Choosing a Dissertation Committee

Who Can Serve on My Dissertation Committee?

Final oral exam committees must have five members:

  • three active (or within one year of retirement/resignation) UW-Madison faculty members in either Sociology or Community & Environmental Sociology;
  • one active (or within one year of retirement/resignation) UW-Madison faculty member from a graduate program outside the two departments;
  • a fifth person who may be anyone whom you and your advisor believe will be a useful addition – e.g., another active UW-Madison professor, an emeritus UW-Madison professor, a faculty member from a department without a graduate program, a visiting professor, a professor at another institution, a member of the academic staff, a practitioner in the field who’s not affiliated with an academic institution (i.e., any individual “deemed qualified” by you and your advisor)

Who can Chair my Dissertation Committee?

The departments of Sociology and Community & Environmental Sociology run a combined graduate program. Active faculty, or faculty within one year of resignation/retirement, in either of these departments may chair the dissertation committee for graduate students in the combined Soc/C&E Soc program.  Active faculty, or faculty within one year of resignation/retirement, from other departments who have a joint governance appointment with Soc/C&E Soc may also chair a dissertation committee for students in the combined program.  Faculty from other departments who are affiliated with Soc/C&E Soc may serve on dissertation committees but may not chair them. Likewise, Soc/C&E Soc emeritus faculty may serve on dissertation committees but may not chair them; they may, however, act as co-chairs along with a current, active faculty member.

Josh Garoon, assistant professor in Community and Environmental Sociology, asking a question to a panel.

The current list of eligible dissertation committee chairs includes:

Samer Alatout, Vilas Associate Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology

Michael Bell, Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology

Max Besbris, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Jessica Calarco, Associate Professor of Sociology

Marcy Carlson, Professor of Sociology

Joseph Conti, Associate Professor of Sociology and Law

Katherine J. Curtis, Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology

Allison Daminger, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Jennifer Dykema, Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director, UW Survey Center

Felix Elwert, Professor of Sociology

Mustafa Emirbayer, Conway-Bascom Professor of Sociology

Michal Engelman, Associate Professor of Sociology

Nan Enstad, Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology

Ivan Ermakoff, Sewell-Bascom Professor of Sociology

Noah Feinstein, Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology

Myra Marx Ferree, Alice H. Cook Professor Emerita of Sociology

Robert Freeland, Professor of Sociology

Lewis Friedland, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication

Joan Fujimura, Martindale-Bascom Professor Emerita of Sociology

Joshua Garoon, Assistant Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology

Ted Gerber, Professor of Sociology

Chad Alan Goldberg, Professor of Sociology

Monica Grant, Associate Professor of Sociology

Eric Grodsky, Professor of Sociology

Chloe Grace Hart, Assistant Professor of Sociology

Mosi Adesina Ifatunji, Assistant Professor of Sociology & African American Studies

Katherine Jensen, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Studies

Michael Light, Professor of Sociology and Chicano/Latino Studies

Chaeyoon Lim, Professor of Sociology

Michael Massoglia, Professor of Sociology

Doug Maynard, Conway-Bascom Professor Emeritus of Sociology

James Montgomery, Professor of Sociology

Jenna Nobles, Professor of Sociology

Eunsil Oh, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Asian Languages & Cultures

Pamela Oliver, Professor Emerita of Sociology

Sarah Rios, Assistant Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology

Joel Rogers, Noam Chomsky Professor of Law, Political Science, Public Affairs, & Sociology

Christine Schwartz, Professor of Sociology

Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology

Randy Stoecker, Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology

Kelly Ward, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies

Monica White, Associate Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology