The Supervisory Committee must have at least four voting members, all of whom shall be UNL Graduate Faculty. The student begins the process by asking a current GKSOM Graduate Faculty Member in his or her area of specialization to serve as Chair of the Supervisory Committee. (NOTE: Graduate Faculty Associate members may serve on the committee in any role except that of Chair or Co-Chair.) Duties include assisting the student in preparing the Program of Studies, preparing and evaluating recitals (DMA), organizing the Comprehensive Examination, guiding research for the document, and serving as chair of the Final Oral Examination. The student and the Chair of the Committee then ask three additional UNL Graduate Faculty members to serve. One must be a GKSOM faculty member from the student's area of specialization; one must be a GKSOM faculty member from outside the area of specialization, and one must be a UNL faculty member from outside the GKSOM. If the student designates a minor or related area of study, a Graduate Faculty Member from the minor or related area must also be represented on the Supervisory Committee. This committee member might also be functioning as the "outside-the-School" member or “outside-the-area-of-specialization” member. In special circumstances, the student may petition the Graduate Committee to include an Emeritus faculty member (voting) to serve as one of the members of the Supervisory Committee, other than the Chair of the Supervisory Committee.
The student may also petition the Graduate Committee to include additional committee members, including members of the University of Nebraska Graduate Faculty (voting), University of Nebraska authorized emeriti faculty (voting), and members who do not hold Graduate Faculty status, but who are approved by the Graduate College for committee service (voting), who may bring needed expertise to the Committee. In addition, non-graduate faculty members from inside or outside the UN system may serve as consultants (non-voting) to the Committee, e.g., a non-graduate faculty member who is authorized to teach graduate applied lessons may be invited to serve as a consultant to the committee.
Under extraordinary circumstances, students may initiate a change in their Supervisory Committee membership. If the change involves a change in the Chair of the Committee, students should consult with the GKSOM Graduate Committee Chair. If the change involves a committee member other than the Chair, students should consult with their Supervisory Committee Chair. If, after the consultation, the appropriate chair decides that a change should be made, the appropriate Chair informs the faculty member that he/she is being removed. After this notification has occurred, the student should complete the Change of Supervisory Committee for the Doctoral Degree form available on the Graduate College website https://graduate.unl.edu/current/Doctoral-SupCommitteeChange.pdf, and submit the form via email to the Enrollment Specialist who will process the form and route it for signatures.
Occasionally a student will wish to change their applied music instructor. Permission for any change in applied studio assignment must come from the area head. It is not admissible to sign up for a different section of applied lessons without the approval of the area.