Advising

Advising
 

Major Professors

A student’s Major Professor serves as a mentor and is a primary resource for advising and scholarly information on research projects and sources of external funding. The Major Professor’s home department is the student's department and responsible for providing the graduate student office, laboratory space, mailbox, and support, as necessary and available. They should guide the student on coursework, exam preparation, the preparation of their dissertation proposal for the Ph.D. qualifying examination, researching and writing the dissertation, and prepare them for the job market.  For more details, see UC Davis' formal Mentoring Guidelines.

In addition, the student should regularly meet with a Graduate Advisor to discuss academic progress. Graduate Advisors are appointed to certify to the Office of Graduate Studies that the student has followed the required program to reach the completion of the M.A. or Ph.D. degree. A graduate advisor must also certify that a student with deficiencies has satisfied these.

To understand the difference between the student's Maor Professor and their graduate Advisor, see: "Understanding the Roles of Major Professors vs. Graduate Advisors" (link to pdf)

Graduate Advisors

Graduate Advisors are nominated by the Chairperson of the Geography Graduate Group and appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies to serve in matters affecting graduate students in their academic program. The Graduate Advisor’s signature is the only signature officially recognized by Graduate Studies on a variety of forms and petitions used by graduate students. In general, Graduate Advisors act as the student’s first source of academic program information and provide assistance with the requirements of the program. Students should meet with their Graduate Advisor on a regular basis and keep him/her up to date on progress. In particular, the Graduate Advisors are responsible for:

1. Providing feedback on academic study plans developed by the student.
2. Reviewing and acting on requests by graduate students to drop or add courses or to take courses on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.
3. Reviewing and approving petitions for advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and making recommendations for the composition of committees for M.A. theses and exams, doctoral dissertations, and/or qualifying examinations.
4. Periodic review of the student’s progress towards degree objectives, and in particular:
   1. meeting with each student in Fall quarter to discuss and approve their course plan for the year,
   2. completing a degree requirement checklist with each student and submitting these to the program coordinator by December 1 each year,
   3. filing an annual Student Progress Assessment concerning each student’s progress toward completion of degree requirements by June 30.
5. Going over the details in the handbook and guidance memos regarding QE procedures, forming committees, and thesis/dissertation research and writing to ensure student comprehension and compliance.
6. The approval of Planned Educational Leave (PELP).
7. For students without prior academic degrees in Geography, the Graduate Advisor is responsible for approving a preparatory program of courses in geographic theory and methods, in consultation with the student and their Major 
8. Professor.

For more information for continuing students, please see "Student Resources"