The Office of Graduate studies has developed policy which indicates who can be placed on M.S. and Doctoral Committees. General information, including official policy, can be found here:
https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/committees.html
For the Teaching Professor Series, aka L(P)SOE:
From time to time, appointees in the Teaching Professor series (Lecturers with (Potential) Security of Employment) in departments in the Jacobs School of Engineering may be interested in or asked to chair MS and Ph.D. thesis committees. This series does not automatically allow for this. However, the Graduate Council has provided the Jacobs School with a process by which an exception may be granted.
The criteria for such cases is the Teaching Professor?s research expertise in their field.
Therefore, the Council approved the following process for exception requests:
- 1. The Dean of the Graduate Division may review and make a decision on requests that involve allowing a Teaching Professor to chair or co-chair an individual student?s committee. If there is a second request to allow the same Teaching Professor to chair or co-chair another student?s committee, the Graduate Dean will forward the request to the Graduate Council. The Council will review the request for consideration of a blanket exception for that specific Teaching Professor to chair or co-chair any MS or PhD committee in their program.
- 2. Departments and programs may submit a request to the Graduate Council, via the Graduate Dean, to review and make a decision on requests to grant a blanket exception to allow an individual or group of Teaching Professors to chair or co-chair any MS or PhD committee in their program.
The criterion for approval of all of the above exceptions is the demonstration of the Teaching Professor?s research expertise in their field.