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Dissertation Committee: Roles, Functions, and How to Choose

The path to a dissertation is filled with choices that determine the quality of your experience as a student as well as the future strength of your professional network. 

Choosing your dissertation committee is one of the most important decisions–and one of the most fraught–that you’ll make as a graduate student. With the stakes being so high, many doctoral students worry about making a misstep and getting it wrong. 

Fear not! Putting together your dissertation committee becomes easier once you know the right questions to ask: of potential committee members, of your dissertation chair, and of yourself. While forming your dissertation committee can be challenging, striking the right balance will lead to a richly rewarding academic experience that will pay dividends throughout your career. Do your homework, and you’ll be just fine. 

Dissertation Committee Questions

• What does a dissertation committee do?
• Who serves on your dissertation committee?
• How do you choose dissertation committee members?
• What can you expect from your dissertation committee? 

What Does a Dissertation Committee Do?

The basic function of your dissertation committee, which typically consists of five members, is to guide you through the process of proposing, writing, and revising your dissertation.  

Dissertation committee members serve in a mentoring capacity, offering constructive feedback on your writing and research, as well as guiding your revision efforts. They are also the gatekeepers of the ivory tower, and the ultimate judges of whether or not your dissertation passes muster. 

The dissertation committee is usually formed once your academic coursework is completed. It is not uncommon in the humanities and social sciences for dissertation committee members to also write and evaluate qualifying exams, and of course serve as faculty. By the time you begin working on your dissertation, you may know the faculty members who will serve on your dissertation committee quite well. 

Who Serves on Your Dissertation Committee? 

To a degree, who serves on your dissertation committee is up to you. Dissertation committees usually consist mostly of faculty members from the doctoral student’s home department, though this can vary due to the rise of interdisciplinary programs. 

Some universities also allow an outside expert–a former professor or academic mentor from another university–to serve on your committee. It’s advisable to choose faculty members who know you and who are familiar with your work. 

While it’s a good idea to have a mix of faculty members, it’s also important to be mindful about the roles they can play. For instance, I always advise graduate students working in quantitative fields to have a statistician on their committee. When there’s big data to crunch, it never hurts to have a stats expert in your corner. You’ll also want at least one faculty member–besides your chair–whose research is in the same relative area as yours, or adjacent to it. 

How to Choose Dissertation Committee Members

Think Carefully. It’s tempting to approach a faculty member who is a superstar in their field (if not, necessarily, in yours) to lend a little extra sparkle to your own academic credentials. Or perhaps the kindly professor you can always count on for an easy A. Or even the faculty member you’d like to be friends with after graduate school. Right? 

Not so fast. Here are some things to keep in mind when building your dissertation committee dream team: 

• Avoid Superstars. Though the prospect of having your department’s most eminent name on your committee sounds exciting, their star power comes with a price. Between guest lectures, books, keynotes, and conference travel, their time is not their own, and it won’t be yours, either. Choose dissertation committee members who have time for you. 
• Choose faculty members you know, like, and can learn from. It’s not a bad idea to approach a professor whose coursework challenged you. One of the professors who served on my committee was such an exacting grader that my term papers for her courses were accepted for publication without revision (academia’s most coveted mythical creature). 
• Keep your eyes on the future. Members of your dissertation committee can be your mentors, co-authors, and research collaborators throughout your career. Choose them wisely. 

Forming Your Dissertation Committee

Reaching out to potential dissertation committee members and formally asking them to serve on your dissertation committee can be a surprisingly taxing process. It takes some planning, and you’ll want to put some thought into it before making the big ask. While being asked to serve on a dissertation committee won’t come as a surprise to most faculty–they know the drill–these are some considerations to know going in:

• Talk to your advisor before approaching anyone to be on your committee. Remember, your advisor knows their colleagues in a way that you don’t, and is also aware of departmental politics, potential personality conflicts, and which faculty members are a good fit on a dissertation committee. Trust your advisor’s judgement. 
• Know what you’re asking. Serving on a dissertation committee is a big time commitment for any faculty member. If they say yes to being on your committee, it means they are invested in you and your research, and they want to play a role in your future. It doesn’t hurt to send a thank-you note. 
• Don’t sweat it if they say no. It does not reflect on you as a student or a scholar. A good faculty member is aware of their limitations, and they probably just don’t have the time or bandwidth to take on another big commitment. Thank them and move on. 

Expectations

Once your dissertation committee is formed, it’s time to get down to business. As a faculty member, I love serving on dissertation committees because doing so gives me the chance to work with grad students one on one as they journey into new frontiers and carve a place for themselves in academia. It is a deep, rich learning experience, and it’s thrilling to watch students transform into scholars. 

Even though researching and writing a dissertation is the most challenging work you’ll ever do, recognize this time for the opportunity it truly represents. In your dissertation committee, you have a panel of experts all to yourself, and they’re eager to help you knock your dissertation out of the park. This is the experience of a lifetime; take advantage of your dissertation committee’s time and talent, and channel that energy and goodwill into your development as a scholar. 

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Courtney Watson, Ph.D.

Courtney Watson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University Carilion, in Roanoke, Virginia. Her areas of expertise include undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for writing courses in the health sciences and American literature with a focus on literary travel, tourism, and heritage economies. Her writing and academic scholarship has been widely published in places that include  Studies in American Culture ,  Dialogue , and  The Virginia Quarterly Review . Her research on the integration of humanities into STEM education will be published by Routledge in an upcoming collection. Dr. Watson has also been nominated by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Rising Star Award, and she is a past winner of the National Society of Arts & Letters Regional Short Story Prize, as well as institutional awards for scholarly research and excellence in teaching. Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Watson has served in faculty governance and administration as a frequent committee chair and program chair. As a higher education consultant, she has served as a subject matter expert, an evaluator, and a contributor to white papers exploring program development, enrollment research, and educational mergers and acquisitions.

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Feb. 27, 2023

Selecting your master’s thesis committee members, by karyssa courey: selecting a thesis committee is like completing a puzzle every piece of this process is very valuable to have the right fit for your committee.

First off, congratulations on advancing to this stage in your academic career! Meeting the requirements for your thesis is not an easy task but you did it! You deserve to celebrate your achievements, both big and small. 

After you have finish celebrating, it’s now time for you to select committee members for your thesis. A thesis committee is a group of faculty members who provides mentorship for your entire thesis experience.

