Committee Members

Could you please address the formal process for asking faculty to be on your committee?  I am under the impression that you first must develop your prospectus, then write prospective faculty a letter, preferably a couple of quarters prior to the date you expect to begin your dissertation.  However, I've tried to register for the prospectus class for 3 quarters and it hasn't been offered; I'm afraid I'm falling behind and can't seem to find clear information, with a timeline, anywhere!  Thank you! Joanna

There are a couple of issues here that need to be separately addressed. First, only students that came in under (or transferred into) the newest catalog are eligible for the prospectus class. So that is probably why you have not been able to get into the class.

The prospectus is a formal version of your project ideas. This may be done on your own or during the prospectus class. An important thing to remember- just because you have a draft (even if it has been approved by the instructor of the prospectus class), it is not "done" until your committee approves it and it has been approved by your program director! Typically, students continue to work on it during the first quarter in the dissertation class. There is info on it available in the research center. By the time your chair approves the prospectus, you will need to have a second committee member. They must complete a rubric on it in MyDR.

The timeline for recruiting committee members is:

Work on prospectus draft

During the quarter before you are ready to start dissertation class:

·       Finalize prospectus draft.

·       Write to Dr. Elisha Galaif elisha.galaif@waldenu.edu she maintains the current faculty availability list. Keep in mind that the list changes quickly, do not use an old list.

·       Write to several faculty that list your methodology as their area of expertise and ideally have some related interests. Keep in mind that methodology expertise is more important than content expertise. Include your prospectus with the email.

o   Pay attention to how long they take to get back to you – if they take a long time with this, they may also do so with paper drafts.

·       Pick a chair, complete committee form, and send to him/her.

·       Your chair should submit their committee form and your prospectus draft to the research center – this will lead to your being registered in the dissertation class the following quarter.

·       Continue working on prospectus

First quarter of dissertation class

·       Complete prospectus

·       Write to Dr. Elisha Galaif elisha.galaif@waldenu.edu and get the current faculty availability list.

·       Write to several faculty about being your committee member. Include your prospectus and committee form.

·       The committee member chosen will submit the committee form to the research office.

These are not firm rules; you can recruit a second committee member earlier. However, the above guidelines give you the timeline of requirements.

I have also received questions on what exactly does the second committee member do and how often should you be contacting him or her? I like to have my students contact their committee member once a quarter, just to update them on the student's progress. Technically, the committee member does not need to be involved in the process until the proposal (first 3 chapters of the dissertation) is approved by the chair. However, if you have questions on methodology (if he or she is your methods expert) or content (if your content expert) you should write and ask them.

They will review your proposal and give you feedback on it – they are another set of eyes, and will see the paper fresh- after all your chair has read it many times and may no longer see problems. They will want revisions. When they are happy with it, they complete the rubric for the proposal in MyDR and will be at your defense.

If the committee member is your methods expert, you may be more in touch with them as you complete your IRB application and begin to collect and analyze your data. I encourage you to use them as a resource. You may want to run chapters 4-5 by them, for their input.

They will be sent a copy of your final paper and will complete the rubric in MyDR when they approve it. They will also be at your final defense. 

Next time we will return to the article I am writing and take a look at organizing the paper. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu