Health Professions Division Dissertation Guide

11 Committee Members Each dissertation committee will consist of at least three members: two from the NSU doctoral facult y 1 a nd one outsid e 2 p erson. Candidates should discuss their research interests and dissertation proposal ideas with select faculty members to determine whether there is a mutually satisfactory fit (topic area or methodology). The chairperson and committee members should be selected with care because it is the intent that these individuals will serve through to completion of the final dissertation. A good working relationship is necessary as the candidate and committee chairperson will make many decisions together. The candidate should not be discouraged if a faculty member declines a request to be a committee member. Faculty members have varying workloads, and some are already committed to a number of dissertation committees. Also, a faculty member may feel that she or he may not be the best person to meet the student’s needs. Qualifications for the second committee member include the following: • Earned dissertation research doctorate. • Expertise in area of research or methodology. Qualifications for the third committee member include the following: • Earned doctorate. • Expertise in area of research topic or methodology. The candidate will submit the following to his/her committee chair and PhD Program Director in writing: • Rationale for the third committee member for student’s dissertation. • Curriculum vitae (CV) of the potential third committee member. • Letters of agreement will be sent to committee members as appropriate per program guidelines. The letter and agreement form will be sent by the PhD Program Director. An optional fourth member may be added to the committee at the discretion of the chairperson and student. After selecting his or her committee and receiving approval for the third member from the chair of the committee and PhD Program Director, the student must complete the Appointment of Dissertation Committee form (see Appendix F). Any request for changes in the committee composition must be made in writing and approved by the student’s chairperson and PhD Program Director. As per program policy, the honorarium will be paid to committee members when the candidate successfully defends or completes his/her dissertation. 1 Occupational Therapy PhD Program requires the committee chair to be an NSU Occupational Therapy full time or PhD Committee approved adjunct faculty member; the second member may be NSU faculty member fulltime or adjunct; one member of the committee must always be a fulltime NSU Occupational Therapy faculty member (for example if the committee chair is an adjunct Occupational Therapy faculty member than the second member must be an Occupational Therapy fulltime faculty member). Health Science PhD Program require the chair and the second member to be NSU full time or adjunct faculty. With director ’ s approval Physical Therapy PhD Program may allow the second and third members to be outside experts if the chair is a full time NSU faculty. 2 Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Health Science allow the third member to be either NSU faculty or an outside expert.