Committee Implosion

I had a very interesting experience yesterday. As part of the final semester of graduate school, I needed to make sure that everything was correct in the system, including what courses I've taken and the composition of my dissertation committee. Many schools have different guidelines for such committees, but at my university, the committee must consist of five professors: the advisor, three other members from one's department (two from one's major field, and one from the minor field), and an "external" faculty member from a different department.

One of my committee members is a former faculty member teaching at a different university now but "grandfathered" into my committee. I found out yesterday that such things are not really acceptable under the rules, and I had been misled by a former administrator in my department (who left under somewhat unpleasant circumstances). What this meant was that I had to find a new committee member to replace him. Luckily, my advisor was around, we talked about possible replacements, the best choice happened to be around as well, and he agreed to join my committee for the last leg.

I felt very good about that change. Then something even more curious happened. I had not heard back from the "external" member of my committee, so I called her department to find out what was going on, and it turns out that she is sick and on sabbatical. This meant that I needed to find another committee member. Well, another faculty member from that department graciously agreed to fill in, but said, "I can't promise to do more than read the introduction and conclusion." Of course, that is not a problem, because the last thing I need is to have a new committee member join at the last moment, after everything is basically done, then tell me I have to change something. That would really stink.

So now I have changed 3/5 of my committee in the last two semesters of graduate school (I had to replace another faculty member last semester). How cool is that? Not very. Now I have to try to get five academics (one of whom is in England--he can teleconference) to meet at the same time for a defense. Wish me luck. . . .