified (if necessary) by mutual agreement between the student and the faculty.

The master’s committee includes a minimum of three members. Committee membership must consist of at least two full time tenured or tenure track UH Hilo faculty members, one of whom serves as chair of the committee and may also serve as the student’s primary academic advisor. The third committee member must hold a master’s or doctoral degree and must be reviewed and approved by the relevant graduate program and the Graduate Council. The third member may be a faculty member at UH Hilo or a member of the community. These committee appointments for community members are specific to the committee, and do not confer affiliate or adjunct faculty status. Additional committee members may be added in consultation with the committee chair, and need not hold a master’s or doctoral degree.

Some professional programs may not utilize a graduate committee system. In these cases, a designated faculty member serves as the student’s primary academic advisor. Acceptance or rejection of a student’s work as fulfilling degree requirements is determined by a majority vote of the graduate program’s faculty. UH Hilo Tenure/Tenure Track faculty who are serving as a graduate committee chair at the time of their retirement from the University may continue to serve in this role provided they are appointed as either Affiliate Faculty or Emeritus Faculty.

Formation of Dissertation Committee

By the end of the second semester of coursework in a doctoral program, Form 1: Graduate Committee Formation should be submitted. All committee appointments are made in consultation with the student’s primary academic advisor, graduate program chair, and with approval of the Graduate Council.

Committees are formed and modified (if necessary) by mutual agreement between the student and the faculty. The principal dissertation supervisor serves as chair of the graduate committee. Faculty are not required to serve on a particular dissertation committee if they do not wish to, and they are entitled to withdraw from a dissertation committee for reasonable cause. Faculty members from outside the student’s own department or school may serve on the dissertation committee, but they do not replace the external examiner (should one be necessary), who is appointed by the VCAA before the final oral examination is scheduled.

At the doctoral level, the committee also includes a minimum of three members. Committee membership must consist of at least two full time tenured or tenure track UH Hilo faculty members, one of whom serves as chair of the committee and as the student’s primary academic advisor. The chair of the committee is to come from within the student’s dissertation program. The second UH Hilo faculty member may be a PhD from within or outside of the dissertation program.

Because the first two committee members are faculty from within the graduate program, the third member of the dissertation committee serves as the outside member. The outside member may be a faculty member at UH Hilo with a PhD, or may hold a doctorate as a member of the community. These committee appointments for community members are specific to the committee, and do not confer affiliate or adjunct faculty status. Additional committee members may be added in consultation with the primary advisor or committee chair. UH Hilo Tenure/Tenure Track faculty who are serving as a graduate committee chair at the time of their retirement from the University may continue to serve in this role provided they are appointed as either Affiliate Faculty or Emeritus Faculty.

Additional dissertation committee members

Beyond the three dissertation committee members described above, additional dissertation committee members may be added in consultation with the committee chair. These committee appointments may be for community members with expertise in the dissertation subject and do not confer affiliate or adjunct faculty status.

Outside member of dissertation committee

  1. At least one dissertation committee member must be from outside the graduate program but within the UH faculty.
  2. In consultation with his or her committee chair, the student will identify a qualified person from outside of the student’s graduate program to serve as the third voting member of the dissertation committee.
  3. The outside member must possess sufficient familiarity with the student’s research topic to be able to review and comment on the manuscript.
  4. The committee chair must ascertain that the outside member is indeed independent of the faculty in the student’s graduate program and that his or her membership on the committee will not constitute any conflict of interest.

The outside member fulfills the following functions:

  1. Ensures administration of proper procedures and fair treatment of the student;
  2. Ensures that the level of research is indeed appropriate to the student’s degree objective; and
  3. Provides disciplinary expertise and an academic perspective that may not be possessed by the faculty of the student’s graduate program.

The approval process for the outside member is as follows:

  1. The student and committee chair will forward the name of the proposed outside committee member to the Graduate Council.
  2. If the Graduate Council affirms the selection, the name will be sent forward to the VCAA for final approval.
  3. If the Graduate Council does not affirm the selection, the VCAA will determine how to resolve the disagreement; final selection will rest with the VCAA if the disagreement cannot be resolved between the candidate/committee chair and the Graduate Council.

External Examiner

In the case that the doctoral candidate is a faculty member of the college or program from which the doctoral degree is being sought, the committee is required to add an external examiner to the examination committee as the representative of the Graduate Division and the university. The external examiner is either a UH Hilo faculty member from a related area outside the student’s graduate program or someone from a related discipline outside the University. Normally, the external examiner will have no involvement in the supervision of the student’s dissertation. The external examiner’s function on the examination committee is to render an independent judgment and to assure that the dissertation satisfies Graduate Division standards. Because the external examiner is supposed to serve the Graduate Division, s/he therefore must have substantial experience evaluating the scholarship/research of doctoral students (e.g., by being part of a graduate program, on graduate committees, supervising graduate research). To add an external examiner to the committee, the graduate program nominates a potential examiner to the VCAA by forwarding the nominee’s academic credentials, including a vita, to the VCAA for evaluation.

In special circumstances, particularly when a student would benefit from early counsel from a faculty member outside UH Hilo, the department chair or director of graduate studies can petition the VCAA or designee to appoint an external examiner while the dissertation is still being written.

Revised 10/2024