Step One: During Coursework
Committee formation actually begins during the coursework phase of your PhD program. During this time, you want to use your coursework to familiarize yourself with the department. This includes taking courses from a variety of professors, and sometimes even in content areas that don’t seem directly relevant to what you think your research interests are or dissertation topic will be. Research interests change, dissertation topics change, and often someone’s theoretical approaches or perspectives may inform your thinking in ways you might not envision just from a course title. Conversely, you may take the course you've been waiting your whole academic life to take only to find it no longer works for you.
So, take a wide variety of courses in writing and rhetoric from a wide variety of faculty and look for lots of opportunities to work with us. That's your main point of contact and the main way you will eventually populate your committee and early professional network.
As you go through coursework (and afterward), ask yourself the following questions about each faculty member:
Keep a running tally: people I’d really like to work with, people I’d rather not work with, people who could be a good fit. Work to develop positive relationships through ongoing contact after the course is finished. These are helpful tips whether you are developing contacts with faculty here at Mason or whether you are trying to develop a relationship with a faculty member at another university.
As you are finishing your coursework, you want to start to think seriously about forming your committee, which starts with some serious self-assessment and choosing a chair. Read more in Step Two: Actual Committee Formation.
So, take a wide variety of courses in writing and rhetoric from a wide variety of faculty and look for lots of opportunities to work with us. That's your main point of contact and the main way you will eventually populate your committee and early professional network.
As you go through coursework (and afterward), ask yourself the following questions about each faculty member:
- What’s his/her personality? Open? Closed off? How do you respond to that?
- What kind of feedback does he/she give? Mostly positive? Constructively critical? How useful was that particular brand or style of feedback to your work during the course and after?
- Did you have a good rapport? Could you talk freely with the person? Ask questions easily?
- Were you prepared for every class? Did you participate? Do you feel like you made a good impression (be brutally honest with yourself)?
Keep a running tally: people I’d really like to work with, people I’d rather not work with, people who could be a good fit. Work to develop positive relationships through ongoing contact after the course is finished. These are helpful tips whether you are developing contacts with faculty here at Mason or whether you are trying to develop a relationship with a faculty member at another university.
As you are finishing your coursework, you want to start to think seriously about forming your committee, which starts with some serious self-assessment and choosing a chair. Read more in Step Two: Actual Committee Formation.