Before you begin randomly selecting members of your committee, there are a few steps and strategies that will help you pick the right members!

Where do I start?

• Review the requirements for thesis committees in your department

Rice provides requirements for thesis committees online . For example, a thesis committee for a graduate student in the psychological sciences must have three members (your advisor and two others). At least two committee members must be within your department. Reviewing the requirements will help you understand who can and cannot be on your committee!

• Breaking down your topic

If you are considering committee members, you likely have a draft of your master’s proposal or at least an idea of what your project will be about. Consider the keywords of your project (i.e., what are five terms that can be used to categorize your proposal?). These keywords are the core of your project and can help you identify faculty that align with your interests and research goals.

• Connect your topic to faculty research

Now that you have identified your keywords, think about faculty that you know in your department that are knowledgeable in the topics you are studying. You can also search faculty/lab websites or Google Scholar if you are unfamiliar with a faculty member’s research expertise. 

If there are aspects of your master’s proposal that are interdisciplinary, don’t be afraid to search for faculty outside of your department that can provide you with a valuable perspective on your research topic.

Who should I be in communication with?

• Talk with your advisor

Often, your advisor will have suggestions for potential committee members. Your advisor is one of the few people that will understand both the scope of your research project and know the faculty expertise in your department. Listen to your advisor’s recommendations and suggestions, note any faculty that may be a good fit, and share any ideas that you have based on your search in steps 2 and 3. Don’t feel constricted the recommendations from your advisor either, your peers could also be a resource.

• Talk with your peers

Older peers in your program often have a great perspective on selecting thesis committee members. Your peers may also have first hand experience with the same faculty members you are considering. E.g., Professor X provides more substantive feedback than Professor Y, so if you want substantive feedback, this is extremely helpful information!

• Talk with other faculty

Don’t be afraid to schedule meetings with potential faculty members if you want to discuss your thesis. Meeting with faculty is a great way to explain your project, hear their feedback, and gauge their interest.

I’ve talked to everyone on the list; what's next?

• Email potential committee members

Once you have selected your committee members, it is now time to email them! This might be scary or feel like a daunting step, but remember that the faculty at Rice are here to support you and help cultivate your skills as a researcher. Committee members are your team members, and are here to ideally provide constructive feedback to make your project even better!

When emailing faculty, make sure to use an appropriate tone, provide the title of your thesis, explain your project in a few sentences (or add your abstract), and note any specific reasons that that faculty is a good fit.

For example, if a faculty member has expertise relating to a theory you are applying in your research, make sure to name the theory in your email! The goal is for your potential committee members to have a clear understanding of the scope of your project and connect their expertise to your project.

What should I be mindful of during this process?

• Handling rejection

If a prospective committee member declines your offer, it’s okay! Do not take it personally or be discouraged! There may be many reasons why a faculty member might decline (e.g., tight on time, perceived lack of fit, or think another faculty member might be a better fit). Do, however, consider other faculty members and consider scheduling a meeting to discuss your thesis project. Meeting with potential committee members can help you understand if they would be a good fit, plus it’s a great opportunity to meet faculty members outside of your courses!

• Sticking to your timeline

Lastly, keep in mind your deadlines. Different departments have different requirements for scheduling your proposal and declaring your master’s candidacy. For example, in the Psychological Sciences department, a student can propose their master’s without declaring a master's candidacy. However, it is required that committee members are notified at least ten days prior to scheduling your proposal meeting.

Choosing Your Team: Selecting a Chair and Academic Committee

Qualities to Look for in Committee Members and Faculty Chairs

When deciding whom they would like to act as their committees and chairs, graduate students should consider (a) if faculty have compatible personalities with similar research interests; (b) if faculty are experienced in and enthusiastic about directing, advising, helping, and working with students; and (c) what kind of teaching and research reputations the faculty have. Graduate students should definitely consider all three of these characteristics for both committee members and faculty chairs, but graduate students should especially consider the first two characteristics in their choices of faculty chairs. Graduate students work more closely with faculty chairs than they do with academic committee members, so it is important that graduate students can get along with their faculty chairs.

Differences in Mentorship Styles

Being a member of a graduate student’s committee or acting as a chair for a graduate student is a form of faculty mentorship, and most faculty approach mentorship with different styles depending on where faculty are in their own academic careers. For example, a newly hired professor hoping to gain credibility with his or her department might be more involved in a graduate student’s research than would a professor with a well-established academic career. Neither style (hands on or hands off) is inherently good or bad, but both styles have pros and cons. For example, a hands-on chair may provide a graduate student with lots of direction and guidance but may subsume the student’s original research goals into his or her own research. On the other hand, a hands-off chair may provide a graduate student with a wealth of knowledge about research and other industry information but may have less time to spend with the graduate student because he or she is too involved in his or her own work. Before choosing their academic committee members and faculty chairs, graduate students should understand differences in mentorship styles and should identify the mentorship styles of potential committee members and faculty chairs to determine if their mentorship styles will provide them as graduate students with the support that they will need to succeed in graduate school.

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Selecting a Thesis Committee

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Tips for selecting your thesis committee

In our Thesis/Dissertation Writing Series, we answered the commonly asked question: " What is a thesis? " We also discussed how to write a thesis or dissertation and offered some advice on the thesis editing process. We will now discuss how to select a thesis committee. The selection of the thesis committee is one of the most important decisions you will make during your academic career.

What is a thesis committee?

A thesis committee is a group of people, usually professors, who supervise a student's work and work closely with that student to answer questions and provide advice. A thesis committee may also act as the examining committee at a thesis defence. In most departments in North America, it is common for the thesis committee to consist of a principal supervisor and two (possibly three) other experts in your field of study. Typically, one member of the thesis committee must be a professor in a different department from that of the student.

Why do I need a thesis committee?

These individuals will act as mentors who will guide you through the process of defining objectives, conducting research, editing drafts, writing the literature review , and writing the thesis. Choose your committee—and especially your principal supervisor—with care. The relationship between supervisor and PhD student should be mutually beneficial. In the sciences, for example, the PhD student will conduct research and take classes, while the supervisor's time will likely be divided between teaching, administration (procurement of funding/maintenance of a laboratory), writing research articles, and mentoring graduate students.

