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Guidelines and Principles 

Change of doctoral advisors may happen for various reasons such as changing research interests, student-advisor mismatch, an advisor moving to another institution, and so on. In this document, we describe the process for changing doctoral advisors across all doctoral programs at ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn’s College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS). This process is guided by the following principles: 

• Maintaining a strong relationship between students and their advisors is key to doctoral student success. While we acknowledge that change of advisor is inevitable in some cases, we believe that nurturing strong advisor-advisee relationships helps prevent certain situations that lead to advisor change. We highly encourage students to explore relevant resources available at the Rackham Graduate School and ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn including Rackham’s  (Mentoring Others Results in Excellence) workshops on mentoring plans, ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn’s Wolverine Mentor Collective, and the CECS Graduate Education office workshop on navigating advisor/advisee relationships. 

• We recognize that changing advisors may be stressful. We encourage students to reach out to the ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) for support, if needed. We ask everyone to remain professional and ethical while discussing advisor change and navigating this process. 

• We strongly encourage the student, previous advisor, and new advisor to meet, discuss, and facilitate a smooth transition in a timely manner. The transition should be guided by the practices and principles defined through the University of Michigan’s  (RCRS) as well as applicable Rackham and ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn policies. 

• Retaliation is unacceptable. Students have the right to change doctoral advisors. If students experience any form of retaliation throughout or anytime after changing advisors, they are encouraged to reach out to their doctoral program director, department chair, and/or the CECS Associate Dean of Graduate Education. 

Change of Doctoral Advisor Process 

The student or the faculty advisor may initiate a change of advisor request. The student and faculty advisor must discuss the change of advisor request prior to submitting a request unless there are mitigating circumstances. The student or faculty advisor will notify each other, the program director, department chair, and CECS Graduate Education Office of the request in a written form. 

First Steps:

• Report the request to the doctoral program director. The program director should ask if the faculty advisor and student discussed the issues between the two parties. In case of mitigating circumstances (e.g., the program director is the advisor), the student may directly report the request to the CECS Graduate Office. 

• If reported to the CECS Graduate Education Office, the office may provide information to the student or faculty advisor on the process and related policies. The student or faculty advisor should be redirected to the doctoral program director, unless there are mitigating circumstances. 

• In some situations (e.g., advisor moving to another institution), the program director and/or department chair may seek input from the current faculty advisor for recommendations about potential new advisor. If a new faculty advisor is identified and the student and new advisor agree, then the Change of Advisor Form must be completed and signed by the student and both the current and new advisors. 

If a new advisor is not identified or mitigating circumstances exist: 

• The doctoral program director, department chair, and/or CECS Graduate Education Office may organize an initial (individual or group) meeting with the student and faculty advisor. The purpose of the meeting is to assess and try to resolve the issues. 

If a resolution is not possible: 

• The doctoral program director and/or department chair are encouraged to assist the student in finding a new advisor. The student should take an active part in the search for a new advisor. 

• For Ph.D. students, in the interim, the current funding source is responsible for maintaining the student’s funding for the current term. 

• The student has a maximum of one additional term (grace period) to find a new advisor. For Ph.D. students, the department chair should work to identify the source of funding for the grace period. 

• The new funding source (Ph.D. students only) may take effect during the grace period or the term following the grace period. The change of advisor may take effect during the current term, the grace period, or the term following the grace period. 

• If a new advisor is not identified within the grace period, the student may be recommended for dismissal from the program. The dismissal process follows CECS dismissal policy for doctoral students. 

Once a new faculty advisor is identified: 

• The Change of Advisor Form must be completed and signed by the student and both the current and new faculty advisor. 

• The student’s Plan of Study must be reviewed, updated (if needed), and approved by the new faculty advisor. 

• The Department Chair and new faculty advisor review, update (if needed), and approve the funding plan for the student (if applicable).

• All signed forms are first submitted to the program/department to keep copies in the student’s records then forwarded to the CECS Graduate Education Office. 

If the student is not in good academic standing as described in the doctoral program handbook, changing advisors will not change the academic status or timeline. Students in candidacy status may have to form a new dissertation committee, re-take the dissertation proposal exam, and submit a petition to adjust their time-to-degree timeline.