Changes to the advisor or Advisory Committee will be granted only on approval of all committee members, new and old, and on recommendation by the BC Graduate Chair. The
Change of Committee or Advisor form
must be filed with signatures from all current and proposed committee members, and new members may require explanation or information at their discretion about the student’s Plan of Study and research plans before approving.
Changes to the Advisor or Advisory Committee may be prompted by
- changes in the student’s Track choice (M.S. only),
- changes in the research interests or methods used by the student,
- unavailability of an existing committee member to serve, or
- conflicts within the existing student-committee relationship.
The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to support each student in achieving his or her goals of study through working with the student to design and approve a Plan of Study, providing advice, conducting required examinations, and regularly assessing the student's progress and accomplishments. Advisory Committee members indicate their commitment by signing the student’s Plan of Study, and changes to the Advisory Committee therefore also require review of the Plan of Study and approval by all new committee members.
Please Note: All Industry Track students are by default advised by the same Industry Track Advisory Committee, a student wishing to switch from the Industry Track to the Research Track will also likely need to change his or her advisor and/or committee members to support the research topic of interest to the student. Likewise, students switching from Research Track to Industry Track will also need to change their committee composition to be the standing Industry Track Advisory Committee members.
In the case that one or more members does not approve the change in the membership of the Advisory Committee, an appeal may be made by either the student or a faculty member to the BC Department Head. If the Department Head considers the appeal to have merit, he/she may then ask the Graduate School for an exception to all members signing the form
Additional guidelines and requirements for committee member selection and service can be found on the Graduate School Policy Manual under Graduate Advisory Committees.
