Advising

The Department of Sociology is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. First year students are assigned faculty mentors and are expected to meet with them at least quarterly throughout their first year. Students then select faculty advisors at the end of their first year, and are expected to meet with them informally throughout the year and for the duration of their time in the program. Students and faculty advisors are also expected to meet formally at the end of each academic year, typically in May or June, to review annual progress and plan goals.

When most effective, these advising relationships entail collaborative and sustained engagement by both 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.

Faculty 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.

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.

The Director of Graduate Studies and the Student Services Manager monitor academic progress and student completion of program requirements and milestones for all students. They are discussed at meetings of the Graduate Studies Committee every quarter per academic year.

At the end of each academic year, typically in June, the department’s faculty reviews and discusses the academic progress of each student.  Such discussions may include other members of the student’s dissertation committee, together or individually, if relevant. Students receive constructive feedback; if there are serious concerns, students are given specific guidelines for addressing the problems detected. 

More detailed descriptions of the program’s expectations of advisors and students are listed in the relevant Graduate Handbook opens in a new tab. Please also see Graduate Advising for a statement of university policy on graduate advising.