The dissertation committee consists of at least four members, including the advisor. Two members from the program and one member from another FIU program. All committee members need to have “Graduate Faculty (GF)” status; typically, a tenured/tenure-track faculty member. However, non-tenured/tenure-track faculty can serve on PhD committees, but they must have GF status, be affiliated to the department, and be approved by the GPD. In addition, experts outside of FIU can serve on committees, but additional steps are needed, including the creation of a Panther ID. The external member needs to stipulate, in writing, that he or she agrees to be on the committee and will adhere to the duties expected of a member of the committee. In addition, a CV will be collected by UGS that will be reviewed by all stakeholders: representatives from the program, the college, and the graduate school. Please check with the GPD.

• When: The dissertation committee should be formed no later than the second semester after a student passes the written part of the PhD qualifying exam.
• Step-by-step procedure: (UGS corresponding webpage)
  1. Student: The student first selects an advisor and a co-advisor if needed. The student and advisor(s) consult and select additional members of the committee by mutual agreement.
  2. Student (panthersof): The student initiates the process through my.fiu.edu by selecting the task “Appointment of Dissertation Committee” and filling in the information on the form. Faculty with GF status should be selectable from the pull-down menu. The forms require a working title, a project description, and a few sentences that describe the committee member’s expertise and its impact on the research planned. As always, everything written in the forms must be spell checked, properly punctuated, and grammatically correct.
  3. Faulty Advisor(s) and Committee (panthersoft): The advisor shall help the student with the selection of committee members from the graduate faculty. The faculty will also officially approve the formation of the committee through the online panthersoft form, created and approved by the student earlier.
  4. GPD (panthersoft): Reads and approves the online form.
• Program (GPD) Deadline: While there are no explicit panthersoft-managed deadlines, the dissertation committee should be formed at least one semester before the dissertation defense (D2 or D3) process is attempted, and as mentioned above, at most two semesters after passing the written exams.