Duties of the advisory committee:
In order to give your recital or submit your thesis for approval, you must choose an advisory committee. For degrees requiring a recital, the members of the advisory committee will read and approve the program notes and conduct the final examination. While it is desirable for all the committee members to attend the recital, only the chair is required to attend. For degrees not requiring a recital, the members of the advisory committee will read and approve the student's thesis or project and conduct the final examination.
NOTE: The advisory committee does NOT conduct the preview of your recital. The preview is performed for and approved by your area faculty; e.g., brass recitals are previewed by the brass faculty, voice recitals by the voice faculty, etc. For other details regarding the preview, click HERE.
Makeup of the committee:
UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS: The advisory committee must include at least three faculty members who are familiar with the student’s work. At least two of these must be UNM faculty who are either tenured or tenure-track (the university calls these "Category 1"), or who hold the title of research professor, research associate professor, research assistant professor or are clinician educators with the rank of professor, associate professor or assistant professor (these all fall under UNM's "Category 3"). University regulations stipulate that an advisory committee may have one adjunct or part-time faculty member (Category 4), but that person cannot serve as the chair. You may have a member from outside the university (Category 2) if that person is an expert in the field and provided he or she is familiar with your work. Faculty on sabbatical can serve on committees. Emeriti/Emeritae faculty may continue to serve on committees for one year after retiring if they were already on the committee before retirement. It is also possible to have more than three faculty on your advisory committee, provided there are at least two from Category 1 or 3. Please consult the UNM Catalog for further details on the makeup of committees. Also see below for additional departmental requirements for committee makeup.
DEPARTMENTAL REQUIREMENTS: In the Department of Music, the chairman of a student’s advisory committee is usually the student's major professor. The remaining members should be chosen from among faculty members who are familiar with the student’s work. At least one of the committee members must be a faculty member from whom the student has taken an “academic” class. An academic class shall be deemed for this purpose to be one that does not consist primarily of applied music study, performance, ensemble, conducting, or other similar activity.
Getting your committee members approved:
The advisory committee members will be chosen by the student in consultation with his or her major professor. The student will then propose the advisory committee membership to the Graduate Coordinator, who will confer with the Graduate Committee to confirm that the above criteria have been met. Final approval will be given by the Office of Graduate Studies.
WHEN TO CHOOSE THE COMMITTEE:
You must propose the names of your desired advisory committee members to the Graduate Coordinator no later than July 1 for Fall semester graduation, October 1 for Spring semester graduation, or March 1 for Summer session graduation.
