There is a three-tiered advising system for AHMA students.
The AHMA Graduate Student Services Advisor (GSAO) is a staff member who counsels students on campus and departmental policies, regulations, and procedures. The GSAO helps to monitor students’ degree progress, processes funding, and serves as a liaison for campus bureaucratic procedures and issues. The GSAO maintains the master AHMA graduate student records and program files, student funding information, and schedules student examinations and reviews. The GSAO is also available for students to talk through issues and to answer questions pertaining to the program and life at Berkeley.
The AHMA Graduate Advisor (GA)is responsible for general academic and programmatic counseling; offers guidance on programs of study and advisory committees; monitors the student’s overall academic progress; and helps maintain student records, especially those relating to the GA’s interactions with the student and their progress. The GA meets with each student at least once a semester to review and approve the student’s proposed course of study for the next semester (course schedule form is circulated and signed electronically by the Advisory Committee and GA) and to discuss the student’s general progress through the program. The GA also attends each student’s mandatory third-semester review Only the GA is authorized to sign most of the forms and petitions submitted by or for AHMA students to the Graduate Division.
The Advisory Committee,consisting of three faculty members selected by each student in consultation with the GA, directly supervises the content and progress of their individual program of study at each stage of the AHMA curriculum. The student should select their Primary Advisor (PA) for Stage I as early as possible in the first semester in the AHMA program. This person becomes the chair of the student’s Advisory Committee; the other two members should be identified by the beginning of the third semester in the program. With the advice and consent of the GA, the Advisory Committee may be reconstituted as necessary or desirable as the student progresses through the program. Its chair (the PA) takes primary responsibility for directing the student’s work. The Advisory Committee meets with the student to conduct a mandatory third-semester review of each student’s progress; to help determine the student’s first, second, and special fields; and to recommend a suitable program of study leading to the PhD degree. It is essential that students maintain regular and consistent contact with their faculty Advisory Committee, who must approve course plans prior to meeting with the GA.
Third Semester Review
All students will participate in a review session held sometime in the first month of the student’s third semester in the program (usually September), together with their Advisory Committee and the Graduate Advisor. The purpose of this meeting is to consider the student’s performance in courses and progress in fulfilling the program requirements, as well as to discuss the student’s three fields for Stage II based on their research interests. The review is an opportunity for students to get advice on their trajectory and timeline in the program as well as how to remedy any deficiencies in their preparation. Post-MA students, who have been admitted directly to the PhD program, will also discuss their draft Petition to Proceed with their Advisory Committee and the Graduate Advisor. It is also an opportunity for the student to provide feedback on their experiences in the program. After the meeting, the primary advisor, who normally serves as Chair of the Advisory Committee, will write a brief report on it for inclusion in the student’s file.