Student Advisory System

Advisor for Incoming Students

Each new student is assigned a Faculty Advisor who helps the student plan a tentative doctoral program, provides advice, and submits regular written evaluations of the student's progress via the Student Advisement Record form.   In addition, the Advisor will assist the student in completing an Individual Development Plan form.  This Advisor is replaced by the Dissertation Advisor and Dissertation Committee following successful completion of the qualifying examination.

It is the responsibility of the student to schedule and meet with the Advisor towards the end of each semester.

Dissertation Advisor & Dissertation Committee

Selection of a Dissertation Advisor by the student generally occurs at the end of the third semester of study and is subject to review by the Program Director and program faculty. The Dissertation Advisor must be a member of the MMI program faculty and of the UMB Graduate Faculty, and be active in the area of the proposed dissertation research. In addition to supervising the dissertation research, he or she will help the student form a Dissertation Committee and will serve as its chair.

The Dissertation Committee has at least four members in addition to the Dissertation Advisor. Three committee members must also be regular members of the Graduate Faculty, and one must be from outside the Program. The Dissertation Committee must be approved by the Program Director. This group assumes responsibility for monitoring the student's progress and finally for deciding when the dissertation is ready for defense. The Dissertation Committee will meet with the student annually to discuss the student's progress. The progress is then reported to the Program Director via a Thesis Committee Meeting Form. It is the student's responsibility to coordinate the Dissertation Committee meetings. The Dissertation Committee also serves as the examining committee for the student's defense of his or her dissertation proposal.