How should I select my thesis supervisor?

The ideal supervisor would be one who

• is readily available for consultation and proofreading,
• is a balanced thinker (i.e., he or she considers both specific and general questions),
• is respected in his or her field, and
• has a good track record with respect to graduating previous thesis students.

Of these traits, accessibility is crucial, as the skills involved in academic research and dissertation writing are more easily acquired when a student has an accessible supervisor as a mentor.

Some final thoughts...

Most of the time, you will need to send out email requests to gauge the interest of members of your potential thesis committee. Then, you will schedule meetings to discuss your research and find out if you are a good match. You don't want to come off as unprofessional in your email because of grammatical or spelling errors, so send your thesis committee correspondence to our thesis editors for their revision.

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How to pick a thesis committee

The thesis committee is all that stands between you and graduation, so choose wisely.

I was asked the other day what factors to consider when picking a thesis committee. And I realized that this is not a question I have pondered a lot. Normally, when one of my students needs to pick a committee, I just recommend people that seem a good choice. I don’t have a properly thought out, systematic framework to steer the selection process. So with this post I’ll try to develop a more systematic approach to this question.

Let’s first think about the purpose of the thesis committee. There are at least four distinct functions the committee should perform: 1. The committee should be your personal science advisory board. It should provide relevant expertise you or your adviser may lack. 2. The committee should review your research approach and verify that your data support your conclusions. 3. The committee should make sure you progress adequately and stay on track. 4. The committee should serve as advocates on your behalf in case your adviser develops unreasonable expectations.

The advisory-board function is probably the most straightforward to satisfy. Pick a group of people that, jointly, cover the topics relevant to your work. For example, if you work on the evolution of influenza virus, you might want to pick an expert in the molecular biology of influenza, an evolutionary biologist, an epidemiologist, and a computational biologist or biostatistician. 1 Of course, to some extent the choice may depend on the expertise of the lab you’re in. If your lab is an influenza lab then your adviser may be the influenza expert and it might be more important to have another evolutionary biologist. By contrast, if your lab is an evolution lab, it might be more important to bring in more influenza expertise.

For the remaining three points, personality of your committee members matters more than expertise. You want people who will speak up, who won’t let you get away with BS, but also who care for you and won’t put you through any unnecessary difficulties. Basically, people who can give you tough love. I wouldn’t worry too much about picking people who have a reputation of speaking their mind. Once you’re past candidacy, it’s unlikely that you will be kicked out of graduate school, and in any case if there are issues with your performance or research approach you’d want to hear about them earlier rather than later. In my mind, the worst committees are those that let a student bumble along for six years and then say “Well, this work doesn’t quite rise to the level that we expected from a PhD.” I think the best committee members are those that push you to develop a clear plan on how to complete your work, that tell you exactly what they expect from you before you can graduate, and that reign you in when your plans get overly ambitious ( which happens to almost every student ).

Next, consider possible inter-faculty dynamics. Don’t put two professors on your committee that are known to have issues with each other. You might end up as collateral damage in a fight between them. 2 Also, make sure your committee has at least some members who could speak up against your adviser if necessary. If your adviser is a very senior scientist, choosing four assistant professors as committee members would be inadvisable. Have at least one, and better two or more, committee members of comparable rank and seniority.

Committee members to avoid are those that are overly passive, that like to talk just to hear themselves speak, and that tend to get lost in tangents or irrelevant minute details. Your adviser and your fellow graduate students should know who they are. Finally, it’s important that your committee members are actually available to you. The best committee doesn’t do you any good if you can never get them all into the same room at the same time. Therefore, I’d advise against any committee members who have a reputation for being difficult to schedule. It is generally known in the department who is never around, or who may rarely have more than one open time slot every few weeks. All else being equal, I would recommend against putting such a person on your committee.

Every committee should have a computational biologist or biostatistician, to verify data is analyzed properly and results are statistically sound. ↩︎

I have never personally witnessed something of this sort happening, but I’m sure some poor graduate student somewhere is finding himself or herself in exactly this situation right now. ↩︎

Claus O. Wilke

Professor of integrative biology.

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• 6 reasons to do your graduate work in the lab of a junior PI, and 6 reasons not to
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Building your thesis committee

Choosing a faculty member for your thesis committee.

Thesis committees are typically composed of a Thesis Advisor from your major department, an Honors Council Representative from your major department, and a third committee member from outside your major department, usually referred to as the Outside Reader . Your thesis advisor is different from your Academic Advisor, and is always a faculty member.  While Academic Advisors are your best resource for planning out your course schedules and making sure you're on track to graduate with all the credits you need, when it comes to working on your thesis, you should direct your questions to your thesis advisor, Honors Council Representative, other members of your committee, or the Honors Program staff.

Thesis committee makeup can vary, but committees must always include at least three eligible members of the CU Boulder faculty (see Thesis Committee Policy below) in the roles of thesis advisor, Honors Council representative, and outside/third reader.  You are welcome to have additional members on your committee, provided they meet the eligibility requirements.  We recommend that you have no more than 5 members, as it becomes quite difficult to coordinate that many schedules when it's time for you to schedule your defense.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to serve on a thesis committee, one must be a regular full-time faculty member or a multi-year contract instructor involved in an instructional program at the University of Colorado Boulder. In terms of rank, this means Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Associate Professor (Senior Instructor), or Teaching Assistant Professor (Instructor). Additionally, faculty must hold a terminal degree in their field (usually a Ph.D.), and should have experience teaching or mentoring undergraduate students.  Graduate students are not eligible to serve.

Faculty Eligible to Serve

To find a list of Honors Council Representatives, please click here

To see a searchable PDF of faculty members that have been verified as eligible to serve, please click here *

To see a searchable and sortable Excel file of faculty members that have been verified as eligible to serve, please click here *

*This is NOT a complete list of faculty who are eligible to serve; this is simply a list of faculty who have served previously and were verified as eligible at that time.  Please note that eligibility can change as circumstances with faculty change (for example, a faculty member changes rostered departments or leaves the university).  

If you do not see a faculty member in this list and would like them to serve on your committee, you will need to verify their eligibility to serve.  Please see the information outlined in the "Eligibility Requirements" paragraph above to get a feel for the criteria, and then look up information on your faculty member.   A great resource to check eligibility is experts.colorado.edu .  You can also check the People page of most departments to learn more.  If you think they meet the criteria, email us at [email protected] with their name and we will verify it for you.   The Honors Program makes the final determination on the eligibility of faculty members to serve.   Departmental approval of a committee member will still require verification by the Honors Program.

