Policy on Graduate Committees and Graduate Degree Programs
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
Policy on Doctoral Committees
Members of the Doctoral Committee play a central role in guiding and assisting the
student as he/she works toward completion of the doctoral degree. Committee members
evaluate the student’s performance throughout the program and are responsible to the
student and their Graduate Faculty colleagues for ensuring that the standards of rigor and
quality of the doctoral degree are met.
Voting members
All approved members of the doctoral committee are voting members and are expected to
be productive scholars in the student’s major and /or sub-fields. Their specific
responsibilities include:
1. Approve a course of study that will fulfill the course requirements for the
student’s major and sub-fields and satisfy the credit hour requirements of the
MU Graduate School;
2. Conduct the student’s proposal defense (or preliminary exam);
3. Approve the student’s dissertation proposal;
4. Conduct the student’s comprehensive examination;
5. Evaluate the quality of the dissertation, participate in the dissertation defense,
and approve the dissertation.
Criteria for doctoral committee composition
1. All committees will consist of 4 or more graduate faculty members as per MU
Graduate School policy.
2. Committees will include 3 internal members (those individuals holding an
appointment within the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
[hereafter – Department]; this includes those individuals with the Regular
Faculty, Cooperative Faculty, Research Faculty, Adjunct Faculty, or Research
Associate titles) and 1 external member (those individuals holding a faculty
appointment in an academic unit other than the Department).
3. At least 2 of the committee members must be members of the MU Doctoral
Faculty.
4. The external members should be a member of the MU Doctoral Faculty.
(Exceptions must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and/or the
Department Graduate Committee).
5. Doctoral committees will contain no more than one member who is an
Adjunct Faculty, Research Faculty, or Research Associate.
Policy related to Adjunct Faculty
1. May participate as internal or external members
2. May not serve as committee chair; but may serve as co-chair upon
approval by a majority vote of the Regular and Cooperative Faculty of the
Department. Such approval must be granted each time an Adjunct Faculty
wishes to serve as a co-chair (see Adjunct Faculty Policy for details).
3. May not be appointed to the Doctoral Faculty in the Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
Policy related to Research Faculty (i.e., Research Assistant, Associate, or
Professor)
1. May participate as internal or external members
2. May serve as committee chair or co-chair, if they have Doctoral
Faculty status within the Department
3. Approval by a vote of the Regular and Cooperative Faculty is
required to grant Doctoral Faculty status within the
Department.
Policy related to Research Associates
1. May participate as internal or external members, but only if they
hold the Ph.D., or equivalent, degree
2. May not serve as committee chair or co-chair
3. Participation as an external member requires a letter of approval
from the Dean of the Graduate School
Policy related to participation by individuals who are not affiliated with MU
1. Must be approved by the F& W Director of Graduate Studies and the
Vice-Provost for Advanced Studies and Dean of the Graduate School.
2. Must hold an earned doctorate degree
3. Requests for participation by non affiliated individuals must include the
C.V. of the prospective committee member and a written statement
from the student’s advisor explaining why this individual’s
expertise is needed (e.g., Describe the expertise they contribute
that is not available on campus) and how their participation will
substantively contribute to improving quality of the committee.
4. Under most circumstances it is recommended that these individuals
serve as an “additional member” rather than as one of the “external
members.”
5. In no instance will non-affiliated individuals be approved to serve as
the sole external member of a Ph.D. Committee.
Policy on Masters Degree Committees
Members of the Masters Degree Committee play a central role in guiding and assisting
the student as he/she works toward completion of the master’s degree. Committee
members evaluate the student’s performance throughout the program and are responsible
to the student and their Graduate Faculty colleagues for ensuring that the standards of
rigor and quality of the Masters degree are met.
Voting members: All approved members of the masters committee are voting members
and are expected to be productive scholars in the student’s major and /or sub-fields.
Their specific responsibilities include:
1. Approve a course of study that will fulfill the course requirements for the
student’s major and sub-fields and satisfy the credit hour
requirements of the MU Graduate School.
2. Participate in the defense of the student’s research proposal.
3. Approve the student’s research proposal
4. Evaluate the quality of the thesis, participate in the thesis defense, and approve
the dissertation.
Criteria for committee composition:
1. All committees will consist of 3 or more graduate faculty members as per
MU Graduate School policy.
2. Committees will include 2 internal members and 1 external member.
The external member should be a member of the MU Graduate Faculty.
(Exceptions must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and/or the
F&W Graduate Committee).
Policy related to Adjunct Faculty
1. May participate as internal or external members
2. May not serve as committee chair but may serve as co-chair upon approval by
a majority vote of the Regular and Cooperative Faculty of the Department.
Such approval must be granted each time an Adjunct Faculty wishes to
serve as a co-chair (see Adjunct Faculty Policy for details).
3. Masters committees will contain no more than one adjunct faculty (or
research associate) member and, only then, when 2 internal regular
or cooperative faculty also are serving.
Policy related to Research Faculty
1. May participate as internal or external members
2. May serve as committee chair or co-chair, with approval by
Departmental faculty.
Policy related to Research Associates
1. May participate as internal or external members
2. May not serve as committee chair or co-chair
3. Masters committees will contain no more than one research associate (or
adjunct faculty) member and, only then, when 2 internal regular
or cooperative faculty also are serving.
