Persons who are not Graduate Faculty members at The Ohio State University may serve as an external committee member on master’s and doctoral (candidacy and final oral) examination committees upon the recommendation of the ASGC of the student’s program. The advisor for the student would need to approve the request before bringing forward to the ASGC.  Approval by the Graduate School is granted upon special petition by the ASGC, outlining the special qualifications and expected contributions of the proposed committee member.

A student and advisor may elect not to pursue an official committee member. In this case, such persons may serve informally and assist the student in the research, but may not be regular committee members or play any formal role in examining the student or approving a thesis, non-thesis project, or dissertation.