More about the different committee roles

Thesis advisor.

There are three positive signs that a professor might make a good thesis advisor for you: They are well-versed in the particular field of study you wish to investigate, you’ve taken or are taking a class or lab with them and are doing well, and you like them as a person and would be excited to work with them.  You will be working closely with them throughout the project, so a good working relationship is very beneficial.

When you meet with prospective thesis advisors, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Be direct - ask how often they'd be willing to meet with you, how many drafts they'd be able to read and critique, and what kinds of expectations they would have of you. They will probably also have questions for you about why you'd like to write a thesis, what you hope to get from the process, and why you'd like to work with them.

If you're having trouble finding a thesis advisor, talk to your Honors Council representative.

Honors Council Representative

The Honors Council is a body of faculty made up of representatives from each Honors Program-participating department within the College of Arts and Sciences. Honors Council Representatives are responsible for making sure students follow the policies, procedures, and deadlines set forth by the Honors Program, as well as any additional policies and procedures the department has enacted, such as thesis format, research methods, and thesis class requirements. When planning to write a thesis, you should always start by contacting one of the Honors Council Representatives for your major to talk with them about your proposed project and to learn what policies and procedures you must follow.    In some departments, there is only one Honors Council Representative, and in that case, they will be serving on your committee.  In other departments, there may be several that you could work with, or there may be specific representatives for different major tracks. 

To see who the Honors Council Representatives are for your major department, and to learn more about any departmental requirements on top of what the Honors Program has set, please click here.

The Honors Council meets in April and November to award honors designations, first in divisional subcommittees and then as a full council.  Please note that, since the Council does not meet in the summer, you cannot defend a thesis and be eligible to be awarded Latin honors for a summer graduation.  You either need to defend in the fall or spring before you graduate.  

Outside Reader

If you are writing a departmental thesis (in other words, a thesis in your major), you will need an Outside Reader.  The primary role of an Outside Reader is to make sure that your thesis is held to the same high standards as theses in other departments.  So, the faculty member you choose as your Outside Reader needs to be from outside your major department.  This way they can provide that checks-and-balances piece of the puzzle so that we can confidently say that a Sociology thesis is held to the same standard as a Physics thesis, and Ethnic Studies, and Economics and so on.

At a minimum, the faculty member should be prepared to read and provide feedback on later drafts of your thesis and attend the defense.  However, if the Outside Reader's field of study touches on your topic or needs, they may be able to provide more support.  For example, if you feel that you could use some extra help in your writing, you could look for an Outside Reader from the Program for Writing and Rhetoric.  Or, if you were an Art major working on a project analyzing historic art pieces, it might be beneficial to ask a faculty member from the History department who specializes in the period of history you're studying to serve as your Outside Reader.

Additional Committee Member

If you're writing a General Honors thesis, you will select an additional committee member instead of an Outside Reader.  Since your topic is interdisciplinary, it is common for you to have a thesis advisor from one of the disciplines and an additional committee member from the other, but this is not required.  Due to the nature of your project, you are welcome to select any eligible faculty member, including faculty from the Honors Program, the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, or any other major department at CU Boulder.  To determine eligibility, please see the "Eligibility Requirements" section above.  Some suggestions on how to choose your Additional Committee Member:  You may choose someone that you feel would be a key contributor to either the content, structure/writing, or process of your project that you work well with, or you could select someone that will step in towards the end of your project to read your final draft(s) and participate in the defense, or any other criteria you feel would most benefit your project.  Please see the section above titled, "Faculty Eligible to Serve" for more details on verifying a potential committee member's eligibility.

If you're writing a departmental thesis, you may also wish to add additional committee member(s).  These members must meet the same eligibility criteria as all your other members.  Keep in mind that the more members that you add, the more people you'll have to coordinate with when it comes time to schedule your defense.

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How to Select Your Thesis Committee

Completing a thesis or a dissertation necessitates dedication, perseverance, and motivation. Effective guidance is a beneficial tool in completing a successful, scholarly product. As a graduate student, you are responsible for selecting your thesis committee and for asking each member to be a member of the committee. Your committee will affect your experience as a student as well as the thesis you produce, so it is important to be thoughtful and strategic as you choose members.  When selecting your thesis or dissertation committee, consider factors such as relationship, communication, feedback style, and the expertise of the committee member you are considering. Time is an additional concern because most faculty members have many other responsibilities and have limited time to devote to guiding students through the process of writing a thesis or dissertation. As faculty members contemplate your request to become a committee member, their other obligations, subject matter knowledge, and relationship with you may be factors that influence whether they accept this role. Overall, it is important to find committee members who are accessible, offer effective criticism, and support you as you engage in all parts of the process, from the development of your research idea to the analysis of your findings, so that you can complete a polished, scholarly product.

It is useful to choose supportive, helpful, and nurturing individuals if you seek kind and gentle encouragement from potential committee members, but it is also helpful to find individuals who offer blunt, but clear, constructive criticism. Think about professors whose courses satiated a deeper understanding of the topics studied in class. Consider professors who inspired you to delve deeper into your research passions and with whom you had conversations that provoked further pursuit of the topic. In essence, choose members with whom you have built a strong connection during your coursework.

Receiving feedback that you can use to effectively revise your thesis or dissertation is paramount to completing the work. Therefore, it’s important to choose committee members who offer useful feedback. Useful feedback includes specific comments about necessary changes, literature to consider, and details about how to change a particular section; however, feedback may also offer ideas about major changes without describing the various paragraphs that need modification. Consider the type of feedback that is most helpful to you as you work on revisions.  Do you prefer specific details of how to change each section or bigger picture ideas? In either case, you will want to consider hiring an editor to check the syntax, verb tense, word choice, punctuation, clarity, and flow of the document prior to final submission. Copy editing and proofreading are not the responsibilities of your committee members.

Committee members’ expertise and experience in a specific research area (qualitative or quantitative) should also be a primary factor in selecting your committee. An individual with expertise in your field of study can guide you towards specific literature to develop your argument. If you choose a member without content knowledge in your field, you may gain guidance in developing the general areas, but this member may lack the content knowledge to offer direction towards specific developments in the field.

