Build an Advisory Committee

All students in programs that require a thesis or dissertation will select a graduate advisory committee in consultation with their graduate advisor(s). Some non-thesis programs require a final oral exam (“defense”) with a committee, and some require a project, for which students may enter a “project advisor” in the Committee section of their MyPack portal. The project advisor must be from the student’s home department. If your program does not have a committee/project advisor requirement at all, you will see a message in the Committee section of your MyPack portal saying that a committee is not required.

Committee requirements may be found in the Graduate Handbook. You may also contact your Graduate Services Coordinator for guidance regarding any program-specific committee requirements.

As you speak with faculty members about adding them to your advisory committee, you may add them in your MyPack Portal and save your progress until your committee is complete:

MyPack Portal > Student Homepage > Planning & Enrollment tile > Graduate Degree Planning > Committee

1. Log into MyPack Portal using your Unity ID and password
2. View your Student Homepage
3. Select the ‘Planning & Enrollment’ tile
4. From the left-hand navigation menu, select ‘Graduate Degree Planning’
5. Select ‘Committee’

To begin adding members, click the button next to “Add to Committee”:

When you add someone to your proposed committee, you will select from multiple “Graduate Committee Member Types.” The member types are summarized below, but please refer to the Graduate Handbook for more information.

• Chair – Your faculty advisor
• Co-Chair – You may have co-advisors who would each be designated as Co-Chair. If you have been approved to have a co-major, you must have a co-chair from each major.
• External – Someone from outside of NC State (or NCSU faculty/staff without graduate faculty status) who will be a voting member on your committee. This person will not count toward the minimum number of members required for the committee (four for doctoral and three for master’s). A current vitae must be uploaded when adding this member type, as external members require approval from the Dean of the Graduate School.
• Graduate School Representative (doctoral committees only) – If a doctoral graduate committee has no representation outside of the student’s graduate program, a Graduate School Representative (GSR) is required. Co-chairs can never be considered unbiased, even if they are from outside the student’s graduate program, and would therefore never be able to substitute for the GSR. If needed, the Graduate School can assign a GSR when a preliminary oral exam is requested. GSRs are non-voting members who must be present at both the preliminary and final oral exams.
• Inter-Institutional – A member of the graduate faculty from Inter-Institutional Universities may serve as one of the required committee members when appropriate.
• Member – NC State faculty with graduate faculty status.
• Technical Consultant – Someone from outside of NC State (or NCSU faculty/staff without graduate faculty status) who will be a non-voting member on your committee. This person will not count toward the minimum number of members required for the committee (four for doctoral and three for master’s). A current vitae must be uploaded when adding this member type, as Technical Consultants require approval from the Dean of the Graduate School.

When you are finished adding members, click the “Validate” button to confirm that your proposed committee meets the general Graduate School requirements (found in the Graduate Handbook). Submit your valid committee for review by clicking the “Submit” button.

When you submit your committee for approval, each member will receive an automated email request to approve their role on your committee. After all members approve, your committee will be routed to your DGP (Director of Graduate Program) for approval.

• Any committee members from outside of NC State (or NCSU faculty/staff without graduate faculty status) will require additional approval from the Dean of the Graduate School before your committee is routed to your DGP. When the Graduate Dean approves an Inter-Institutional member, an external member, or a technical consultant, that member will receive an email to confirm that they are approved to serve on your committee.

An approved committee will be “locked” once you request to schedule an oral exam. If you need to make changes to a locked committee, please contact your Graduate Services Coordinator for assistance.