Asking another professor to come on as a co-supervisor

[Dal PhDer]

I am in the process of asking another professor to come onto my committee as a co-supervisor.

I am just finishing my second year, and have written a new proposal on a different topic {I am very happy with this change, and looking forward to bringing on co-supervisor to help ease the difficulties I am having with my current supervisor}.

I am wondering if anyone else has gone through this process, how they approached a new supervisor, and/or any advice.

I am quite nervous about asking someone to come on. I am not sure if I should lay out that I don't expect funding from them, or not. Ideally, I am interested in bringing someone else in that will show me the time and effort of reading/reviewing my work, providing critical and constructive feedback, and will help me move forward with my degree. I also don't know if I will be asked why i am bringing on a co-supervisor, if it will look bad, or if this is a common thing. I certainly don't want them to know that I am not in the most ideal supervisor-student relationship right now.

Any advice? Feedback? Should I just jump in? Run away screaming?

[Spore]

For my thesis committee, I had:

1. My mentor

2. Thesis Chair

3. Member in department

4. Member outside of department

5. Member outside of department

I asked all members in person or over email. A couple of profs agreed to be members just as long as they were not chair.

Honestly, the member of my committee who was the most helpful was just a "member." Of course, my mentor was super helpful as well.

Just ask. Profs get asked these sort of requests all of the time. Be your own advocate. No one will do it for you.

[Sigaba]

Could you please clarify what you want to do?

Do you (i) want to replace one supervisor with another or do you (ii) want to have two supervisors so that your second supervisor can "check and balance" the original supervisor?

If you want (i) what role do you envision for your first supervisor? Do you want him/her on your committee at all?

Edited May 9, 2012 by Sigaba

[TakeruK]

I know a few people who have done this. What they did was they first talked about it to their graduate coordinator to find out the process as well as any details about how the department normally handles things like this (it's more common than I had thought). Then they talked to their original supervisor first (with the grad coordinator as mediator), and then all of them approached the 2nd person. It's easier when everyone is on the same page, and then the two supervisors can sort out funding and stuff like that.

Another route I see happening is for a person to start doing side projects with the 2nd supervisor, and slowly ease it to transition the side project to be their main thesis while the original work becomes a side project. However, this is more for switching projects / supervisors than adding one on, but maybe a modified approach could help too!

This is coming from another Canadian graduate program so maybe departments are more similar here than others in the US.

I feel like I could trust my graduate coordinator and department head to be a neutral third party that would keep my concerns confidential. So they would be my first point of contact if I had a problem that I didn't want my supervisor or other profs to know. Sometimes it might be scary but actually helpful if you also let your supervisor know about your issues -- but I don't actually know your full situation so I'm not trying to give advice, just stating something I've seen!

Good luck

[Dal PhDer]

Thanks for the comments! I guess I should clarify a few things..

Could you please clarify what you want to do?

Do you (i) want to replace one supervisor with another or do you (ii) want to have two supervisors so that your second supervisor can "check and balance" the original supervisor?

If you want (i) what role do you envision for your first supervisor? Do you want him/her on your committee at all?

I want to avoid replacing my supervisor. So my plan is to bring a co-supervisor in to help balance the lack of guidance of am currently getting and provide some form of mentorship so I can move forward with my degree. I guess you would say 'check and balance'. In my department, as it is interdisciplinary, it is not uncommon for students to be co-supervised, and have the duties/responsibilities/work of a PhD student delegated between two people.

The past two years I haven't had much help from my committee of supervisor. My committee members have been formalities that have had no contact with me, and my supervisor, while I do like him and he is brilliant, is new and does not really have the skills (time and interest) in helping me learn and move forward in my degree (for instance, I gave him a new project proposal to read for my new topic, and he set 3 deadlines for himself to read it, didn't meet any of them, didn't end up reading it, and has now left for 3 weeks on vacation where he will have no computer access- so I have spent 6 weeks sitting on a piece of work which is wanted to review before I moved forward on it...)

I am reorganizing my PhD to (1) include a topic I am passionate about, (2) include committee members that I personally know, have working relationships with, and will act as a mentor or a source of support for me outside of a supervisor position, and (3) bring in another supervisor to help mentor my current supervisor and provide me with an actual figure of help.

So, I guess I am worried about how I approach someone and ask them to be apart of a project (and if they would look down on a PhD student who, in her 2nd year, is starting over). Also, I don't want to convey to them that I am having these issues, as I don't want to put a black mark on my current supervisor, but I also want them to know that I am looking for them to be a key role in this process.

