Program Overview

Advisors, Supervisors & Committees

Chief Advisor and Advisory Committee

Upon entering the program, the student is assigned a temporary advisor until the selection of the Chief Supervisor. The Chief Supervisor is selected by agreement between the student and the faculty member, with the approval of the Associate Dean, usually just before the writing of the comprehensive examination, or immediately following its completion.  The Chief Supervisor will be a permanent faculty member who has been approved as a supervisor in media studies by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, but the second Advisory Committee member may be any faculty member of the University.  The second Advisory Committee member is selected after the writing of the comprehensive examination but before the proposal is begun.

Supervisory Status

At the University of Western Ontario, to be a chief supervisor of a Master's or doctoral thesis, a faculty member must be approved by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies through a review process. They may be approved to be a Master's supervisor, a doctoral supervisor, or both. Faculty who do not have chief supervisory status can either be co-supervisors with a faculty member who is an approved supervisor, or they can be a member of the student's thesis committee. In considering potential chief supervisors, students should be careful to determine that the faculty member of choice has the appropriate supervisory status.

A faculty member with Doctoral Supervisory Status may serve as supervisor or co-supervisor of a Doctoral or Master’s thesis.

A faculty member with Master's Supervisory Status may serve as supervisor or co-supervisor of a Master’s thesis or as co-supervisor of a doctoral thesis, with a doctoral supervisory member.

Faculty members with supervisory status in Media Studies are: