Changing Supervisors during your PhD

At certain points during a student's PhD Career, it may become necessary for a student to change their PhD Supervisor.  A student is free to change their PhD Supervisor without retaliation.  Professors understand that students sometimes change their Supervisor.  Making an appointment to talk with the Graduate Advising Team about possibly changing your PhD Supervisor as soon as you begin thinking about it is a wise choice.  Having assurance can relieve unnecessary stress and give you confidence about your decision to proceed, to wait, or to remain with your current PhD Supervisor.

For students who find themselves ready to make a change, we ask that you do the following steps...

1) Please contact our Graduate Program Administrator Tom Atchity (tom.atchity@austin.utexas.edu) once you determine that you will be changing supervisors. Tom will schedule a brief in-person appointment with you to chat about next steps.

2) Once you have identified a new PhD Supervisor, we ask that you fill out a Doctoral Registration Form with your new supervisor. This will give you and your new PhD supervisor the opportunity to review your current coursework and research progress, as well as your current and future funding status.

If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to discuss with the Graduate Advising Team.