J. Master's and Doctoral Non-Ladder Faculty Committee Service

• Emeriti
• Research Professors
• Faculty Members from Other UC Campuses
• Other Non-Ladder Committee Members

Emeriti

Ladder faculty who retire (emeriti) while a student's thesis or dissertation is still in progress may continue to serve on the committee in question without any further approval or re-approval. A stricter standard is imposed when a student has yet to begin the thesis or dissertation or the emeritus will serve as chair.

Emeriti may be nominated to serve as a second or third member of a master's or doctoral committee, regardless of how advanced the student is in degree completion. Special approval is required for emeriti to begin chairing committees after they have retired (with the exception of the Research Professor title-see below).

Emeriti faculty are usually approved to (1) chair master's thesis committees since the duration of such service is expected to be relatively short; (2) chair a doctoral committee when they have an ongoing relationship with the department and/or UC Santa Barbara in capacity (i.e., research, administration); (3) chair a doctoral committee if the doctoral student is expected to complete the degree within two years and the faculty member retired only recently; (4) chair qualifying examination committees if the department plans to have another ladder faculty member co-chair the student's dissertation committee.

Departments are asked to do the following when nominating emeriti other than research professors:

1. Write the words "emeritus faculty" or "emerita faculty" after the person's name on the appropriate Master's Form I or Doctoral Form I and specify the month and year the person retired.
2. In cases involving the nomination of emeriti faculty to serve on or chair a committee, attach to the Form I a memo from the department chair that addresses the following questions:
   1. Is the emeritus faculty member being nominated still active in the department, accessible to students, and likely to remain so?
   2. Are the future plans of the nominee known? Is the nominee conducting research and publishing?
   3. How close is the student to completing his or her degree-e.g., a year or two from completion, or four to five years?

Research Professors

Faculty who retire and are officially reappointed with the job title "research professor" through Academic Personnel are granted automatic committee privileges, including chairing committees, for as long as they hold such appointment. No memos of support are needed in these cases. However, please write the words "research professor" next to the person's name on the appropriate Master's Form I or Doctoral Form I and send the completed form to the Graduate Division Academic Services unit, mail code 2070.

Faculty Members from Other UC Campuses

Faculty members from other UC campuses may serve as either a second or third member of a thesis or dissertation committee if they are members of the UC Academic Senate and are employed in roughly the same discipline at their home campus. The appropriate Form I should indicate the home campus, department, and academic title of the nominee. Only one of the first three committee members can be from another UC. It would be very unusual for a department to nominate a faculty member from another UC campus to chair the committee of one of its students; the approval of the Chair of Graduate Council is required in such cases.

Other Non-Ladder Committee Members

Academic Senate Regulations require that master's thesis and doctoral committees include three ladder faculty.

Occasionally, students want to include on their committees someone who is not a ladder faculty member of the Academic Senate. Included in this category are:

• Lecturers: except those classified as Lecturers with Security of Employment (SOE) and Potential Security of Employment (PSOE)
• Researchers
• Adjunct faculty
• Visiting faculty

If the non-ladder faculty member is to serve as a second or third member of a student's committee (rather than in addition to three ladder faculty members), then the department must seek an exception to policy from the Graduate Council. The following must be submitted to the Graduate Division for Council review:

• Master's Form I or Doctoral Form I nominating the student's committee signed by the department chair and graduate advisor that identifies the non-ladder nominee;
• current curriculum vitae (or résumé) for the non-ladder nominee; and
• memo of support from the department chair that explains why there are not three ladder faculty available to serve on the student's committee, and why the non-ladder nominee is qualified to serve in lieu of a ladder member from the department or a cognate discipline. The memo of support should also detail:
• how the non-ladder nominee's research expertise will aid the research of the student;
• whether the nominee has served on any other student's committees before;
• the length of time the person will be at UC Santa Barbara and available to help the student; and
• whether the student is close to completing his or her degree.
  * NOTE : Graduate Council does not ordinarily permit non-ladder faculty to serve as the sole chair of a student's master's thesis or doctoral committee. Instead, Council prefers that a ladder faculty member be nominated to co-chair the committee along with the non-ladder faculty member.