When the doctoral student first enters the program, he/she works with the Graduate Director to establish a Permanent Program and to select courses. However, during the student’s first two years, taking courses with a variety of professors should help the student to decide which professor he/she might ask to serve as his/her Advisor. If the professor agrees to work with the student, then the two of them should work together to form the student’s Dissertation Committee. University regulations require that a student’s Dissertation Committee be comprised of a chair, two graduate faculty from the student’s home department, and one graduate faculty member from outside the student’s department or outside the university.
When the student completes his/her Qualifying Examination, he/she should file the Appointment of Master's Thesis, Specialist Project, and Doctoral Dissertation Committees Form, which can be downloaded at http://www.wmich.edu/grad/forms/committee.html. This document is signed by the student’s Advisor, the Graduate Director, the Department Chair, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Dean of the Graduate College. It must also be initialed by the other Committee Members. Once this form is filed, a student can sign up for English 7110 Doctoral Readings and prepare for his/her Doctoral Readings Examination if they are taking the creative writing emphasis or the Dissertation Prospectus Defense if they are taking the literature or English Education emphasis.
As part of WMU policy, all committee members from outside the university must submit a current vita to the Graduate Director so that she can fill out the necessary paperwork to send over the Graduate College. This is an essential part of the dissertation committee formation process.