{"id":4043,"date":"2009-02-27T18:45:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-27T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/graduate-program\/graduate-program-outline\/dissertation-research\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T13:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:52:31","slug":"dissertation-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/graduate-program\/graduate-program-outline\/dissertation-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissertation Research &amp; Committees"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><em>For all students<\/em><\/h2>\n<h3>Thesis Committees<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Thesis committees are composed of five UNC faculty members with expertise in the proposed research area, <strong>the majority of whom must have an official affiliation in Pharmacology<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>If a student is co-mentored they will need a sixth committee member. Three of the six committee members must have an official affiliation in Pharmacology.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Chair must also hold a primary affiliation in Pharmacology.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Students may select professors outside of UNC to serve as one of their five committee members, with an approved CV (CV must be sent to Christy Aaron at PHCO_graduate@med.unc.edu before committee is approved). The committee must maintain a majority of members with primary affiliations in Pharmacology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Selecting Approved Faculty for Thesis Committees<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>You can find a list of approved Pharmacology faculty on the <a href=\"https:\/\/gradschool.unc.edu\/facultystaff\/faculty\/regular.html\">Graduate School website&#8217;s Regular Graduate Faculty<\/a> page <strong>by entering &#8220;Pharmacology&#8221;<\/strong> in the search box provided.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-23635\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;margin-left: 20px;border: solid 3px #c17821;padding: 3px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800-300x88.png\" alt=\"Search box that lists approved Pharmacology faculty for thesis committee members \" width=\"603\" height=\"176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800-300x88.png 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800-768x224.png 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800-600x175.png 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2024\/07\/Regular-Pharmacology-Faculty-List-2-800.png 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Thesis Committee Meetings<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Meetings must occur on a yearly basis, as mandated by the graduate school.<\/li>\n<li>As of 2026, we are requiring that students in their 6th year or greater hold thesis committee meetings every 6 months.<\/li>\n<li><strong>After each committee meeting (but not the final public thesis defense), this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/930\/2026\/03\/PHCO_Report_of_Committee_Meeting_2026_form_v3.docx\">form<\/a> must be completed, signed, and sent to Christy Aaron (<a href=\"mailto:PHCO_graduate@med.unc.edu\">PHCO_graduate@med.unc.edu<\/a>).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Scheduling Meetings<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/sales\/schedule-survey\">15 Best Event Scheduling Polls &amp; Meeting Survey Tools for Your Team (hubspot.com)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>More popular programs are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/doodle.com\/en\/\">Doodle<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.needtomeet.com\/\">NeedToMeet<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.when2meet.com\/?About\">When2Meet<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tips on sending out a poll:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Send the poll out as soon as possible so your attendees\u2019 schedules won\u2019t get filled up. Two to three months in advance is our usual recommendation.<\/li>\n<li>Give the attendees 3-7 days (depending on your timeline) to fill out the poll, and as soon as it closes, make sure to book their calendar so that you don\u2019t have something come up on their schedule during your planned time.<\/li>\n<li>Only give the attendees no more than 10-15 options and try to pick different days and times<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Room Reservations<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/it\/services\/room-reservations\/\">Room Reservations\/Scheduling | School of Medicine IT (unc.edu)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From this site, you can look at the room availability and make reservations<\/p>\n<p>You can also look at the room descriptions<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To book GMB 4007 or GMB 4095, you will need to contact Christy Aaron (PHCO_graduate@med.unc.edu).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You will receive an email when your reservation has been received by IT and another when the room has been booked<\/p>\n<h3>Dissertation Boot Camp<\/h3>\n<p>Boot camp is a week-long opportunity for students currently writing dissertations to set writing goals, practice disciplined writing habits, learn new strategies, and connect with other dissertation writers. It\u2019s offered several times per year and is intended to help graduate students make significant progress in their writing and their sense of community. To see when this is offered, please visit this <a href=\"https:\/\/writingcenter.unc.edu\/dissertation-boot-camp\/\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For all students Thesis Committees Thesis committees are composed of five UNC faculty members with expertise in the proposed research area, the majority of whom must have an official affiliation in Pharmacology. If a student is co-mentored they will need a sixth committee member. Three of the six committee members must have an official affiliation &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/graduate-program\/graduate-program-outline\/dissertation-research\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Dissertation Research &amp; Committees\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22429,"featured_media":0,"parent":2435,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-4043","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dissertation Research &amp; Committees | Pharmacology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/pharm\/graduate-program\/graduate-program-outline\/dissertation-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dissertation Research &amp; Committees | Pharmacology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For all students Thesis Committees Thesis committees are composed of five UNC faculty members with expertise in the proposed research area, the majority of whom must have an official affiliation in Pharmacology. 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