Metro IV-B Ed.D. Handbook
for students entering summer 2004

Advisers and Committee Members

Program Advising
Thesis Advising
- Field Project Adviser
- Doctoral Examining Committee Members

Program Advising

For program advising, students will work with a faculty member (usually the cohort director) to determine their elective course of study, transfer credits and other specific degree requirements in preparing for submitting the Ed.D. Degree Program form. Some program advising will occur during scheduled cohort meeting times. During the first academic year, preliminary program planning will begin. A program planning worksheet is provided in the Ed.D. Program section for use in planning Ed.D. coursework aligned with degree requirements and other expectations.

Students should identify prior graduate level coursework to be considered for transfer into the Ed.D. program. Recall that any credits considered for transfer are subject to approval by the cohort director and/or other faculty advisers. The cohort director and other faculty advisers will review prior course work submitted by students and make some initial judgments about the match with the Ed.D. program. The cohort director and faculty adviser will also guide students in course selection for their electives.

All students have an interim faculty adviser appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies at the point of the student's acceptance into the program. This is usually the faculty member who serves as the cohort director. The interim adviser/cohort director is not intended to continue with all students for the duration of the Ed.D. program. She or he, however, serves as a point of contact when program questions arise.

Each student is encouraged to become acquainted with the various program faculty over their first few years of study. Eventually, students will make recommendations to the cohort director about faculty members they would like to serve as their field project adviser and as doctoral committee members.

Thesis Advising

Field Study Adviser

For advising of the thesis, or field study, each student will work individually with a faculty member who has expertise related to the topical focus of field study and/or methodology and who has agreed to serve as a thesis adviser. Some students may have co-advisers.

Toward the end of the second year, students will make recommendations to the cohort director about faculty members they would like to serve as their field study adviser and as doctoral committee members. To the greatest extent possible these requests will be honored, given graduate status requirements and existing faculty advising loads. The cohort director in consultation with program area faculty and the Director of Graduate Studies makes final adviser and committee assignments.

In the field study advising process students develop an integrated review of literature, design research methods, prepare for the oral preliminary examinations, develop the research prospectus, collect and analyze the data, and write the final field thesis.

Doctoral Examining Committee Members

Doctoral committee membership for each student is bound by specific guidelines of the Graduate School. Each Ed.D. doctoral committee must have four members: three of whom have graduate advising status in EdPA (inside members); one who has advising status from another department (outside member). In addition, two of the four members must have full member status in the Graduate School, meaning they have experienced working with students through the entire examination and thesis process. Given these stipulations, the cohort director in consultation with program area faculty and the Director of Graduate Studies must make adviser and committee member recommendations to the Dean of the Graduate School for final approval. Each student will be asked to identify faculty they would like on her/his committee and as project adviser. To the greatest extent possible these requests will be honored, given graduate status requirements and existing faculty advising loads. Note: If initial assignments do not prove to be satisfactory for either a student or faculty member, the Director of Graduate Studies may be consulted in consideration of assignment changes.

Preliminary Oral Examining Committee

The preliminary oral examination is administered by each student’s full doctoral examining committee, appointed by the Dean of the University of Minnesota Graduate School on recommendation of the faculty in the major field at the time the student's official doctoral degree program is approved (see paragraph above.) The examining committee includes a minimum of four members: three of whom have graduate advising status in EdPA (inside members); one who has advising status from another department (outside member). In addition, two of the four members must have full member status in the Graduate School, meaning they have experienced working with students through the entire examination and thesis process. The student's adviser usually serves as chair of the preliminary oral examining committee. All assigned members must be present at the preliminary oral examination. The absence of any member results in an invalid examination.

Thesis Prospectus Committee

Each student presents his/her field study proposal, called a prospectus, to a committee that includes the two of the EdPA (inside) members of the examining committee and the one outside member. The doctoral student's adviser usually serves as the chair of the prospectus meeting.

Final Examining Committee

The final examining committee must consist minimally of four members; three members from the major field (one is the adviser) and one from the minor field or supporting program (outside the major department).

Although the student's adviser serves as a member of the final oral examining committee, another member of the committee is designated as the chair of the final examination committee. The chair must be a full member of the graduate faculty and may be from either the major field or the minor field or supporting program.

All assigned members must be present at the final examination. The absence of any member results in an invalid examination.

Updated April 2004