I am really worried about the 'politics' of all this, and ensuring that things go smoothly!

[fuzzylogician]

You wrote: "In my department, as it is interdisciplinary, it is not uncommon for students to be co-supervised, and have the duties/responsibilities/work of a PhD student delegated between two people." Have you tried to talk to some of these students and ask them about the procedure they went through? You could also ask your Director of Graduate Studies (or other administrative person who is familiar with the process).

If it's common practice in your department, the way it probably works is that a student who develops a project that is outside the area of expertise of their advisor will simply start working with a second professor, and after establishing a working relationship, ask them to become co-supervisor. You should probably do the same - start by scheduling a meeting with the person you would like to be your co-advisor, try and establish a working relationship by having recurring meetings and making sure you can work together, then ask your current supervisor about adding this person and finally approach them. You can ask older students about any politics (do X and Y get along), but all things being equal it should work fine.

[Sigaba]

In addition to following the typically sound guidance offered by fuzzylogician, I recommend that you have a closed-door conversation with at least one faculty member whom you trust and has her/his finger on the pulse of the department. In my experience, relationships between graduate students and professors can be so up and down that the feedback one gets tomorrow ("I love that guy! He's great!") can do a 180 turn by the end of that same term ("I hate that [so and so].")

[Dal PhDer]

fuzzy & Sigaba,

Thank you both for the advice!

Actually, my first step was talking to my graduate coordinator. When I first decided I was unhappy enough to bring it up to someone's attention, I actually went to her to ask about quitting the program. She was really great, and made me sit and discuss why I wasn't enjoying the process...it really came down to the lack of guidance/structure from my advice, and recommended that I either change supervisors or bring in a co. So I am really lucky that my department is supportive.

However, while she has said it's no uncommon for students to change supervisors, I do recognize that having a student approach you (at the end of her 2nd year) may be a red flag for some professors. This of course scares me. While many students are co-supervised in my program, this agreement is normally done prior to applying to the program and set-up long in advance. Because I am already into my program, and there's existing dynamics, I guess I am just worried about the politics.

Right now, I don't know any students that have done this...the IDPhD program here is really odd...students are quite isolated, as their home department is the Faculty of Graduate Studies, rather than one of their disciplines. So I often only see students at IDPhD functions, and they can be from vastly different disciplines.

My biggest concern is how this will look on my now and in the future. I have been told by my graduate coordinator that it doesn't look back on me, but I do understand that working relationships may be impacted.

I might be playing it too cautious, I just want to make sure I don't step on anyone's toes..and am curious to know how a professor would interpret a student in my position coming to ask them to co-supervise...I wonder if they would automatically assume there is something wrong in the student-supervisor relationship....hell...I might just be hitting my paranoid panic button waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too soon!

[TMP]

I think what the coordinator is saying is that she believes that your supervisor is a kind person and would be open to making things work that would make both of you happy. She's seen enough dynamics in the department to believe that this person may be open to co-supervision. If she didn't think your supervisor would be open to it, she probably wouldn't suggest that option and instead tell you point blank to change supervisors.

But the question is, is your supervisor open to having a mentor? You don't know what's going on behind the curtains. Your supervisor may have too much of an ego to reach out to find a mentor for himself and wants to do the job alone to prove that he can do it. That is not your decision to say "you need a mentor and I need a better mentor than you but I want to keep working with you." Even if he says okay, don't expect the new co-supervisor to actually mentor this guy. Mentoring is a very personal decision.

It is a difficult conversation to have with your supervisor to say that you've been working with X and Y and Z. But if you can be specific about the issues in a way that your supervisor can think, "Wow, I didn't know about X and Y, I'm glad that s/he sought help elsewhere." Also, it also helps to sit down with your supervisor and be diplomatic about what kind of supervision you need moving forward. Sometimes I find it helpful to schedule a time and sit down with the professor, even if it means watching him/her read my paper while I'm sitting there. The lesson for that situation being- "If you had read my paper before this meeting, this time could have been more productive!"

Remember, you are in charge of your committee. You are the one managing people and deciding what kind of role each person will play, not your supervisor. Your supervisor's basic job is to make sure you pass. If one of the committee members has been acting like a mentor you want, then adopt that person as a "surrogate" supervisor. I've heard more often than not that students have leaned on other committee members for support, not their advisers.