F4.9 Exceptions to Policies on Committee Membership
Updated: May 11th, 2012
Approvals for exceptions to policies on committee membership. Two kinds of approval are granted to qualified persons: 1) particular approval for a single committee, and 2) permanent or “blanket” approval for higher degree committees at a given level.
Requests for particular approval for a single committee are reviewed by the cognizant Associate Dean after initial review by the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900). Requests should include a curriculum vitae, a bibliography, and a statement that the prospective appointee has the doctorate or its equivalent in research experience and has special and necessary expertise that would facilitate the student’s work and that such expertise cannot be duplicated among the regular faculty. If a non-Academic Senate member has been approved for a single committee earlier and has no blanket approval, a new memorandum is required for each additional request for service on a single committee, but no curriculum vitae need accompany it if the one submitted earlier remains current.
In both cases, if the prospective appointee is not regularly affiliated with this campus, the request is to be accompanied by a statement that the service will be performed without stipend. To avoid any conflict of interest, students are not allowed to pay travel costs and expenses for faculty from other institutions to serve on their committees.
How to request an exception for a single committee. All requests for exceptions for the following must be submitted by the Head Graduate Adviser to the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900).
Categories for single committee exceptions:
Non-Senate members as inside members and co-chairs. Under certain circumstances, a non-Senate member may be appointed to a committee if the Head Graduate Adviser determines that the individual in question offers expertise not otherwise available among the regular faculty and if the cognizant Associate Dean concurs. There may be no more than one person in this category on a committee. A non-Senate member may be appointed to co-chair a Thesis Committee or a Dissertation Committee if this assignment is shared with a Senate member. A written request from the Head Graduate Adviser is necessary in such cases, to be reviewed by the cognizant Associate Dean . The following administrative policies apply to such appointments:
- The appointment of regular faculty members from other institutions who are teaching on this campus (i.e., those who hold titles equivalent to the titles in the Berkeley professorial series on their own campuses) is possible on submission of a brief statement by the Head Graduate Adviser regarding the visitor’s affiliation and title and with the assurance that the visitor holds the doctorate and will be present on this campus for a period of time that makes the appointment advantageous to the student.
- The appointment of regular faculty members from other institutions who are not currently teaching on this campus is possible on submission of a brief statement from the Head Graduate Adviser on the prospective appointee’s affiliation and title and should also include the following: a) that he or she holds the doctorate; b) that the prospective appointee has special and necessary expertise that cannot be duplicated on the Berkeley faculty; and c) that the appointee will serve without stipend. To avoid any conflict of interest, students are not allowed to pay travel costs and expenses for faculty from other institutions to serve on their committees.
Recommending faculty members from other UC campuses and Stanford. A committee for a higher degree may include one member of the regular faculty belonging to the Academic Senate of any UC campus as a second or additional inside member without special approval from the Dean as long as the majority of the committee is from the student’s major at Berkeley. When the non-UC Berkeley member is not from a northern campus of the University, special attention should be paid to the issue of accessibility. It also should be made clear to the external member that the Graduate Division cannot pay a stipend or travel costs. A regular faculty member from Stanford University does not need the Dean’s approval for appointment as a second or additional inside member, but would need approval if serving in a different capacity on the committee.
Adjunct professors and Clinical Professors. Although adjunct and clinical professors are not members of the Academic Senate, they may be appointed as co-chairs and inside members of dissertation committees if granted an exception. Permanent or “blanket” approval requests for higher degree committee service for Adjunct Professors and Clinical Professors may also be considered. The Department Chair should request a blanket approval for the individual to serve on higher degree committees when the appointment of an individual is initially proposed to the Committee on Budget and Interdepartmental Relations. (The request for committee membership can be approved for a period of time coterminous with the individual’s appointment as adjunct professor.) The Committee on Budget and Interdepartmental Relations is then able to act upon this request during the regular review process. However, this approval process can take as long as 3 months. Please note: A copy of the document indicating committee service approval by the Budget and Interdepartmental Relations Committee granted at the time of the person’s employment should be sent to Graduate Services Degrees (318 Sproul Hall, #5900) so that the individual’s committee eligibility may be appropriately noted.
If permanent approval is not initiated at the point of an individual’s appointment, it may be done any time afterward. Such requests are initially reviewed by the cognizant Associate Dean and then forwarded with a recommendation to the Budget and Interdepartmental Relations Committee for final approval. A request from the Department Chair for an individual’s blanket approval must include a curriculum vitae, a bibliography, and a statement that the prospective appointee has the doctorate or its equivalent in research experience and that his or her qualifications are at least equal to those of regular faculty at Berkeley. The request should state what level of service the individual is to perform: master’s level only or master’s and doctoral level. All requests for exceptions must be submitted by the Department Chair to the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall, #5900).
Additional exceptions. Exceptions regarding appointment of persons who do not hold the doctorate, or are not members of the Berkeley Division, or are not members of faculty at another institution. These individuals are occasionally permitted to be appointed to higher degrees committees on an exceptional basis after submission of appropriate documentation. Typically, such appointments are of persons who hold an “acting” professorial title, or that of Visiting Assistant Professor, or a title in the professional research series.
Lecturers. Lecturers with Security of Employment are members of the Academic Senate and are eligible to serve on student committee without need of review. However, they must be reimbursed for their service according to the Unit 18 contract which regulates their employment. In advance of submitting a request concerning a student committee to the Graduate Division, it is the department’s responsibility to coordinate approval with its dean’s office for whatever compensation is appropriate under the “instructional workload equivalency” section of the Unit 18 contract (Article 24, section A.6). The Office of Labor Relations is available to assist with this determination (643-6001).
Lecturers without Security of Employment are not eligible for “blanket” status, but may serve as a one-time exception on a thesis or dissertation committee if they have 1) an active appointment, 2) the endorsement of the department chair detailing why the Lecturer’s expertise is relevant to the student’s field of study, the submission of a c.v. that includes a publication list that illustrates relevance to the student’s thesis or dissertation, and 3) a statement that the program has received approval from the program’s dean to reimburse the Lecturer in compliance with the Unit 18 contract or that the Lecturer has agreed to serve without compensation.
Reconstitution of committee membership. If a committee must be changed, the student and the Head Graduate Adviser should submit the changes on a Request for Change in Higher Degree Committee petition to the Graduate Division as soon as possible. The Head Graduate Adviser should consult with all parties involved concerning the change before approving the petition and submitting it to the Graduate Division. A committee member who disagrees with being removed from the committee cannot block this action if it is approved by the Head Graduate Adviser. The petition is available from the Graduate Services: Degrees Office (318 Sproul Hall) and the Graduate Division website (http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/policies/forms.shtml).
Disagreement regarding acceptability of a student’s dissertation or thesis. All members of the Dissertation Committee or the Thesis Committee must approve the student’s work and sign the approval page. Once committed, a signature cannot be rescinded. If any member doubts the acceptability of the student’s work, the chair must convene the committee to discuss the issues. If the committee reaches agreement on its acceptability, the approval page is signed and filed as described in Instructions for Preparing and Filing Your Thesis or Dissertation, available on the Graduate Division website (http://grad.berkeley.edu/policies/guides/dissertation/).
If the committee continues to disagree, the student’s work is sent to the Dean of the Graduate Division, together with a statement of opinion submitted by each committee member. If all members of the committee reject the student’s work, it is sent to the Dean with a statement to that effect from the committee chair. In all cases of rejection or split vote, the Administrative Committee of the Graduate Council makes the final decision.
See All Topics in the Category: F. Degrees, Guide to Graduate Policy
