Updates to San Diego Senate Regulation 715, Requirements for the PhD Degree

Dear Colleagues,

The Representative Assembly approved a proposal from the Graduate Council to amend San Diego Senate Regulation 715, Requirements for the PhD Degree, and San Diego Senate Regulation 717, Requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree, at its June 1, 2021 meeting. The most significant change is that the rules for doctoral committee composition were updated, effective Fall 2021. Below is a summary of the new requirements for doctoral committees:

The number of required doctoral committee members was reduced from five to four, all of whom must have UC San Diego appointments and must meet eligibility criteria set by the Graduate Council to serve on and/or chair doctoral committees. The approved eligibility criteria are posted on the Graduate Division’s website: https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/committees.html.
The definition of an “outside” member was simplified, using the primary department of the student’s faculty advisor/committee chair as the definition for an “inside” member.
Two of the committee members are required to be from the department or program in which the student is enrolled.
Additional UC San Diego members or external (i.e. non-UCSD) committee members who contribute to guiding the student’s dissertation work and career development may be appointed as a fifth member.

At the start of Fall Quarter (September 20, 2021), PhD and DMA students who do not have a constituted doctoral committee may follow the new rules when configuring their doctoral committees. PhD and DMA students who have already constituted a committee have the option to continue with their current committee or to reconstitute their committee based on the updated requirements. Requirements for the doctoral committees for Joint Doctoral Programs with San Diego State University remain unchanged. More information is available on the Graduate Division’s website, https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/committees.html.

The Graduate Council’s full proposal from the June 1, 2021 Representative Assembly is available at: https://senate.ucsd.edu/media/528816/gc-report-revisions-to-sd-reg-715-and-717.pdf.

Questions related to appointing a doctoral committee and completing the Graduate Division’s committee form may be directed to Erica Lennard, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs in the Graduate Division at gradassistantdeanAA@ucsd.edu. Questions about Regulations 715 and 717 may be directed to Lori Hullings, Senate Executive Director, at lhullings@ucsd.edu.

Sincerely,

Arshad Desai
Chair, Graduate Council