Graduate Programs, Program Coordinators, and Program Committees

All graduate programs have a core program faculty, a program committee, and a program coordinator. The program coordinator is the contact person for current and potential students. The program coordinator also chairs the program committee and liaises with the College of Graduate Studies. The program committee is a subset of the core program faculty and is responsible for program decisions about the academic requirements for students in the program. The core program faculty is responsible for the academic program: 1) delivering graduate courses, 2) serving on supervisory committees, and 3) serving on program committees.

Supervisory Committees for Thesis Students

Each graduate student in a thesis program has a supervisory committee comprised of a supervisor or co-supervisors and at least two other faculty members. The supervisor must be a faculty member on a tenured or tenure stream appointment at UBC Okanagan. Members of the committee and co-supervisors will normally be from the program core faculty, but may, with permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies, also include appropriately qualified individuals from outside of the core program faculty, from UBC Vancouver, or from outside of the University. The supervisory committee is responsible for reviewing and approving: 1) the thesis proposal, 2) the thesis for defense, and 3) comprehensives for Ph.D. students. Thesis committee members also make up part of the thesis examining committee.

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies Program, Program Committees and Supervisory Committees

The IGS program is slightly different from disciplinary-based programs. Although there is an IGS advisory committee that oversees all interdisciplinary programs, IGS programs encompass a wide range of expertise and combinations of disciplines. A different structure is required to support the academic program of IGS students because of the individualized nature of these interdisciplinary programs. The IGS program committee serves the functions of both the core program faculty and program committee in other programs. All IGS students will also have a supervisor (or co-supervisors) and a supervisory committee.

IGS Program Committees

There are two types of IGS program committees: individualized program committees and themed program committees.

Individualized IGS program committees are constructed by potential supervisors in consultation with applicants and approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies prior to admission of students to the IGS program. These program committees are slightly larger (minimum five members) than supervisory committees (minimum three members) to reflect the need of the program committee to serve the academic role beyond that of the thesis and comprehensives. IGS students will also have a typical supervisory committee with responsibilities for the student’s thesis and, if applicable, comprehensives. Program committees and supervisory committees will normally overlap with the supervisory committee as a subset of the program committee, but this need not be the case.

Themed program committees are organized around interdisciplinary themes with a clustered focus of expertise. These IGS program committees are approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies and function much like disciplinary programs with a coordinator and a core program faculty. Once approved these program committees will be listed under the IGS program description.

Guidelines for Forming an IGS Program Committee

Whether individualized or themed, IGS program committees must meet certain standards to ensure the quality of our academic programs. IGS program committees will require:

at least five members.
evidence of experience and expertise to support the academic plan of study.
a course plan.
evidence of the infrastructure to support the research required for the plan of study.

Themed programs will also have:

normally more than seven members.
normally offers core graduate level courses on an annual basis.
a designated program coordinator.
a defined plan or plans of study.

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Last reviewed 10/7/2011 11:39:17 AM