MUSIC-PHD - Music (PhD)

Students who completed graduate coursework at another institution are strongly encouraged to transfer course units in the winter quarter of their first year of doctoral study. The Director of Graduate Studies will evaluate the transfer of units on a course-by-course basis. Graduate work accepted for transfer of residency does not automatically exempt a student from having to complete a course requirement for the degree.

The Department of Music is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, this advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by the advisor and the advisee. As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the advisor and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Advisors guide students in critical areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, developing teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways.

The advisor is the primary source of information for a student’s graduate career. Program advisor assignments are based on the perceived best fit at the time of acceptance to a degree program. Only Academic Council Teaching Faculty (“ACTFac” – any tenure-track faculty, i.e., Assistant, Associate, and full Professors), are eligible to serve as graduate program advisors; however, non-ACTFac instructors may serve as co-advisors in conjunction with an ACTFac instructor. See the faculty listing on the Music website.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program. Graduate students are encouraged to meet with their program advisor at least once each quarter and are actively encouraged to communicate frequently with their advisors. Setting clear mutual expectations for the advising process and revisiting them periodically is valuable. While developing a proposal for the PhD dissertation or DMA final project, the student should invite a reading committee in consultation with the program advisor and other relevant faculty. Students should arrange meetings to discuss coursework, summer plans, quals preparation, language study, and, later, the dissertation topic, fellowship applications, and other aspects of professional development.

Each student is assigned a program advisor at the start of graduate study. Should a student feel it necessary to change advisors, please refer to the change of advisor process in the Music Doctoral handbook.