On Oct. 7, 1974, the University of Missouri Doctoral Council approved the creation of a UM doctoral faculty to identify, on all four UM campuses, qualified faculty members to direct doctoral dissertations in their disciplines. Uniform minimum standard criteria for doctoral faculty membership apply to all four campuses. In UMKC's Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, three members of a student's supervisory committee must be regular, adjunct or emeritus members of the UM doctoral faculty, and the research adviser must be from the UMKC campus.

The supervisory committee shall be composed of one doctoral faculty from each of the primary and co-disciplines with a maximum of three from any one discipline. Up to two of the remaining members of each committee can hold either graduate or adjunct graduate faculty status.  Final approval of the composition of each supervisory committee shall be obtained in writing by the adviser (or committee chair) from the Dean of the Graduate school. Where graduate or adjunct graduate faculty are included, the adviser shall provide  a strong justification for their inclusion.

For purposes of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, a discipline is defined as an academic unit, such as a department or division (with a chair/head) within a school, college or academic program. To be able to participate as a discipline in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, a discipline, meeting the above definition, must have at least four regular doctoral-faculty members.

 

Doctoral Faculty Discipline Affiliation

Continuing doctoral faculty are reviewed for five-year reappointment and nominations for new appointments are considered throughout each academic year. Consequently, the list of doctoral faculty is dynamic and subject to change. Current lists are available from the School of Graduate Studies.