Major Advisor
Ph.D. students are advised in course work by the major professor prior to program approval by a Supervisory Committee and the Graduate College. During this initial period, major professors will work with Ph.D. students to develop a tentative graduate program and a tentative list of Graduate Faculty to serve on the Supervisory Committee. Once approved by the Graduate Committee and the Office of Graduate Studies, it is the responsibility of the student to follow the program developed by the Supervisory Committee.
SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE
The Ph.D. Supervisory Committee’s purpose is to assist the student in constructing and following a program that will enable professional development compatible with the goals of the student. The Supervisory Committee consists of at least four Graduate Faculty, including the major professor and at least one Graduate Faculty external to the Department of Animal Science but within the University system. Faculty from other departments with courtesy appointments in the Department of Animal Science cannot serve as the external faculty member. Some degree of diversity in the makeup of the Supervisory Committee is deemed desirable because this committee functions to develop and challenge the thinking of the student as part of the preparation for a diverse, challenging profession. One objective measure of diversity is to include faculty from multiple disciplines of Animal Science.
The major professor assists the student in developing a proposed Supervisory Committee. The student will then send an electronic request to the Graduate Committee Chair. The request must contain the names of the proposed Supervisory Committee members, and a proposed title and a brief description of the dissertation topic. This Supervisory Committee proposal is routed electronically to the Graduate Committee for approval. If one Graduate Committee member wishes, the student and his/her major advisor will meet with the Graduate Committee at their next monthly meeting to discuss and resolve questions related to the makeup of the Supervisory Committee. The major professor serves as Chair. Ideally, the Ph.D. student and her/his advisor should complete this process before the end of the second semester of classes in the student’s program.
Once approved by the Graduate Committee, the proposed Supervisory Committee will meet before the student has completed 45 hours including planned transfer-credits but exclusive of language and/or language tools on their Program of Studies (described latterly). At this first meeting, the Committee will review and act on the student’s proposed course program, research topic, language and/or research tool requirement (research technique or collateral field study), select a Reading Committee for the dissertation, and set the procedure for assessing progress of the student’s program.
A Reading Committee, consisting of two members of the Supervisory Committee (exclusive of the Chair), will be appointed by the Supervisory Committee. The Reading Committee will approve or disapprove the dissertation based on its content and completeness once it has the approval of the major professor.
An outcome of this first meeting, the student will submit their Appointment of Supervisory Committee and Program of Studies to the Graduate Committee Chair, which will be signed and forwarded to Office of Graduate Studies. Final approval of Supervisory Committee members is made by the Dean for Graduate Education.
The Committee functions to ensure the student has reached a satisfactory level of academic and research achievement prior to the conferring candidacy for the Ph.D. Candidacy can be conferred (i) once a student has completed a “substantial” number of the credits on their Program of Study, and (ii) satisfactory completion of a written and oral comprehensive examination. These examinations must occur at least 7 months prior to the dissertation defense. In addition, the Supervisory Committee determines satisfactory completion of the dissertation and its oral defense.
Beyond its formal duties, the role of the Supervisory Committee is to help develop a pertinent and rigorous program, and provide counsel if problems arise during a student’s program. To strengthen communication between the student and the Supervisory Committee, it is desirable for the Committee to meet at least once annually to review the student’s progress in research and in completion of the courses described in the program of study.
Submission of dissertation. The dissertation must be given to the Reading Committee at least four weeks prior to the expected final oral examination. After approval by the Reading Committee, the dissertation must be submitted to the Supervisory Committee at least two weeks prior to the oral defense.
Refer to the Office of Graduate Studies description of degree requirements for further explanation of these procedures.
Program of Studies
The Program of Studies consist of a description of courses, research topic, and other requirements deemed desirable for completion of the Ph.D. program. Departmental minimum program requirements are the same as those established by the Office of Graduate Studies.
For the Ph.D. program, the minimum amount of graduate credit is 90 credit hours including a minimum of 12 hours, and maximum of 55 hours, of dissertation. Not fewer than 45 credit hours must be completed at the University of Nebraska for the doctoral degree. The courses required for the student pursuing the Ph.D. are established by the Supervisory Committee. There is no absolute course work requirement to receive the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Department intends programs to be flexible, to build on previous activities, and to meet specific educational objectives of the student. Where specific research interests apply, graduate students are encouraged to take advantage of expertise of faculty members located at research and extension centers, expertise in teaching and extension programming, laboratories within Animal Science, and faculty in other departments.