In addition to the aforementioned components of selecting your committee, it’s important to understand the time commitment each member should have in order to be on your committee. Your chairperson or co-chairs should offer the most support throughout the process, so be sure that your chair has the space in their schedule to respond in a timely manner to reviewing your drafts; two weeks is a general guideline for receiving feedback on your drafts. Select a committee member who has enough time to offer constructive criticism and direction when the process becomes overwhelming or you require clarity to proceed. Each graduate program has its own guidelines for thesis committees. You need to review your department's handbook for this information. For example, the handbook generally states how many committee members are required and the responsibilities of the committee chair.  When you're ready to form your committee, reach out to your list of potential committee members via email. Be sure to write your email professionally and respectfully, explain your project in a few sentences, and provide a few reasons why the committee member would be a good fit. 

Overall, your committee will guide you through the process, so that you can achieve the final steps in attaining a graduate degree. It’s critical to select a committee that will offer guidance, constructive feedback, knowledge, and expertise of your subject as a whole group. The members should be accessible and have time to support your endeavor. The committee, which may be comprised of two to five members, should be a good fit for your research goals and support you as you cross the finish line towards obtaining your graduate degree.

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Forming an Interdisciplinary Dissertation Committee

Doctoral students in interdisciplinary programs face unique challenges in forming dissertation committees. Based on our experience as directors of three such programs (Public Health Genetics, Urban Design and Planning, and Astrobiology), we offer the following suggestions.

Your first challenge

Find the optimal set of members — especially the right chair (or two co-chairs) for your committee. Committee members need to:

• be the best match for your intellectual interests
• have the expertise to help you succeed in designing and completing your dissertation
• be able to help you prepare for your career

In planning for a dissertation, you should consult extensively with faculty members in your program for guidance about:

• potential research questions
• planning/timing methodology
• potential committee members

The role of the committee

The final decision about the appropriate content of your project rests with the dissertation supervisory committee. You should work closely with the committee (especially the chair) to determine your project’s scope and content. The committee will guide your research and should meet regularly with you. Being sure you and your committee agree on what is meant by “regular” meetings is also a good idea. You may find it useful to meet individually with the members and obtain their feedback at several stages of your dissertation process. The interdisciplinary nature of your work may require that feedback at an advanced stage of your dissertation will be provided by the committee in an integrated form. You may want to discuss with your chair how the committee could produce a collective memo integrating their shared feedback.

The composition of dissertation committees

The dissertation supervisory committee must have at least four members, including the chair and the Graduate School representative (GSR). At least three committee members (including the chair and the GSR) must be UW graduate faculty members with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees; a majority of your committee members must be graduate faculty members, identifiable through the  Graduate Faculty Locator .

Committee members should include faculty expertise in your dissertation’s core fields. You might consider having five members, especially if your project involves different disciplines requiring advice and guidance in all areas. Four committee members must attend general and final exams — so having five on your committee provides flexibility if one member cannot attend. However, having more than four committee members may make it more difficult for them to find time to work together.

Selecting a Graduate School representative

You must select the Graduate School representative for your committee by consulting with your chair, other committee members, and/or program directors. The GSR votes and represents the interests of the Graduate School. GSR requirements:

• be a graduate faculty member
• have an endorsement to chair doctoral committees
• no conflict of interest with you or your committee chair

Also, the GSR may not have an official faculty appointment within your committee chair’s department(s) or the department in which your program is housed. This can be challenging for students in interdisciplinary programs. Exceptions to this rule can be made, with appropriate justification, by petition to the dean of the Graduate School.

by Professor Emeritus Melissa Austin, Public Health Genetics; Marina Alberti, professor, Urban Design and Planning; and Woody Sullivan, professor, Astrobiology

Henley-Putnam's Dissertation or Thesis Committees

• Getting Started on Finding Your Research Committee

Committee Members Roles and Responsibilities

• Subject Matter Expert
• Committee Member

Committee Chair.   The chair schedules the comprehensive exams, delivers feedback and results of the comprehensive exams, acts as an instructor, oversees the production of the thesis/dissertation, communicates feedback from the subject matter expert and committee member, schedules the dissertation defense, meets monthly via Zoom with the student/candidate throughout the research courses, and reviews work for publication quality.  The chair deals directly with the student on the quality of the paper, the presentation, the flow, the sequence, and the conclusions.  

The role of the committee chair includes the following responsibilities:

• scheduling the comprehensive exams,
• communicating the grades and feedback from the doctoral comprehensive exam,
• overseeing the production of the dissertation,
• managing the timeline and schedule for completion of each phase of the dissertation in the courses.
• acting as an instructor in the courses,
• contacting the student/candidate regarding setting and meeting deadlines in the dissertation process,
• directing the timely and successful completion of each assignment,
• working directly with the SME and committee member to garner added perspective, feedback, and constructive criticism to strengthen the dissertation,
• communicating with the student/candidate to convey feedback, insights, added perspective, and constructive commentary provided by the committee member and SME,
• confirming with the SME that the content of the dissertation is factual and accurate,
• advising the student on formatting, sequencing, and organizing the thesis/dissertation,
• ensuring the academic quality of the thesis/dissertation, including each of the assignments in courses.
• facilitating final approval of the thesis/dissertation by making sure that all committee members sign the approval form, and
• scheduling and leading the thesis/dissertation oral defense and publication.

Subject Matter Expert (SME).   All members of the committee are subject matter experts (SMEs). The title of this particular member of the committee emphasizes and highlights specific responsibilities within the committee dynamic.  The SME should be in constant contact with the student regarding  content  of the dissertation.  This is the person the student turns to in order to test ideas and conclusions and to ensure the appropriateness, relevance, significance, and accuracy of the dissertation’s content in order to meet university and academic standards.

The SME also certifies the accurate reporting of that material to the chair and determines the factual nature of the work.  The SME knows the subject closely and acts as the student’s sounding board.  The SME does not establish timelines, length of the thesis/dissertation, etc.  The role of SME includes the following responsibilities:

• consistently consulting with the student/candidate regarding the relevance and significance of the research content,
• regularly discussing content with the student/candidate to test ideas and conclusions,
• updating the committee chair about discussions with the student/candidate and about any suggestions or recommendations resulting from those discussions, and
• confirming the accuracy, appropriateness, relevance, and significance of the research focus and content with the committee chair.

