SNRE Rules
Committee
An SNRE committee needs to have at least 4 people. Three committee members need to be SNRE Affiliate Faculty, which means they must be on their list of faculty that are officially SNRE faculty. The fourth member can (optionally) not be affiliated with SNRE, but must either faculty at UF in a academic department or be a Special Member from outside UF who “brings special expertise related to student’s dissertation research.” To appoint a Special Member to the committee you need to consult with the SNRE Academic Advisor.
If there is more than one UF faculty member who you would like to serve on an SNRE committee, any UF faculty can become SNRE affiliated by sending a letter to the SNRE Academic Advisor. They must be approved, which can take a few months. If you want to pursue this option make sure you start early so that the relevant faculty member becomes an affiliate before you need to take your qualifying exam.
The SNRE forms say that 50% of your committee cannot be from the same department, but historically this has not been enforced.
Exams
Qualifying Exams
Quals can take whatever format you and your committee decides. There is no formal guide on this, but there is some language about them in the SNRE Student Guide
Final Exams (Thesis/Disseration Defense)
Substituting Committee members for Exams
Sometimes it is not possible to find a time that works for all of your committee members for an exam. In this case it is possible to substitue another faculty member for the committee member who cannot make it.
Substituting members at qualifying and final examination: If a supervisory committee member cannot be present at the student’s final defense, a Graduate Faculty member in the same academic area may substitute for the absent committee member. The substitute should sign the Final Examination form on the left side, in the space provided for committee members, noting the name of the absent member.
The chair of the student’s major academic unit also must indicate the reason for the absence and state that the absent member agreed to this substitution at the final examination.
The substitute should not sign the ETD signature page. The original committee member must sign.
From https://gradcatalog.ufl.edu/graduate/degrees/#Doctoral_Requirements
Key documentation
- SNRE Graduate Student Guide
- SNRE Forms and Planning Page
- UF Graduate Policy Manual
- UF PhD Requirements - includes supervisory committee details