Special Members of the Graduate Faculty

Important Information

• University of Texas at San Antonio faculty members who do not hold a full-time tenured or tenure-track appointment, including visiting, adjunct or part-time faculty members are eligible for appointment as Special Members of the Graduate Faculty upon recommendation by the Graduate Faculty of the department where they serve and/or the appropriate Graduate Program Committee and approval by the Graduate Council.

• Special Members may teach graduate courses, serve on graduate committees, and co-chair thesis and dissertation committees upon recommendation by the appropriate Graduate Program Committee and approval by the Graduate Council. The status of Special members expires at the end of their appointment period, unless renewed.

• Applicants from Southwest Research Institute and UT Health Science Center San Antonio are appointed for five (5) year terms. Applicants from other outside institutions are appointed for three (3) year terms.

• The Graduate School recommends that students submit an application well before their graduation semester to ensure that their outside committee member is a current Special Member of the Graduate Faculty. It is the student’s responsibility to work with their department and college to renew the application each time it expires.   

Becoming a Special Member

Students who wish to have an outside member serve on their thesis or dissertation committee must work with their department and college to complete the following steps:

• First, the student chooses a person to serve on their committee as an outside member. They must contact that person to see if they would be willing to serve on their committee.

• If the person agrees to serve on the committee, he or she must provide enough information about themselves in order to fill out an APPLICATION FOR SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP OF THE GRADUATE FACULTY. The applicant must attach a current Vita to the application.

• Next, the application will go though an extensive approval process:

1) The application must be signed by the Graduate Program Chair, the Department Chair, and the Dean of the college.

2) After all the signatures have been gathered at the department and college level, the form must be routed to the Graduate School .

3) The Graduate Council’s Membership committee will vote on the application and if it is approved by the majority of the committee, it will go before the council at the next Graduate Council meeting for final approval. Please check the Graduate Council’s website: http://www.utsa.edu/graduate//GraduateCouncil/index.html to view the meeting dates for each month during the academic year.

• If the council approves the application at their monthly meeting, a notification letter will be sent to the applicant, one copy to the UTSA department chair, and one to the Dean of the college at UTSA.

For more information about this process please contact:

Jennifer Jensen at Jennifer.Jensen@utsa.edu or the Graduate School at (210) 458-6408.