Example email to potential seminar speaker | Graduate Degree Program in Ecology | Colorado State University

If you don’t know the person you’d like to nominate, and/or don’t yet have much experience with such things, it might feel awkward to email about nominating them. In general, being nominated for things like this is an honor, and it doesn’t need to be a surprise. In fact, we’re much more likely to convince busy scientists to visit if we reach out early! Here is an example of one way that could be done.

Dear Awesome Ecologist,
I (or we if this is a group nomination) would like to nominate you to speak in Colorado State University’s Distinguished Ecologist seminar series, run by our interdisciplinary Graduate Ecology program. The seminar series has been running for over 40 years, and we have hosted an amazing group of ecologists and evolutionary biologists from around the world.

It might be nice to then have a few sentences about your research and/or particular interest in getting to talk to them about their research, or about others who you think they might be interested in.

Would you be interested in visiting CSU next spring (a year from now)? I think you are very competitive for a spot, but if we’re not successful this year, we could try again next year!

Please let me know what you think, and if you’re interested, please send along your CV.

Best wishes,
Awesome host

Department Code	Department	Site Code
1170	Soil and Crop Sciences	SOC
1172	Agricultural and Resource Economics	EAC
1173	Horticulture & Landscape Architecture	HLC
1177	Agricultural Biology	BPC
1370	Chemical and Biological Engineering	CBC
1371	Atmospheric Science	ASC
1372	Civil and Environmental Engineering	CEC
1472	Forest & Rangeland Stewardship	WRC
1474	Fish, Wildlife, & Conservation Biology	FWC
1476	Ecosystem Science & Sustainability	ESC
1480	Human Dimensions of Natural Resources	HDC
1482	Geosciences	GLC
1588	School of Education	SEC
1678	Clinical Sciences	CLC
1682	Microbiolgy, Immunology & Pathlogy	MIC
1771	Economics	ECC
1782	Political Science	POC
1787	Anthropology and Geography	ANC
1872	Chemistry	CHC
1873	Computer Science	CSC
1878	Biology	BIC

Graduate Committee

The purpose of a degree committee is to make available to the student a broad range of knowledge and expertise. The committee provides general advising to the student and assists in planning the major elements of the academic program. The committee also evaluates student progress throughout the graduate program. The committee may provide assessments at various stages and it administers the PhD preliminary and MS/PhD final examinations. The committee is not responsible for reminding students of published deadlines, nor for monitoring procedural details. The student needs to work with GDPE and their advisor and monitor Graduate School deadlines.

Students should begin discussing the formation of their graduate committee as early as possible. Formal selection of the graduate committee must occur before the student registers for their fourth regular semester, or the student will be prevented from registering by the Graduate School.

Along with the GDPE and advisor guidance, the following are specifically required of GDPE graduate Committees:

The primary advisor must be a member of the GDPE advising faculty and have advising privileges in a CSU academic department. Criteria for advising eligibility may vary among departments.
Co-advisors must also be GDPE faculty members.
All members of the committee must maintain a current appointment with CSU in order to serve as a voting member of the committee. Scientists without an appointment at CSU may contribute to a committee but are not allowed to be voting members.
The GDPE Director serves as an ex officio member of all graduate committees.
Graduate committees for MS students in GDPE consist of at least three members, two of whom must be on the GDPE faculty. Graduate committees of PhD students will have at least one additional GDPE faculty member, making a total of four faculty members on a PhD committee.
The outside committee person may or may not be a member of the GDPE faculty but must be from outside the department of the major advisor. The outside committee member represents the Graduate School, ensuring that CSU’s expectations are met and that the student’s needs are being met by GDPE. For these reasons, the outside member may not hold an affiliate or temporary appointment only. If the primary advisor holds a joint appointment in two departments, the outside member must represent a third department.
The student, major advisor, and other committee members collaborate to develop a program of study (logistically, this entails agreeing upon coursework and submitting a GS6 form) and together are responsible for monitoring the progress toward completion. Each graduate committee is also responsible for determining whether satisfactory progress is being made toward completion of the degree according to CSU and GDPE requirements.
GDPE students often would like scientists without a CSU appointment to be on their committees. Students should work with their advisor to gain affiliate status for the scientist in their advising department. Once the scientist has affiliate status in an advising department, they may apply for GDPE faculty affiliate status (http://www.ecology.colostate.edu/faculty-affiliation.aspx), which will allow them to serve on committees. Such applications must be approved by the GDPE Executive Committee, which meets approximately monthly during the academic year.

If you have questions about committee composition, contact the GDPE Assistant Director or the advisor.