Policy related to participation by individuals who are not affiliated with MU
1. Must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the Vice
Provost for Advanced Studies and Dean of the Graduate School
2. Must hold an earned doctorate degree
3. Requests for participation by non affiliated individuals must include
the C.V. of the prospective committee member and a written
statement from the student’s advisor explaining why this individual’s
expertise is needed ( e.g. Describe the expertise they contribute that is
not available on campus) and how their participation will
substantively contribute to improving quality of the committee.
3. Under most circumstances it is recommended that these individuals serve
as an “additional member” rather than as the “external members.”
4. In no instance will non-affiliated individuals be approved to serve as
the sole external member of a M.S Committee.
Policy for Master’s (M.S.) Degree Students
Students are expected to have completed a baccalaureate or equivalent degree before
being admitted to the Master’s degree program in the Department of Fisheries and
Wildlife Sciences. This policy does not preclude acceptance of a student who has not
completed their bachelor’s degree, but does require completion of that degree before the
student can formally participate in degree-related research activities for their M.S.
program. Exceptions to the preceding requirements must be reviewed and approved by
the Graduate Program Committee.
All prospective MS students (including those who completed their baccalaureate degree
at MU) must submit an application to the Department that is reviewed and approved by
the Fisheries and Wildlife Graduate Faculty before the student is admitted to the M.S.
program. Following admission, the student is expected to develop a Program of Study.
The Program of Study will consist of : 1) a list of courses that will be taken to satisfy the
degree, and if appropriate graduate minor or certificate, requirements; 2) the expected
date of graduation; 3) and a formal proposal for their research (expected to be completed
within 6-9 months after initial enrollment in the degree program). The Program of Study
will be reviewed and approved by members of the student’s M.S. committee within 6-9
months of the student’s initial enrollment in the degree program. An oral defense of the
proposal serves as the vehicle for committee approval of the M.S. degree research plan.
Each proposal should contain a signature page, which upon being signed and dated by the
committee will be kept on file with the proposal in the Departmental Graduate Program
Office. In the event that major revisions to the proposal are planned following the
defense (i.e., at any time during the student’s program), appropriate modifications must
be made to the proposal and approved by the committee (by signing and dating a new
signature page to the proposal) before the research plan can be considered approved. The
original and revised proposals, along with the signature pages will be filed in the
Departmental Graduate Program Office. The proposal and Program of Study must be
approved by the committee before the student begins collection of data related to the
research objectives established in the proposal.
Master’s degree students are encouraged to participate in professional development
activities including teaching, presentation of papers at professional meetings and
publication in scholarly journals and technical reports. Students should be aware,
however, that manuscripts arising from the M.S. research that are drafted before the
thesis is successfully defended, must be reviewed and approved by members of their
committee before the manuscripts are submitted for publication. This policy ensures that
the graduate committee’s responsibilities and authority are not circumvented by the peer
review process.
All Master’s degree students will be formally evaluated annually by their major advisor
following the guidelines established by the Graduate School and the Department.
Policy for Doctoral (Ph.D.) Degree Students
Students are expected to have completed a Master’s or equivalent degree before being
admitted to the doctoral program in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences.
This policy does not preclude acceptance of a student who has not completed their
Master’s (or equivalent) degree, but does require completion of that degree before the
student can formally participate in degree-related research activities for their Ph.D.
program. Exceptions to the preceding requirements must be reviewed and approved by
the Graduate Program Committee.
All prospective doctoral students (including those who completed their M.S. degree at
MU) must submit an application to the Department that is reviewed and approved by the
Fisheries and Wildlife Graduate Faculty before the student is admitted to the Ph.D.
program. Following admission, the student is expected to develop a Program of Study.
The Program of Study will consist of: 1) a list of courses that will be taken to satisfy
degree, and if appropriate graduate minor or certificate, requirements; 2) the expected
date of graduation; 3) and a formal proposal for their research (expected to be completed
within 6-9 months after initial enrollment in the degree program). The Program of Study
will be reviewed and approved by members of the student’s doctoral committee within 69 months of the student’s initial enrollment in the degree program. An oral defense of the
proposal serves as the vehicle for committee approval of the doctoral research plan. Each
proposal should contain a signature page, which upon being signed and dated by the
committee will be kept on file with the proposal in the Departmental Graduate Program
Office. In the event that major revisions to the proposal are planned following the
defense (i.e., at any time during the student’s program), appropriate modifications must
be made to the proposal and approved by the committee (by signing and dating a new
signature page to the proposal) before the research plan can be considered approved. The
original and revised proposals, along with the signature pages will be filed in the
Departmental Graduate Program Office.
Although the proposal defense can be used to satisfy the Graduate School’s requirement
for a preliminary examination, the advisor and/or committee can also require a formal
written and oral preliminary examination to evaluate core competencies of entering
doctoral students. Irrespective of the method used to satisfy requirements for the
preliminary examination, the proposal and Program of Study must be approved by the
committee before the student begins collection of data related to the research objectives
established in the proposal.
All Doctoral Students must complete a Comprehensive Examination and a Dissertation
following the regulations specified by the Graduate School.
Doctoral students are encouraged to participate in professional development activities
including teaching, presentation of papers at professional meetings and publication in
scholarly journals and technical reports. Students should be aware, however, that
manuscripts arising from the Ph.D. research that are drafted before the dissertation
is successfully defended, must be reviewed and approved by members of their committee
before the manuscripts are submitted for publication. This policy ensures that the
graduate committee’s responsibilities and authority are not circumvented by the peer
review process.
All Doctoral Students will be formally evaluated annually by their major advisor
following the guidelines established by the Graduate School and the Department.