Assignment and Change of Advisor

Upon initial admission, you will be assigned a faculty member from your program as your advisor. The advisor's initial assignment is based on considerations such as student and/or faculty preferences, compatibility of student and faculty professional or research interests, and faculty advising loads. You should contact your advisor to discuss your program’s requirements and determine which courses to register for. Together with your advisor, you will develop a program of study as soon as possible after being admitted. Typically, a program of study approved by your advisor is expected to be on file in the Patton College Office of Graduate Student Affairs within one semester of initial enrollment in the master’s program but no later than the start of the second semester of enrollment. The Program of Study is important to complete because it establishes the contractual agreement regarding required courses for the master’s degree. Program of Study templates are available on the Patton College website.

If the student or the advisor determines that it is no longer desirable for the adviser-advisee relationship to continue, the student or advisor should notify the Patton College Graduate Records - Student Affairs Office and complete the "Request for Change of Advisor" form.  In the event the decision to discontinue an advisor-advisee relationship originates with a faculty member – including a faculty member's decision to retire or leave the University – it will be the responsibility of that faculty member to assist the student in identifying and obtaining a new doctoral advisor. If no new doctoral advisor can be identified, the matter will be brought before the program faculty for resolution. If the decision originates with a student, it will be the sole responsibility of the student to seek out and gain the consent of another faculty member to serve as their doctoral advisor. 

Students who seek to change advisors do so for a variety of reasons. Often, as students complete coursework in their programs, they learn about the research interests of faculty members other than those of their initial advisor. Alignment of research interests, compatibility of temperaments, and faculty members' availability to provide support for the dissertation are all good reasons for changing advisors. Changing advisors in the middle of the dissertation process occurs much less often than during the program's coursework phase. It is typically a result of a change in the faculty dissertation chair’s status (e.g. medical situation, fellowship leave, or move to another institution). A change in dissertation chair for other reasons must be considered carefully, in consultation with the chair of your department. Such a request requires approval by both the department chair and the Office of the Dean.