Committee Member.   One additional committee member works for the committee chair.  The committee member advises and assists the committee chair in every aspect of the project.  The committee member interacts directly with the chair, not the student.  This prevents conflicting information from being sent to the student and presents a unified stance during the process.  The chair and the committee member work out all responses presented to the student and resolve any conflicting guidance before the student is contacted.  If conflicts cannot be resolved, the chair makes the ultimate decision.  The chair and the committee member work together constantly, but the chair is the face of the university to the student.  The role of the committee member includes the following responsibilities:

• interacting with the chair to provide added insight, perspective, and feedback to be shared with the student, and
• determining responses, suggestions, and constructive criticism that will be shared with the student through the chair.
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Thesis Committee

The Ph.D. Thesis Committee has the responsibility of advising a student on all aspects of the thesis experience, from the proposal process through the preparation and defense of the final document.

The Committee should be comprised of

• the Thesis Advisor(s),
• the Thesis Committee Chair who presides at all committee meetings (must be a BE faculty member), and
• at least one additional member (unrestricted).

The student and research supervisor should agree upon members of a Thesis Committee, and the student is responsible for inviting faculty to sit on their committee. Beyond administration of the Oral Exam, the Thesis Committee is meant to provide guidance on the various aspects of the student’s project; Thesis Committee members should therefore be selected with this goal in mind.

Forming the Committee

During the summer of the second year, the student must submit the BE PhD Thesis Committee form  to the BE Academic Office ) to request approval of the Thesis Committee membership.

Changing the Committee

The Thesis Committee constituted for the Oral Exam/Thesis Proposal may change over the course of the student’s research, as determined by the student and advisor with approval by the Graduate Program Chair. Students should submit a new PhD Thesis Committee form (above) to the BE Academic Office.

The Department of Political Science offers a graduate program of study leading to the Master of Arts (MA) degree. The organization of the graduate program is based on two convictions. One is that political science is a unique subject matter that requires specialization. The second is that all of the social sciences, including political science, rely on systematic evidence and quantitative analysis. The primary goal of the program is to educate scholars who will contribute to the development of political science through careers in teaching and research.

The program emphasizes a broad-based theoretical understanding of political behavior and institutions coupled with the ability to carry out systematic empirical analysis. Students choose two primary substantive foci from among the subfields of American politics, comparative politics or international relations.

Admission Requirements

An undergraduate specialization in political science is desirable but not essential. A broad background in the social sciences, humanities, languages, statistics and mathematics is considered a desirable preparation for study in the discipline. Applicants are expected to present minimum cumulative undergraduate grade-point averages of 3.0 in all subjects and 3.2 in political science courses. 

For a student with insufficient preparation in political science or related subjects, the departmental graduate committee may, at the time of matriculation, specify:

• Additional credits to be earned beyond the 32 to 40 normally needed for the MA degree; or
• Additional study without graduate credit in subject areas in which the student may be deficient.

Program Requirements

Conventional master’s degree candidates may choose either a thesis or non-thesis option. Course requirements will differ depending on which option is chosen.

Course Requirements

Thesis Option : Students adopting the thesis option must complete seven seminars with a B average or better, plus a thesis. Of the seven seminars: at least six must be taken within the department, three of the six must be in the student’s primary area of specialization, and one must be PLSC 500 (Research Methods and Statistics I). 

Non-Thesis Option : Students adopting the non-thesis option must complete nine seminars with a B average or better. Of the nine seminars: at least seven must be taken within the department, three of the nine must be in the student’s primary area of specialization, and one must be PLSC 500 (Research and Methods and Statistics I).

Committee Selection

During their first or second semesters, master’s degree students must organize a guidance committee composed of their principal academic advisor and two other faculty members.

To do this, students should obtain the nomination form from the graduate secretary and approach the relevant faculty members for their signatures. The director of graduate studies must approve each student’s selected committee.

The Nomination of Guidance Committee Form must be filed with the graduate committee each time a change in committee composition is proposed. The director of graduate studies must approve all committee changes.

Exam Requirements

Students choosing to take master’s exams will do so during the third semester (nine seminars) of course work. Prior to that semester, students should designate a committee chair in their particular subfield. That committee chair will then participate with members of the subfield in constructing questions for and grading a written, one-day (eight-hour) exam to be scheduled by the director of graduate studies. That same committee will evaluate the written answers and assign grades of Pass or Fail. In the event an exam receives a grade of Fail, the student, in consultation with the director of graduate studies and the committee chair will determine if and when the student will retake the exam. The exam can only be retaken one time and must be retaken by the end of the semester immediately following the first exam.

Different examination procedures exist for thesis and non-thesis students. Thesis students are examined by their guidance committee on the thesis and on knowledge of their area of specialization. Non-thesis students must take a written examination, which tests the student’s general knowledge of the field of political science as well as specific knowledge in the specialization area. 

All master’s degree students must file a Graduate Application for Degree (GAFD) Form, available on the Graduate School website, during the semester in which they intend to receive their master’s degree.

Additional Information About the Program

For more information on the Political Science MA program, please refer to the Political Science Department website . To apply to the Political Science MA program, please visit the University Admissions website .

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Graduate Programs

Master of science in electrical engineering.

Welcome to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego State University! We are committed to shaping a great future for each one of our students. If you are interested in applying to our program, please follow this link . 

MSEE Program Overview

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering offers graduate study leading to a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (MSEE). The areas of study are Communication Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Electromagnetic Systems, VLSI Systems, Computer Networks, Energy Systems and Control, and Embedded Systems.

The MSEE program comprises of several coursework and a culminating experience which can either be a thesis (Plan A) or a project (Plan B). Each student must complete 30 units either by selecting Plan A (Thesis) or Plan B (Project). This is referred to as the student’s Program of Study or POS. Each of our courses are worth three units – therefore you are looking at completing ten courses for a MSEE degree. Eighteen of the thirty units should be 600 and 700-numbered courses. The remaining twelve units can be from 500, 600 or 700-level courses offered by the department. No more than two courses can be taken from other departments in the College of Engineering or from the College of Sciences to satisfy these requirements, with the prior approval of the Graduate Advisor. Students are required to pick an area of specialization and then choose relevant courses that help the student to gain mastery in that area (referred to as “Depth area courses”) and a few other courses that pertain to peripheral skills that can make the student well-rounded (referred to as “Breadth area courses”). The department allows the student to tailor their individual course selection (or POS) to align with their interest and their career goals, often in consultation with their Thesis/Project advisor and/or the Graduate Advisor. A minimum average GPA of 3.0 is required to successfully complete the degree.

