Annual Committee Meeting

All students are expected to make reasonable progress towards the degree. Once a student has been admitted to candidacy for the PhD, the Dissertation Committee will meet to review progress EACH FALL SEMESTER. It is the student’s responsibility to set up these annual meetings. Following this meeting, the student will prepare a written summary of recommendations that emerged from the meeting, each member of the committee will indicate approval by signing the summary, and the final document will be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator to become part of the student's file. These reports must submitted by JANUARY 2 of each academic year. The reports can be used by Graduate Advisor to review graduate student progress and are important for the awarding of merit fellowships and research and travel funds. A formal meeting of the Dissertation Committee can be requested at any time by the student or any member of the Committee. Annual meetings should be scheduled so that all committee members can attend. However, in cases where this is not possible, the meeting must have at least four committee members present. Videoconferencing is also permitted for members who cannot attend in person, with approval of the Supervising Professor.

Remember that if the Annual Committee Meeting requirement is not met, students will not be eligible for any Plant Biology awards or fellowships. Students who have not met this requirement may also be ruled ineligible for teaching appointments.