II.A. Introduction
Each student is required to select an adviser who, along with the student’s Program Area Training Committee, assists in designing a training plan intended to facilitate attainment of the student’s long-term professional goals. The student and adviser should work together to ensure that the student can accomplish the training plan in accordance with the department timelines for funding and milestones.
DegreeWorks serves as the record of the courses a student must complete to meet graduation requirements. Students use Degreeworks to monitor completion of graduation requirements. Information about Degreeworks can be found on the WVU University Registrar’s website.
Students and their advisers consult DegreeWorks during preregistration to determine the courses that should be taken during the coming semester. In the annual evaluation of the student’s progress, the Program Area Training Committee assesses the correspondence between the student’s activities and the training plan, in accordance with significant deadlines that are listed in the Program Area Supplements.
II.B. Advising Committee
II.B.1. Membership
Advising Committees consist of the core and associate faculty members of the student’s Program Area Training Committee. The student’s adviser and two other Area Training Committee members sign the student’s Plan of Study form on behalf of the Area Training Committee. One of these members must be outside the student’s Program Area. Clinical Child and Clinical students must have at least one signature from an Area Training Committee member who is not a clinical psychologist. The third signature will be provided by another core Area member.
II.B.2. Selecting an Adviser
Students declare academic and research advisers during orientation. Typically, students are informed which faculty member will serve as their adviser(s) during the admissions process, prior to arriving in Morgantown. If not, after obtaining the faculty member’s explicit consent to serve as the adviser(s), the student must inform the Director of Graduate Training of the name of the student’s academic adviser by October 1.
The academic adviser must be a core member of the student’s Program Area Training Committee. The role of the academic adviser is to work with the student to prepare a Plan of Study, to be available for consultation with the student as the student enrolls for courses or works toward area milestones, and to deliver feedback to the student following evaluations of student performance. The academic adviser may or may not also serve as the student’s research adviser and supervisor. The student can change academic advisers at any time during graduate training. Students may also change their research adviser at any time, but such changes are typically done between completion of the thesis and dissertation (e.g., if the student’s research interests shift or there is a better interpersonal match with a different faculty member).
II.B.3. Changing/Replacing the Adviser
If a faculty member is unable or unwilling to continue as an academic or research adviser, the student is responsible for obtaining a replacement. The student also may choose to replace the adviser.
To change the adviser, the student submits a Change in Adviser Form to the Area Training Coordinator. The requested change is then reviewed by the Area Training Committee and, if approved, signed by three Advising Committee members (the adviser, one core member, and one Associate member; note that these members do not have to be the same individuals who signed the original Plan of Study). The request is then reviewed by the GTC. If the GTC approves the request, the Director of Graduate Training files the form with the Department’s Graduate Records Office and notifies both advisers (old and new) of the change.
II.C. Arrival on Campus
New students should plan to arrive to campus at least 10 days before the start of classes to accommodate new-student orientation activities. In rare circumstances, students may need to delay their arrival. This most often occurs for international students who encounter difficulties obtaining a visa. In the event that students are delayed, they must seek approval for the delayed arrival by emailing the Director of Graduate Training, and they must arrive no later than the first day of classes. Failure to arrive by the first day of classes may result in the student needing to defer their admission to the following academic year.