Adding an External Committee Member to a Graduate Student Advisory Committee

External Advisory Committee Member Policy

Graduate students at Washington State University may request an external committee member as a fourth member of their advisory committee. An external committee member from outside WSU and who possesses unique expertise, knowledge, or skills that can significantly contribute to the student's research, creative work, or professional development. These individuals are typically university faculty or professionals from various sectors, such as government, business, or industry.

Before proceeding, the graduate program chair or director should verify the prospective external committee member possesses a degree equivalent to the one the student is pursuing. For instance, a nominee for a Ph.D. student’s committee must hold a Ph.D., while a nominee for an M.S. student’s committee must have an M.S. degree.

Graduate School Policies and Procedures detail the requirements for external committee members, the nomination process, and the necessary documentation to be submitted.

• Master's Advisory Committee
• Doctoral Advisory Committee

Note: this process is not necessary for adjunct and adjoint faculty who hold Auxiliary Graduate Faculty Status in the Faculty of the Graduate School.

SmartSheet Workflow: Addition of an External Committee Member

To add an external advisory committee member to a graduate student's advisory committee, please adhere to the following procedure:

1. Consensus and Understanding: Confirm that all relevant individuals—including the graduate program chair or director, graduate coordinator, student, and prospective external committee member—are in agreement and fully comprehend the approval process.
2. Initiation: Use the SmartSheet form provided below to commence the appointment of an external committee member.
3. Workflow Activation: Upon submission of the form, a Smartsheet workflow will automatically send emails to the necessary individuals to complete the required forms.

The SmartSheet workflow will include a FERPA attestation request and collect adequate details to facilitate the external committee member's ability to participate in ballot processes within myWSU. For your reference, examples of the forms and emails associated with this procedure are displayed in this Knowledge Base below.

Accessing the External Committee Status Update page allows for process monitoring.

Steps to Follow

• Complete a Program of Study or Committee Change Form before beginning this process. This will be uploaded at the end.

• Complete the External Committee Member Request Form

• Once the form below is submitted, an email will be sent to the department chair, school director, or their delegate. Once they approve, they will be asked to upload the nominee's CV and nomination memo. The memo should emphasize the nominee's expertise that will benefit the student's advisory committee. Additionally, it should confirm that the nominee possesses academic credentials equivalent to or exceeding the degree level being pursued by the student.
• After the department chair or school director approves the nomination, the nominee will receive two emails:
  1. An email containing a FERPA attestation agreement, which is required for participation in graduate education.
  2. An email with a myWSU data request. This request is necessary to grant the external committee member access to myWSU for the purpose of ballot casting and thesis/dissertation approvals.
• Once all the required information is gathered, an email will be sent to the graduate coordinator (identified below) and the department chair or school director. This email will include three attachments:
  1. FERPA attestation/myWSU data form.
  2. The department chair or school director's nomination memo.
  3. The nominee's current CV.
• Please submit all three documents from step 5 along with a Program of Study or a Committee Change Form , to the Graduate School through a Graduate Research Managment Process in the myWSU system (next section). The final approval decision will be made by the Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education.

Graduate Research Management (GRM) Process

1. In myWSU navigate to Main Menu > Records and Enrollment > Graduate Research Management > Service Request Management and enter the student's ID
   
   
   
   
2. Select the Student from the list and add a new row (red box, below)
   
   
   
   
3. Enter Subtype = 13 (A, Committee Change), An explanation (B, Comment), Ready for Review (C, GS_01_Ready), your ID (D), and upload documents (E, Add Attachment)
   
4. Click Save

Below are screenshots for the forms and emails used in the SmartSheet workflow.

Example Emails and Forms used in SmartSheet Workflow