General Expectations and Responsibilities for All Faculty

Although students rely most heavily on their advisors and mentors for support in the course of their studies, all faculty members have a responsibility to support students in any of the department’s programs, including students who are not advisees or mentees, and to be available for ad hoc consultation or advising. More specifically, the department expects all faculty members to do the following:

• establish regular office hours and ensure that up-to-date information about their office hours is posted on the department’s website;
• respond in a timely fashion (within one week) to emails from students (students should not hesitate to follow up on unanswered emails);
• provide timely and substantive feedback on written work, especially seminar papers;
• submit letters of recommendation by the stated deadline (students are expected to request letters well in advance of the deadline);
• generally, participate in the intellectual life of our graduate programs by attending prospectus/dissertation presentations and workshops.

DGS-Specific Expectations and Responsibilities

The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) oversees the graduate program, as well as the academic progress and well-being of graduate students. The DGS is the official academic advisor of all students in the pre-dissertation stage. When a student completes their prospectus, the dissertation director becomes the academic advisor on record. The DGS, however, is available to discuss academic concerns, teaching, and professional development opportunities and placement throughout the degree.

Responsibilities of the DGS, specifically related to advising, to be carried out with assistance from the Graduate Coordinator, include the following:

• convene Graduate Advising Committee meetings and offer DGS-check-in appointments for all students as applicable according to the established advising schedule.
• schedule meetings with any student upon request to discuss general questions and concerns with coursework, academic progress, mentorship and advising, and career planning
• seek feedback about students from faculty (as instructors, teaching supervisors, mentors, advisors) as needed, especially prior to Graduate Advising Committee Review meetings.
• coordinate placement events and support structures for students applying to jobs.
• advocate with various university offices on behalf of students as needed (GSAS Student Services, GSAS Student Affairs, Disability Accessibility Office, FAS Registrar, etc.).
• solicit and review petitions for extension of funding petitions from advanced graduate students; meet with students and advisors to discuss petitions.
• solicit and review yearly dissertation committee reports and student self-reports for all dissertations in progress, and monitor well-being and academic progress of students.
• coordinate administration of general exams and modern language exams (e.g., selecting examiners and setting the schedule for off-cycle exams).
• develop a yearly program of academic, professional development and events for all students in the program. Examples of past events include the prospectus colloquium, “next steps” workshops with alumni, fellowships workshops from GSAS Fellowships, job market materials workshops with the Bok Center, and publishing workshops.

Mentor-Specific Expectations and Responsibilities

Incoming students are assigned a faculty member as a Mentor. Mentors are chosen by the students in consultation with the DGS, who then approaches the faculty member on the student’s behalf. Mentors and students are expected to meet at least twice per semester—at the beginning and at the end—though beyond that the mode and frequency of the meetings should be determined by the student and the Mentor, according to their needs and schedule. Mentors are expected to provide guidance to the lower G-years in navigating the beginning of their program, from selecting their courses to beginning discussions about later stages of the program, research interests, career development within academia or beyond, and the resources available throughout the program on any issues that the students wish to bring up, academic or otherwise. It is the responsibility of the student to approach the DGS if they would like to seek a new Mentor, because of faculty availability, for example. Formal Mentor relationships can continue until the student is in the dissertation stage.

Dissertation-Specific Expectations and Responsibilities

See Expectations for Students for expectations for students writing dissertations.

For Advisors/Dissertation Directors

Dissertation advisors have a number of critical responsibilities which include the following:

• meet with advisees on a regular basis (at least twice per semester).
• respond to advisees’ emails in a timely fashion (within a week).
• communicate clearly and well in advance about the advisor’s scheduling restrictions (e.g. vacation times) to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of advising.
• provide advising at every stage of the writing process, including meeting with advisees regularly in the initial stages of research both for the prospectus and for each chapter, while there are opportunities to impact the direction of the project.
• attend as many presentations of advisees as possible and provide feedback on oral delivery and presentation skills.
• provide clear guidance in setting goals and realistic deadlines and balancing commitments (teaching and writing).
• give advising and support when research and writing challenges emerge.
• convene meetings of the dissertation committee at least once a year and ensure committee members give written feedback as the writing and research develop, and not just in the final stages.
• share a report of each annual committee meeting with the DGS.
• read materials ahead of advising meetings, provided these materials are shared at least three weeks prior to the meeting.
• share thoughtful, substantive written feedback on dissertation drafts in a timely manner within three weeks of submission.
• submit written letters of recommendation by the stated deadlines.
• provide guidance and mentoring on career planning, including reading and providing written feedback on job application materials, provided these are shared with the advisor at least three weeks in advance.

For Dissertation Committee Members

Dissertation committee members (readers) have the following responsibilities:

• read materials ahead of advising meetings, provided these materials are shared at least three weeks prior to the meeting.
• share thoughtful, substantive written feedback on dissertation drafts in a timely manner within three weeks of submission.
• meet with advisees on a mutually agreed upon basis as specific concerns arise in the research and writing process.
• make themselves available for scheduling and attending doctoral committee meetings.