Interdisciplinary Individual PhD

Supervisory and Reading Committees

After an IPhD application is approved, the student and chair select a Graduate School Representative (see an eligibility criteria and responsibilities) and forward a confirmation email from the GSR to the program office. The program office will then appoint the full Supervisory Committee in MyGrad prior to the General Exam. The Supervisory Committee functions as it would for any doctoral program, supervising the student’s progress, signing forms ordinarily transmitted by the sponsoring academic unit, and taking responsibility for conducting an annual review of the student’s progress, and submitting a report to the IPhD Group for the annual spring review. IPhD students must meet all program requirements as stipulated in the IPhD proposed program of study and must satisfy the Graduate School doctoral requirements.

A student’s Supervisory Committee must include the following faculty members:

  • At least three, but usually not more than five, Graduate Faculty members who represent the applicant’s fields of interest. Two graduate faculty members must be from two different departments/units that offer a Ph.D.
  • A Supervisory Chair or Co-Chair who is a Graduate Faculty member and is from a University unit that offers a Ph.D.
  • An additional faculty member who is a member of the Graduate Faculty who will serve as a Graduate School Representative (GSR), selected together by the student and the chair (after the student is admitted to the IPhD program).

A faculty member may chair only one IPhD Supervisory Committee at a time and be a member of no more than two IPhD committees. The student should work with the IPhD Program Coordinator to officially establish the Supervisory Committee in autumn quarter of the first year. For additional information regarding Supervisory Committees, refer to the Graduate School Memorandum #13.

If there is need to change the committee membership, the interdisciplinary nature of the IPhD Supervisory Committee must remain intact; thus, committee changes should be infrequent. If a committee change must occur, the student must obtain approval from the Supervisory Committee Chair and email that approval to the program director (and cc-the program coordinator at IPhD@uw.edu). Each faculty member concerned must confirm via email his or her consent to the change.

After the student successfully completes the General Exam and receives candidacy, the student must form a Reading Committee. The student should contact the program coordinator (IPhD@uw.edu) to set up this committee. For additional information regarding Supervisory/Reading Committees, refer to the Graduate School Memorandum #13.

Supervisory Committee Meetings and Report. Within the first quarter of study (typically autumn quarter), an IPhD student must convene a Supervisory Committee meeting to review and refine the individual program proposal. At this time, the IPhD “Supervisory Committee Meeting Report” form must be (1) completed), (2) signed by the student and the committee, and (3) submitted to the IPhD Program’s Coordinator.

Download the Meeting Report form

This report serves as a guide for the Graduate School to determine whether a student is satisfying the individual program requirements and ensure the start of a quality Ph.D. degree. The report will be placed in the student’s file and reviewed by the IPhD Program Coordinator before the student’s General Exam.

If any requirements listed on this report are not be completed, a “Departmental Contingency” will be placed on the warrant for the General Exam and candidacy will not be granted until the contingency has been met.