IMPORTANT NOTE: International Students requiring an I-20 immigration document from SDSU must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 units of in-person course instruction on campus, per semester. International students may not take more than 3 units of fully online course instruction, per semester.

Thesis and Project Plans

There are two plans of studies: Plan-A (Thesis) and Plan-B (Project).

Plan A: Thesis Option

Students opting for Plan A must complete 21 units of course work (7 courses), 6 units of EE 797 "Research" (typically as two 3-unit EE 797 “Research”, taken in two different semesters) and 3 units of EE 799A "Thesis" under supervision of a full-time ECE faculty. The remaining twenty-one units can be taken from the course guidelines document , all subject to the approval of the Thesis Advisor and Graduate Advisor.

Credit for EE 799A will be given only after completing the thesis. Credit cannot be given for EE 798 for students in Plan A. An oral defense of the thesis is required in front of a committee of three faculty members one of whom will be your Thesis Advisor, another from your department and the third member from any department other than your own. In addition, a completed thesis report in a required format needs to be submitted to the university. Once your thesis has been published, credit will be given for EE 799A. Please visit the Thesis/Project Procedures site for instructions on how and when to file your thesis and graduation paperwork. Please note, that the University requires you to complete several formalities as you approach your graduation – please stay abreast with the procedures and monitor your progress on your digital webportal.

Plan B: Project Option

Students opting for Plan B or the Project option are required to pick an area of specialization and complete a minimum of 18 units of “Depth Area Courses” and 3 units of EE 798 as the project. Courses can be chosen from the following course guidelines document . Students are allowed to enroll in the project course (EE 798) after the completion of 21 units but must do so in the semester immediately after completing 27 units. EE 797 cannot be used for students in Plan B.

An oral defense of the project is required in front of a committee of two faculty members one of whom will be your Project Advisor and another faculty member from your department. In addition, a project report in a required format needs to be submitted to the department. Once your project has been defended, credit will be given for 798. Please visit the Thesis/Project Procedures site for instructions on how and when to file your project and graduation paperwork. Please note, that the University requires you to complete several formalities as you approach your graduation – please stay abreast with the procedures and monitor your progress on your digital webportal.

Program of Study (POS) Plan

Each student should prepare a Program of Study (POS). The POS allows you to plan your graduate coursework ahead of time and gives you clarity on your road ahead. Therefore, it is in your best interest to prepare the POS as soon as possible but no later than the end of your second semester. You will also find the relevant POS forms under the Thesis/Project Procedures tab on our website. Be sure to stay on top-of-your-game throughout your graduate program.

Tracking Your Progress

The College of Graduate Studies offers an electronic resource for you to track your progress towards graduation. This resource is called the Degree Evaluation (or Degree Audit Report). The report can be found in your my.SDSU account under the 'Degree Evaluation' tile. When you click on the Degree Evaluation, your coursework and other degree requirements will be converted into a customized report. The Degree Evaluation is your official guide for tracking your progress towards your graduation. We recommend keeping a close eye on your degree progress through this tool. Please reach out to the College of Graduate Studies at [email protected] if you see any discrepancies in your academic record. For help with my.SDSU, click on my.SDSU Student Guides and Resources .

We Are Here to Help

We are committed to making your graduate student experience with us as smooth, productive and enjoyable as possible. For academic advising please contact the Graduate Advisor – Dr. Santosh Nagaraj at [email protected] . We highly encourage you to refer to the Graduate Handbook which should answer most of the commonly asked questions. The handbook also explains several rules and regulations that you should abide by, during your graduate studies.

Degree Learning Outcomes

The MSEE degree has been designed to achieve the following outcomes in its graduates. Corresponding methods of assessing the outcomes have also been specified.

Note: The forms on this page are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and require Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher to view and print. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader free from the Adobe Web site.

Welcome to Electrical and Computer Engineering

How the Academy Museum Relegated Hollywood’s Jewish Founders to the Ghetto

“Where are the Jews?”

That was the reaction of Jonathan Greenblatt upon first visiting the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, Greenblatt attended the Los Angeles museum’s opening night gala in September 2021. Coming up on almost three years later, the answer is still unclear.

The question is one asked by many in the entertainment industry. After all, Hollywood just celebrated the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. in 2023 with some fanfare. The studio was founded by Polish Jews Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner (each adopted anglicized names) whose contemporaries were also Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. Pioneers such as Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer and Carl Laemmle were the fore-bearers of Lew Wasserman and Jerry Weintraub and Steven Spielberg. Names of trailblazers from a century ago still adorn street signs and buildings all over L.A.

And yet, in a sprawling 300,000 square-foot space costing $484 million and containing 13 million artifacts celebrating the worldwide cultural impact of the movie-making industry — from Batman costumes to the famed Bob Mackie gown Cher wore to the 1986 Oscars — the Jews were nowhere to be found. 

What followed was a years-long maelstrom of public criticism, leading to the museum promising it would rectify its glaring omission. Dara Jaffe, an associate curator at the Academy museum, went so far as to state that a Jewish exhibit had always been in the making. “As the Academy, we want to recognize our own complicity,” noted Jaffe in a 2021 piece that ran in the Guardian . To that end, on May 16, “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital,” the museum’s first permanent exhibit, opened.

And with it, a collective sigh from the community — resignation in the form of “isn’t that a shame” — with some Jewish artists and filmmakers going so far as to say it would have been less destructive to have no exhibit at all.

“I was saddened but not surprised when I heard that the role of the Jewish founders of Hollywood had been excluded from the story of Hollywood told by the Academy museum,” says Emmy-winning showrunner Michael Kaplan. “When I saw that the attempt to correct this exclusion was accomplished with insulting and unflattering portraits of these founders, I was, again, saddened but not surprised. The demonization of Jews has also become all too common.”

