1. A student’s Advisory Committee helps oversee their progress through the program, gives advice on research plans and assessment of research and programmatic progress, reviews and approves the student’s Plan of Study, administers the General Examination, approves the Dissertation Proposal and the Dissertation, and determines the outcome of the oral dissertation defense.
2. The Advisory Committee has latitude to make exceptions to some requirements as appropriate for individual students.
3. In the first year, every student selects an Advisory Committee in consultation with the major advisor. The Advisory Committee is initially made up of at least three faculty members from the graduate faculty (the student’s major advisor from PNB and two or more associate advisors).
4. The first advisory committee meeting should happen before the end of the second semester and, at minimum, annually after that, though it is recommended to have advisory committee meetings twice per year. Each advisory committee meeting and its outcome should be documented on the PNB Advisory Committee Meeting form (https://pnb.media.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3195/2018/09/COMMITTEE-MEETING-FORM.pdf) that is to be submitted to the PNB office and Director of Graduate Studies. In these advisory committee meetings, the student should present research progress and describe the next steps and future goals for the dissertation. The committee should give the student a clear assessment of past progress and future plans, which may include recommendations for additional experiments and (or) analyses.
5. The student must have at least one advisory committee meeting every 12 months in order to secure financial support in the form of a Graduate Assistantship. This will be verified before issuing support letters for the Fall and Spring semesters.
6. PhD students should add two additional members to create a five-member committee prior to the General Examination. At least three of the five members should be from PNB. The 5-member committee will conduct the General Examination as well as the Dissertation defense.

Assessment of whether the body of research is adequate for completion of the degree rests with the advisory committee. Students should consult with their advisory committee regarding the timeline for completion of their research. Note that prospective post-graduation employment start dates will not alter or truncate the scope of the research plan approved by the student’s advisory committee.

1. The Graduate Affairs committee will conduct a first-year review of all PNB graduate students at the end of their first year in the PNB Graduate Program.
2. The Graduate Affairs Committee will evaluate the student’s performances in research, teaching and course work and will make a final recommendation to the Director of Graduate Studies.
3. The advisory committee (or major advisor) should submit an evaluation of the student’s performance in research to the Graduate Affairs Committee at the end of their second semester.

1. The student’s performance as a teaching assistant will be assessed by the course supervisor.

5. The outcome of the first-year review is the following: 1) Pass, 2) Probation, or 3) Dismissal. If a student is determined to fall into either of the last two categories, the Director of Graduate Studies will meet with the student to provide review feedback, recommend steps for a course correction, recommend probationary status for the following semester, or outline the dismissal procedure.
6. After the first year, the student’s advisory committee will conduct an annual review of student progress in a format similar to the first year review regarding all phases of the student’s graduate performance.

While not required, it is strongly recommended that students complete at least one semester of teaching as a TA.