COMMITTEE CHAIR VS THESIS ADVISOR

You should be clear about the distinctions between the 
separate roles served by the chairman of your doctoral 
committee and by your thesis advisor. Your committee 
chairman acts as your guide through the graduate program 
process. This role, primarily, requires expertise in graduate 
program processes and, secondarily, broad knowledge of 
the various academic paths that graduate students might 
follow in our program. However, the thesis advisor, acting 
as a guide to and a judge of quality, needs subject matter 
expertise that was developed through formal study and 
actual research experience. 

It is possible for any of our graduate faculty members to act 
as the chairman of your doctoral committee. At the same 
time, your committee chairman might not make a competent 
thesis advisor. Therefore, although Passmore chairs most of 
your doctoral committees, he might not be able to serve as 
your thesis advisor. When you arrive at a thesis topic, you 
must decide, and Passmore must agree, whether he can act 
as your thesis advisor. The Graduate School allows the 
committee chairman and the thesis advisor to be different 
faculty members. For instance, a thesis coÐadvising 
relationship has been developed between Professor Hoi 
Suen (Educational Psychology) and Passmore for Jeff 
AllenÕs emerging thesis that will involve some sophisticated 
psychometric methodologies. Contact Passmore directly if 
you have any questions.