Committee Meetings
Scheduling a Committee Meeting
Progress Report
What Happens at a Committee Meeting?
First Committee Meeting
Second Committee Meeting
Subsequent Committee Meetings
Final Committee Meeting and Permission to Write
Committee Meeting Scheduling Summary
Cautionary Advice
Scheduling a Committee Meeting
Prior to scheduling the first committee meeting, the student must obtain approval of his/her supervisory committee members from the Graduate Coordinator.
It is the student’s responsibility to arrange his/her committee meetings. First, the student must find a day and time that is suitable for his/her supervisor and committee members.
The student must then sign up for a seminar room. Committee meetings can be held in the Department of Biochemistry's seminar rooms (MSB Rm. 5231 or Rm. 5337) or if the student is not located in the MSB, he/she may choose to use a meeting room in his/her own facility. The sign-up books to reserve the Department of Biochemistry's seminar rooms (MSB Rm. 5231 or Rm. 5337) are in the Biochemistry office.
The student may reserve one of the department’s projectors for the meeting or use his/her own. If the student would like to reserve a departmental projector, he/she must sign up for one in the Biochemistry office.
Finally, the student must send a confirmatory email to his/her supervisor and committee members, with a copy to Carrie Harber, the Graduate Program Administrator (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca), indicating the date, time, and location of the committee meeting. The Graduate Program Administrator will print out a Supervisory Committee Meeting Report Form for the student to pick up prior to the meeting.
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Progress Report
At least two days (48 hours) prior to a committee meeting, the student must provide each committee member with a progress report. The student must put the date, time, and location of the meeting on the front page.
The report should include:
• a brief introduction,
• a summary of the project's status at the time of the last committee meeting,
• an overview of the student’s completed work and work-in-progress,
• and a description of the experiments that the student plans to do in the future.
The first progress report should not exceed five pages, single-spaced (12-point font); this includes essential figures and tables. One single extra page should be attached for references. Additional figures, tables and detailed methods can be attached as appendices.
All committee meeting progress reports should follow this format unless explicitly stated by your committee.
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What Happens at a Committee Meeting?
The student must pick up a Report Form from the Graduate Program Administrator to bring to the meeting. At the beginning of the committee meeting the student will be asked to give a PowerPoint presentation approximately 20 minutes in length.
The presentation should include the following:
• the rationale of the project,
• a summary of the project's status at the time of the last committee meeting,
• a description of the experimental approaches being used,
• an overview of progress, ongoing work, and future directions.
The committee will then discuss the project in greater detail with the student. At the conclusion of the meeting, the student will be asked to absent himself/herself while the committee fills out a Report Form. The student will then rejoin the committee and be given a brief oral summary of the comments in the Report.
After everyone has signed the Report, it is the student’s responsibility to make a copy for himself/herself and the committee members and to give the original copy to the Graduate Program Administrator.
It is also the student’s responsibility to bring copies of this report to give to the committee members at the next committee meeting. If the progress of a student is repeatedly "below expectations", the Chair of the department will be informed, and the student may be asked to withdraw from the program.
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First Committee Meeting
The student must have his/her first committee meeting within six to eight months of initial registration. Introducing the research topic to the committee at this time will serve as a good opportunity to review the ideas behind the research, the immediate goals of the project, and the approaches being used.
At this time the student does not need to define his/her longer-term goals. The student can look forward to getting useful ideas on the design and interpretation of his/her experiments from the committee members.
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Second Committee Meeting
The student must have the second committee meeting 14 to 16 months into the program. If the student is in the M.Sc. program and wishes to reclassify into the Ph.D. program without completing an M.Sc. degree, he/she should receive permission at this meeting to prepare a proposal for a Transfer Exam.
If the student decides to remain in the M.Sc. program, then the committee will advise him/her on the experimental work that remains to be done to complete the M.Sc. degree. If the student has entered the Ph.D. program directly, he/she will discuss the preparation of his/her proposal for the Qualifying Exam.
