Change Committee
- Rickie Smith
These are instructions for how to request a change to your thesis or doctoral committee.
Log in to GradPoint Students
Navigate to the Petitions Tab, Click Start New Petition, and click Change Committee”
Select the Objective for the committee you wish to change:
Your existing approved committee will display underneath
Build your committee by searching for the members
Search UCSB-affiliated members via name, select the correct member, select their role, and add the member:
Desktop
Use the “Enter External Member” button for any member who is not from UCSB (and therefore won’t return in the UCSB Directory).
For External Members: Please use their institution email address
The left shows what it looks like to enter a member that is not already in our External Database
The right shows what it looks like when the external member’s email address is already in our database
Continue to build your committee. Added members will appear underneath:
Use the red X to remove members if needed.
Once you are done building your committee, then click the Validate button. This will compare your committee against the Academic Senate Regulation minimums to determine if your committee is valid or will require an exception. From a mobile device, you will click “Next” before the Validate button is visible.
Validation results
The validate button compares your committee against the university’s minimum requirements for a committee.
If you get all green checkmarks next to the rules, then your committee is valid.
Red Xs signify that rule was not met by the committee
If your committee is not valid, you could add more members to create a valid committee, or submit it anyway (and ask your department to write an exception on your behalf. Discuss this with your departmental staff graduate advisor).
Once you are done building your committee and have clicked the validate button after making all changes, hit the submit button
What is next?
From here, the committee will be reviewed by your departmental staff graduate advisor, who can input any exception requests as needed. You will receive an email when you need to review it again during the “Student Signature” step, documented below.
Student Signature
When it is time for you to review your final committee nomination (before it gets sent off for approvals from your members, Department Chair, etc), you will receive an email directing you to log in to GradPoint
This will take you directly to the screen you need to review.
Review the committee. If you want to make changes to it at this point, you could decline the step (and it will take you back to Step 1 above).
If you have a conflict of interest to disclose, please enter it here.
Once you are ready, click Approve
Full Workflow
The full workflow depends on whether a valid committee is being proposed, or if it needs an exception or a Conflict of Interest Review.
Workflow for a valid committee
Propose committee change (student or staff grad advisor)
Department Review (staff grad advisor)
Student Approval (student only)
Member Approvals (members)
Department Chair Approval
Upon Department Chair approval, the committee is finalized and all parties will be sent a confirmation email. Your Academic Information Tab in GradPoint Students will be updated to reflect your committee.
Workflow for an invalid committee or conflict disclosure
Propose committee (student or staff grad advisor)
Department Review (staff grad advisor)
Student Approval (student only)
Graduate Division Review
Member Approvals
Department Chair Approval
Associate Dean Review
Graduate Council Review
How to Check on Progress
Navigate to your Petitions Tab in GradPoint Students and click View Petition