Advising and Feedback

Because the UM is a leader in interdisciplinary scholarship and has an outstanding faculty with wide-ranging interests, there are many faculty outside the department who have an interest in philosophical topics, or do empirical research that bears on philosophical questions. If you have not already established a relationship with a faculty member in an outside department who would be useful in your research (for instance, an instructor in a cognate course), ask the chair of your committee and/or the chair of Graduate Studies to help you identify a likely cognate member.  Don’t leave this to the last minute.  Although your cognate member need not be present at your prospectus examination, you should obtain a commitment from a cognate advisor as soon as possible thereafter.

Students may change the composition of their committees at any time, or their respective roles, provided they obtain the consent of the new members and of any continuing members who are asked to play a heightened role, and file a change of dissertation committee form with the approval of the Chair of Graduate Studies. They need not ask permission of their current committee members to drop them from the committee or reduce their role on the committee, although courtesy requires that they notify them of such changes. However, students planning to make drastic changes should carefully consult with relevant faculty to determine whether this is advisable.

A faculty member who has left the university can not serve as sole chair of your committee, but may serve as co-chair or as a regular member.

No. You must quickly identify another UM faculty member who is willing to serve as your cognate advisor, and submit a new dissertation committee form.

Yes. Non-UM philosophy faculty may serve as regular members or co-chairs, but not as sole chairs of dissertation committees.

No. Dissertation advising is a scarce resource and must be conserved, lest the energies of popular committee members be dissipated on too many dissertations.

The dissertation committee must meet with its advisee at the prospectus exam and the dissertation defense. Usually, the philosophy members alone (without the cognate member) also meet at an initial pre-prospectus meeting at the time a student first assembles the committee and seeks advice on first steps toward a prospectus. Annual meetings of the philosophy members are advisable at the end of winter term, to prepare the advisee for a productive summer. However, this latter function may be assumed by the chair or co-chairs alone. Students should meet with their chair or co-chairs at least once per term.

Course grades have low informational value. Because grades at the graduate level have a very restricted range (nearly all grades fall between A and B+), they are unable to convey much useful information. In particular, the A- grade may indicate anything from "fine, but not great" to "there are some real problems here, but not enough to be alarmed about (if it is only in a single course)." Sometimes, grade patterns can be informative: a bunch of straight A’s is a good sign; several B+ grades a bad sign. A transcript that contains almost no grades above A-, especially in the most recent courses in one's field of specialization, may be a cause for concern, as it indicates that the student has not done much stellar work. Students should rely more on qualitative comments on their papers, comments their instructors have given them on their overall course performance, and feedback from the October review of graduate students to get a sense of where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and where they need to improve. Make appointments with your advisors and course instructors to learn more about your performance.

Department regulations require that faculty responsible for evaluating a student’s work return written or oral feedback to the student within one month of receipt. To encourage prompt feedback, students should request an appointment with their instructor to talk about their work before one month has passed, or as soon as possible if one month has already passed. If their request is ignored, students should bring this matter to the attention of the Chair of Graduate Studies, who will intervene to help the student.

Make sure you and your advisor share an understanding of what your advisor’s role is on the dissertation committee. Committee chairs are responsible for close supervision of their advisees, but the other members of the committee have less responsibility to read work and provide feedback. Third readers and cognate members, in particular, have no obligation to be closely involved in dissertation writing. If your advisor understands that he or she is committed to a more active role on the committee, follow the steps above to get feedback.

Make an appointment with your advisor to learn about what was said about you. If you are a pre-candidate, bring this matter to the attention of the Chair of Graduate Studies.