Can an adjunct professor or other doctoral scientist serve as the chair of my thesis committee?
I will give you here the “official” university-wide answer. In a subsequent answer I will explain few bureaucratic exceptions that apply to adjunct faculty members in the school of Meteorology. The offical answer is No, people who are not Regular Faculty Members can only be appointed as Special Members of the graduate faculty, and Special Members cannot chair master’s or doctoral committees, they may co-chair , though. (See in the Faculty Handbook section 12.52 (b), which I am told is supposed to be interpreted as allowing Co-Chairs). The Graduate Liaison will indicate on the memo he/she attaches to the green form a request to use the Special Member as Co-Chair. The Graduate College will look at that request with more scrutiny than the request to serve as member. You need to have a regular faculty member serve as Chair or Co-Chair of the committee. The concept of Co-Chair is somewhat of an informal concept, the green form “Application for Approval of the Master’s Thesis Topic and Commi
