Form Committee

The role of the examination committee is to mentor graduate students, approve the exam questions, conduct the exam/defense, evaluate the student response, and report the results. Each committee must consist of a minimum of three members. Although deadlines for committee formation may differ from program to program, we encourage you to form your committee as soon as possible and meet with them early and often.

 The following are guidelines for committee formation:

1. Two members must be Category 1 (generally UNM tenured/tenure-track faculty) OR one member can be Category 1 and one member may be Category 3 if his/her appointment is within the student’s major.
2. The chair of the exam committee must be Category 1, 5 or 3, if his/her appointment is within the student’s major.
3. The third member can be any Category (1-6).
4. A co-chair can be from any Category (1-6) as long as the other co-chair is a Category 1 or 3 if his/her appointment is within the student’s major.

No more than one voting member can be in Category 4. Departments can impose a more restrictive structure for exam committees.