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Subsequent Committee Meetings
• Students completing the Master's degree must meet at least once every six months after the second committee meeting until the degree is completed.
• Students that have successfully completed a Transfer or Qualifying Exam must meet at least once every 12 months.
• Beyond year five, Ph.D. students must have a committee meeting every six months until the student has been given permission to write their dissertation to help ensure that the degree is completed in a timely fashion. The committee meeting held at the 48-month mark must clearly address the issue of what remains to be done to complete the Ph.D. degree. The Committee Meeting Report must spell out the expectations and time lines for completion explicitly.
More frequent meetings are often held if the student is having experimental difficulties, if the student’s progress has been limited, or if there are concerns over the feasibility of the project.
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Final Committee Meeting and Permission to Write
For both M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, the committee gives the student permission to write up the thesis at the final committee meeting. Permission to write must be explicitly stated on the final Committee Meeting Report Form. This indicates that the supervisor, committee members and student all agree that the experimental work required for the thesis has been completed.
A student cannot submit a thesis to the committee for review or examination in the absence of written permission to write, via the final Committee Meeting Report Form.
In some cases, minor experimental work may remain to be completed at the time of the last committee meeting. In that case, permission to write should not be given at the final committee meeting. Only after all of the work has been completed should permission to write be given via the final Committee Meeting Report Form indicating the current date (an additional committee meeting is not required).
Since there are time limits on how long a student can receive a stipend while writing the thesis, it is important that this date accurately reflects the completion of the experimental work. M.Sc. students are given four months and Ph.D. students eight months from the time they are given permission to write their theses to the day of their defense (see the time frames within the M.Sc. and Ph.D. Thesis and Oral Defense sections).
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Committee Meeting Scheduling Summary:
1) First committee meeting at six to eight months after the start of the program
2) Second committee meeting at 14-16 months after the start of the program
3) For M.Sc. students, subsequent committee meetings at least every six months
4) For Ph.D. students (after completion of a Transfer/Qualifying Exam) subsequent committee meetings every 12 months prior to year five and every six months thereafter |
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Cautionary Advice
A Personal Folder:
As soon as the student begins his/her graduate studies he/she should start a folder – all information pertaining to his/her studies should go into this folder. The student must be certain that if any exception to the department’s rules is made for him/her that a written record pertaining to this is filed away (e.g. email from the Graduate Coordinator). Students must keep track of the courses that he/she has taken, the seminars that he/she has given, and the committee meetings that he/she has had.
Deadlines:
Each September the student should put all pertinent deadlines from the SGS Calendar into his/her personal calendar. The student should mark down when he/she should have his/her next committee meeting or Transfer/Qualifying Exam.
Address: The student must let the Graduate Program Administrator know of any changes to his/her street or email address. The Graduate Program Administrator will send students important information by email.
Keep Current Address Up-To-Date on ROSI: The student must make sure that he/she updates his/her mailing address on ROSI if the student moves, and that he/she extends the mailing address expiry date as required. The default expiry date for the mailing address on ROSI is long after the student will have completed his/her degree. If this default date is left on ROSI, ROSI will continue to send information to the student at this address after he/she graduates. So a reasonable expiry date should be given for the current mailing address and updated as necessary.
ROSI will not default to the student’s permanent address if the mailing address has expired. So any ROSI mail for the student, including cheques, will not be sent out if the mailing address has expired. Updating an address on ROSI does not automatically update it in the departmental records, therefore it must be updated on both ROSI and with the Graduate Program Administrator. |
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 Introduction
Money Matters
Fees, Registration, Enrolment,
and Student Cards
Degree Options for Students
Registered in the M.Sc. Program
Requirements for a
Qualifying Exam
Supervisory Committee
Supervisory Committee Duties
 Committee Meetings
Course
Requirements
Transfer
Exam
Qualifying Exam
M.Sc.
Thesis and Oral Defense
Ph.D.
Thesis and Oral Defense
Personal Time Off and
Leave of Absence
Dealing with Conflict
Useful Websites |