The Program of Studies for the Ph.D. degree is developed cooperatively by the student and the Supervisory Committee, usually from a proposal prepared by the major professor and student. The Program of Studies must be filed prior to completion of half the coursework, including any approved transfer credits, for the doctoral program. The program is submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies for final approval.
Changes in the Program of Studies are permissible and proposals for such changes must be approved in the same manner as described for the original program proposal.
Guidelines for Ph.D. Examinations
General. Requirements for the Ph.D. degree are described in the Office of Graduate Studies Catalog. These should be consulted and adhered to by all Supervisory Committees. The Graduate Catalog states that each Ph.D. student must take a written comprehensive examination but the format of this examination is left to the Supervisory Committee. Also, at the discretion of the Supervisory Committee, a student may be required to pass an oral comprehensive examination. The Supervisory Committee is responsible for the administration of the entire Ph.D. program within the regulation of the Office of Graduate Studies. Therefore, variation among students in programs and formats of comprehensive examinations will be normal and is to be expected. The guidelines presented below are not intended to usurp the authority of the Supervisory Committee, but are an attempt to encourage some uniformity within the Department of Animal Science. The Supervisory Committee should agree on the examination procedure when they approve the program of study.
A. Written Comprehensive Examination. When a student has substantially completed courses in the program, he/she must pass a written comprehensive examination, which may consist of several parts, in major and minor or related fields:
- The Chair of the Supervisory Committee obtains questions from every member of the Supervisory Committee and from other faculty, where appropriate, to construct an examination specific for each student.
- The written examination should be completed within a period of one week, but the amount of time for each question or set of questions, and the format of exam, will be left to the Chair and the Supervisory Committee.
- Answers to the questions are to be graded either as Pass or Fail or on a numerical scale (0 to 100%) by the faculty members who submitted the question(s). The Office of Graduate Studies does not have standards for determining a passing grade on the written examination. It is recommended that a passing grade be 80% of the questions, if graded Pass or Fail, or 80%, averaged over the questions, if assigned numerical scores.
B. Oral Comprehensive Examination. This is not required by the Office of Graduate Studies but may be required by the Supervisory Committee. It is recommended that:
- Oral examinations are held for all Ph.D. students in Animal Science.
- The oral examination should be given as soon as possible after the written examination is completed and graded.
- Answers to the written comprehensive examination questions should be available for review by the Committee.
- In addition to questions related to the field of study, it is recommended that the oral examination include a review of the specific area of research for the dissertation and progress to date.
Doctoral students may, with permission of their committee, retake their comprehensive exam once if initially unsuccessful. It may not be retaken in the same semester as the first attempt. Further details in such circumstances are provided in the Graduate Studies Catalog.
C. Candidacy. When the student has passed the written and oral examination, if required by the Supervisory Committee, and satisfied any language and research tool requirements, the Supervisory Committee recommends to the Office of Graduate Studies his/her admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. This report must be filed at least seven months prior to the final oral examination.
D. Dissertation. The following must be adhered to:
- The dissertation must be presented to Reading Committee in time to permit review of content and completeness, and approval, or at least four weeks prior to the date of the Final Examination. The Dissertation must be approved for content and completeness by the Reading Committee.
- Once reviewed, and content approved, by the Reading Committee, the potential revised Dissertation is presented to the Supervisory Committee in time to permit review, with the minimum time two weeks prior to the Final Examination.
- Details, including deadlines, for the preparation and submission of the Dissertation is provided by Office of Graduate Studies (https://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/academics/degrees/doctoral). A single final copy of the dissertation must be provided to the Secretary of the Graduate Committee in the Department of Animal Science.
E. Time and Place of Final Examination. Final examinations are required for Ph.D. candidates. Furthermore, all examinations must be conducted at the scheduled time and place. A form attached to the Application for Final Oral Exam is to be completed by the student and forwarded to the Department Office four weeks before the time of the examination. The time and place of the final exam will be included in the Animal Science Newsletter or announced by a memo to the Animal Science faculty. The Application for Final Oral Exam and a copy of the dissertation and abstract are due in the Office of Graduate Studies at least two weeks prior to the final examination.
G. Conduct of Final Examination. The student may present the results of the dissertation in the form of a seminar but this is not required. Dissertation defense presentations are open to the public. Thereafter, those present, exclusive of the Supervisory Committee and student, will typically be excused until the conclusion of the defense.
Statute of Limitation
The time limit on the doctoral program is eight years from the time the student’s Program of Study is filed in the Office of Graduate Studies Office. There are no waivers and there are no revalidation procedures.