“Hollywoodland” was curated by Jaffe and drawn largely from the works of historian Neal Gabler. His award-winning opus,  An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood , remains a quintessential text charting the journey of Jewish immigrants — barred from certain professions due to systemic antisemitism in the United States — as they blazed a trail to Southern California in the early 20th century and built the studio system from scratch.

There is no overstating Gabler’s influence and importance in the arena of cinematic history. Upon its publication in 1988, An Empire of Their Own was a revelation. Notably, Gabler campaigned hard for the book’s subtitle, the publishing industry wary of including the word Jew on the book’s cover. Gabler won that argument, and Empire is indeed an extraordinary work — both an unsparing and detailed account of Jewish emigres who escaped likely death and carved out their slice of the American dream.

But that pride exists nowhere in “Hollywoodland.” Ensconced in a dark corner on the museum’s third floor, the exhibit is an unimpressively small, rudimentary collection of black-and-white placards that minimize these leaders’ creative and technical contributions to the landscape of American cinema, and opts to highlight their most unsavory character flaws. 

Lawrence Bender, three-time Academy Award-winning nominated producer of such films as Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds, calls the exhibit “uninspired” and “joyless.”

“You go up to that little corner and that little room and think, ‘Oh, we’re back in the shtetl, we’re back in the ghetto — up on the third floor where nobody is going to see it,’” Bender tells Los Angeles . “When I walked in, I thought I was walking into the entrance, and I realized, no, that's the whole exhibit. There’s a complete lack of inspiration compared to everything else in the museum. Like, we don't know how to do this? We're the movie industry. We're super creative people.”

“The exhibit is a lazy and insidious condemnation of Hollywood's founders,” says TV writer Patric Moss. “The focus is not on the founder's achievements — but on their sins.”

To wit: a linguistic smorgasbord of tired antisemitic tropes are used to paint a portrait of each founder; words like “oppressive” and “controlling” describe the Jewish studio heads. Laemmle, a entrepreneurial visionary who became president of Universal, is cited for his “nepotism.” Harry Warner is described as “a womanizer” and “frugal.” Harry Cohn, co-founder of Columbia Pictures, is noted for being a “tyrant and predator,” a businessman who “modeled his office after Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini.”

Adds Bender: “There are so few words used about each person and to use those words specifically – frugal, predatory, nepotistic. Why did they choose these words? “They were businessmen, and maybe they were tough businessmen. But nowhere else in the museum do they talk about anyone’s personal life like that. Why don’t they talk about their love and joy of filmmaking like they do in every other part of the museum? It is a complete double standard. Today, we talk a lot about unconscious bias in our society, but this bias seems very much conscious."

“Almost half the paragraph devoted to The Jazz Singer was about the shamefulness of using blackface, and how the character, and the Warners, tried to make their way into American society by ‘harming another marginalized group,” says Emmy-winning TV writer Ilana Wernick. “This is sickening. We all agree in 2024 that blackface is offensive, but in 1927, it was a very common and — for better or worse — an accepted form of entertainment, even by many in the Black community.” 

Jolson was against racism, Wernick notes, and among the few “white performers who would socialize with Black performers. These are things to be proud of. Turning The Jazz Singer into a movie about hate and cruelty toward the Black community is actually hateful and cruel toward Jews. And, more importantly, historically inaccurate. It's a museum's job to place things in historical context. Here, the museum has done exactly the opposite.”

Aside from these placards, the “Hollywoodland” exhibit also consists of a 2-dimensional map, virtually devoid of Jewish content save for notating the founders’ various real estate purchases, and an original 30-minute documentary narrated by Ben Mankiewicz, Turner Classic Movies host and grandson of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Makiewicz. The first quarter of the film does a fairly standard job of outlining Hollywood’s nascent days, but ultimately highlights the ambition and financial savvy of the town’s Jewish founders without acknowledging their creative and technological achievements. There is, for example, a brief clip of The Wizard of Oz, but nothing about the film’s landmark use of Technicolor. The Jazz Singer is mentioned —  again —  only for its racism. The documentary’s core thesis: the Jewish founders created Hollywood and rushed to assimilate by betraying other minority groups and even other Jewish artists.

With the caveat that controversy invites scrutiny, there are disparities between wings too important to ignore, along with peculiar inclusions (non-Jewish filmmakers D.W. Griffith and Frank Capra) and glaring omissions (George Cukor, Billy Wilder, Hedy Lamarr). 

No wonder Alma Har’el, the Israeli-American award-winning director of such films as Honey Boy and Bombay Beach,  who served on the museum’s inclusivity committee, resigned from the position after touring the exhibit opening night. She said she had “lost trust in [the committee’s] decision-making.”

“Some people may trade in dangerous antisemitism, but we expect and insist the Academy and the Academy Museum not fall prey to this behavior within and especially in its outward-facing work, which reaches so many people and has such a profound influence,” wrote Har’el in a letter addressed to Jaffe, AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer and former Academy Museum President Jacqueline Stewart, whose exit was announced last week, shortly after “Hollywoodland” opened. Amy Homma has since stepped into the role.

Keetgi Kogan, a showrunner who was born in Belarus in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States with her family, penned a letter to the Academy slamming the museum for its “thesis… that these Jewish immigrants were grasping social-climbers who chose to assimilate into American society on the backs of exploited women and people of color.”

“I’m here to tell you that you have it backwards,” Kogan wrote. “Immigrants don’t create racism and sexism in America, and blaming these Jewish immigrants for the ills of that era is not just unfair but offensive. And despite what some may say, assimilation isn’t about benefiting from white supremacy, it’s about survival. It’s about playing by someone else’s rules because you don’t have the power to be yourself. And that’s what these Jewish men did. They tried to play by America’s rules and are now being scapegoated for America’s ills.”

Ultimately, says Bender, the pressing question remains. “Who is responsible for this atrocity? Is it Jacqueline Stewart? Is is Dara Jaffe, the curator?”

The Academy declined comment, maintaining that it is “proud of all” the museums’s exhibitions, including “Hollywoodland.” 

“We are listening, as some members of the Jewish community have come forward to express some concerns, and are looking at how to address those concerns best while continuing to share an authentic understanding of these complex individuals and the time they lived in,” wrote the Academy in a statement. “As part of this process, we are continuing to engage with the community members who have come forward with constructive feedback and welcome these conversations.”

What they do with this feedback is anybody’s guess.