Graduate School

Graduate Committee Request Instructions

A student's graduate study is supervised by a school committee. A Graduate Committee Request Form must be submitted to the Graduate School early in the student's degree program, prior to defense of proposal or the comprehensive exam, but no later than the published deadline.  

Follow the instructions below to submit a Committee Request via SOAR.

1. From the Faculty Center Home page (or Campus Solutions Administrator Home page) in SOAR, click on the Graduate School Forms tile and select Grad Committee Request Form.
   
   
2. Click the +Add button.
   
   
3. Enter the Student's ID number (without the W) in the Empl ID field and click the Add button.
   
   
4. Once you've added the student's ID, the page will populate with the student's information (ID, Name, Email, Academic Program, Academic Plan, and Degree). If the student is active in multiple degree programs, please select the correct program using the Academic Plan dropdown.
   
   
5. Under the Committee Info section, choose the appropriate committee type by clicking on the magnifying glass in the Committee Type field.
   
   
6. Enter the Committee Chair and all Committee Members by entering the member's ID numbers or clicking the magnifying glass to search by name. When using the search function, after clicking on the magnifying class, click on Search Criteria. Then type the LAST NAME of the faculty member and click Search. To select a result, click on the faculty member's name.(Please note: Regular level 1 graduate faculty may serve as members of master and specialist committees only and may not chair any committee. Regular level 2 graduate faculty may serve or chair master and specialist committees and may serve on doctoral committee. Regular level 3 graduate faculty may serve on or chair masters, specialist, and doctoral committees. Associate level 1 faculty may not serve on any committees. Associate level 2 faculty may serve on master or specialist degree committees. Associate level 3 faculty may serve on master, specialist, and doctoral committees. Non-USM faculty may not chair any committee.) External Committee members cannot be added to this form. Once the form is submitted and notification is received, please REPLY ALL to the notification to report the external committee members name and the degree auditor will manually add the external committee member in SOAR.
   
   
   
7. Select the appropriate degree auditor in the Degree Auditor field.
   
   
8. After all fields have been populated, click SAVE at the bottom of the page. An email will be generated and sent to the person completing the form, the student, the committee chair, all committee members, and the degree auditor. (Please Note: This confirmation will serve as your copy of the form. If your program maintains paper files, please print a copy of the email for your records.)