Selecting Prospectus Adviser
The first semester (entering fall semester) of the student’s program will include registration for EDP 196 (Colloquium: Departmental), directed by the Graduate Adviser. The procedures for selecting a prospectus adviser are as follows:
- Students will be introduced to the Department’s faculty and their research interests in the Departmental Colloquium.
- By the beginning of their second semester, students discuss their options for turning in the prospectus with their faculty advisers and notify the Graduate Coordinator of the anticipated semester.
- A list of the names and research interests of faculty (Appendix C), as well as their availability to serve as prospectus advisers, will be made available to students well in advance of the date they choose prospectus advisers. Students may consult in advance with potential prospectus advisers, but no informal agreement to actually serve as prospectus adviser is permissible outside of the official departmental process.
- Individually, and in the assigned order, each student will select a member from the list. When a faculty member has reached his/her quota for advisees, the faculty member’s name is removed from the list of those eligible for selection. This prospectus adviser will be one of three faculty evaluators at the end of the prospectus process.
In two subsequent long semesters, the student must register with the prospectus adviser for EDP 396T (Directed Research), during which time the student will prepare a prospectus.
Students will not be allowed to change prospectus advisers unless special circumstances apply:
- If the prospectus adviser leaves the department, the student will automatically be given a first-choice position in the subsequent round of the prospectus adviser choosing process.
- If the student simply wants to change prospectus advisers, he/she will be given a last-choice position in the subsequent round of the prospectus adviser choosing process.
- If the student is having great difficulty working with his/her prospectus adviser, the student can discuss the situation with the Graduate Adviser, who will decide the student’s position (first, last, or random), if any, in the subsequent round of the prospectus adviser choosing process.
