Description
The Master's Degree program in
Interdisciplinary Studies (ITDS) is designed for
graduate students whose particular interests,
background, or professional objectives are not
served by a traditional Master's degree program.
The purpose of the Interdisciplinary Studies
program is to make available to students who
meet the program's prerequisites the opportunity
to design, with faculty approval, a flexible
interdisciplinary graduate curriculum. Admission
to ITDS is limited to students whose
individualized programs can be organized around
a topic or a cross-disciplinary inquiry that is
original and involves course work in more than
one department. Interested students should
contact the Coordinator of the Institute of
Interdisciplinary Studies, who initiates the
screening and application process.
A course of study in Interdisciplinary
Studies is not intended to bypass normal
graduation requirements and may not be used to
duplicate formally structured programs at SSU or
other institutions within the service area. The
reason for this restriction is that the
Interdisciplinary Studies program should be
reserved for students whose special interests
cross disciplinary lines and find appropriate
faculty expertise at Sonoma State
University.
PREREQUISITES TO ACCEPTANCE INTO PROGRAM
1.Passage of the Written English Proficiency
requirement.
[The Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
Aptitude Test scores are not required, but may
be submitted in support of the
application.]
2.A grade point average of at least 3.0 for
the last 60 units of college work attempted.
CRITERIA FOR ITDS MASTER'S PROGRAM
For a course of study to be considered
appropriate for the ITDS Program, it must meet
the following criteria:
1. It must consist of 30 to 32 units of
course work in two or more disciplines. A
minimum of 15 units must be in graduate level
courses.
2. It must be truly interdisciplinary; it may
not be an individually fashioned degree in any
single existing discipline.
3. It must be integrated: the course work
must support your program's topic, and the topic
must define the content of your course work.
4. SSU must have faculty expertise in the
disciplines that constitute your program.
5. SSU must offer the majority of courses in
your program.
6. You should be able to complete your
program within the time limits for Master's
programs specified in the University
Catalog.
The guidelines that appear on the following
pages have been developed to assure that these
criteria are met and to assist you through the
regulations and procedures that pertain to the
ITDS program. You should be thoroughly
acquainted with these regulations and procedures
and with the expectations of those who approve
applicant proposals.
REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES IN BRIEF
In order to be accepted into the
Interdisciplinary Studies Program, you must take
the following steps:
Step 1. Consult with the ITDS Coordinator to
determine the feasibility of implementing your
program.
Step 2. Apply to the University for admission
to Graduate School. (The ITDS Code is 49993.) If
your application is accepted, you will be
admitted to the University in conditionally
classified graduate status.
Step 3. Begin to take courses.
Step 4. Once you have begun your course work,
form and consult with an Academic Advisory
Committee.
Step 5. Complete an application to the ITDS
program.
Step 6. Submit the application for review. If
the application is approved, you will be
admitted to the ITDS program in fully classified
status.
Step 7. Prior to beginning your Thesis (ITDS
599A), fill out an Advancement to Candidacy form
complete with all required signatures and submit
to the Graduate Studies Office. You should have
completed the WEPT (Written English Proficiency
Test) by this time.
Step 8. At the beginning of the semester that
you plan to graduate (check current Schedule of
Classes for the exact date), complete an
Application for Award of Degree form to
Admissions and Records.
Step 9. When all course work including the
thesis have been completed, submit a Completion
of Requirements form to the Graduate Studies
Office.
REGULATIONS AND PROCEDURES IN FULL
STEP 1. CONSULT WITH THE ITDS
COORDINATOR
1. Before you can apply to the ITDS Program,
you must first be admitted to Sonoma State
University Graduate School as a Conditionally
Classified Graduate in ITDS. This requires the
approval of the ITDS Coordinator. Your first
step, therefore, is to meet with the ITDS
Coordinator to explore your ideas for a course
of study. At this meeting, the Coordinator will
discuss with you the feasibility of carrying out
your program at SSU and explain the procedure
for applying to the ITDS Program.
2. Very early in the advising process, it
must be determined if SSU has the courses
necessary to fashion a program in the subject
you wish to pursue. By your second meeting with
the Coordinator, therefore, you should have
familiarized yourself with the current SSU
Catalog and compiled a list of courses that
could constitute a coherent course of study.
Helpful hints
3. Some persons have a clear idea of the
subject they wish to study or the career path
they intend to follow and for which they seek
preparation. For such persons, the initial
meeting with the ITDS Coordinator serves
primarily to determine the appropriateness of
ITDS for their subject and the availability of
faculty expertise and relevant courses at SSU.
Other persons&emdash;and most are in this
category&emdash;need assistance in defining
their subject or some other aspect of their
program. If you are such a person, the following
comments may be helpful.
4. There are four aspects to every program.
Meetings with the Coordinator and faculty
advisors will be much more productive if you
have already given some thought to each of these
aspects. They are A) the subject or topic of the
program, B) your goals for the program: what you
want to learn as a result of undertaking this
program, or what you want the program to prepare
you to do, C) the course work, and D) the final
project.
A. The topic of your program must be
interdisciplinary; it must not duplicate
programs that already exist as single
disciplines. As examples, Biology, Kinesiology,
Psychology, Business Administration, and Public
Administration exist as independent departments
at SSU and each has its own graduate program.
You may not build an ITDS program in just one of
these departments. Courses from two or more of
these or other departments, however, may be
combined to form a Master's program in ITDS. The
title of each program, therefore, is unique.
Examples of topics appropriate to the ITDS
program may be found on page 14 of these
Guidelines.
B. You may know that you want to do
something, but you're not sure what. You want a
change of direction, but don't know which
direction to face. I have found the following
questions helpful in assisting some applicants
to define what they want to do:
Why are you interested in this program: to
enhance your current abilities and career
status, purely out of interest in a particular
subject, to help you to move in a different
direction in life, or for some other reason?
What are you good at?
What skills do you already have?
What have you already done that you have
enjoyed?
If you could do or be anything you want, what
would it be?
Do you want to run your own business or would
you work under someone else's direction?
Do you want to work in the private sector or
in some level of government?
Do you know of persons who are doing the kind
of work that you would like to be doing? If you
do, have you talked with these persons to
discover the steps they took to get where they
are, what job opportunities there are, etc.
Does public service or helping others to
better their lives in some way appeal to
you?
Does teaching interest you?
What kind of physical environment do you see
yourself working in: your home, the
out-of-doors, in an office, in an institutional
setting?
How much time do you have to complete your
program?
Can you take daytime classes or are you
limited to evening and weekend classes?
Is money an important consideration, either
to finance your education or to keep you going
after you have finished your degree?
If you have answers to any of these
questions, be sure to mention them in your
meetings with the ITDS Coordinator and with
advisors.
C. The course work and the final project are
generally the last aspects of a program to
become clear. The course work and the topic must
be intimately related: the courses must directly
support every aspect of the topic of your
program, and, conversely, the topic must present
in condensed form the gist of your course work.
In preparation for your first meetings with the
ITDS Coordinator, acquire a copy of the most
recent SSU catalog. Read it from front to back.
Prepare a list of the courses you think are
appropriate to your topic or which interest you
and bring the list to the meeting for
discussion.
D. The only thing some prospective ITDS
majors are certain of initially is their final
project. One person may want to devise a
curriculum for teaching critical thinking, write
a novel, prepare a biography of a noted
relative, or write and direct a play. Another
may seek to document the life work of a famous
anthropologist or study the effect of changes in
Medicare on the elderly. Persons with such a
clear initial concept of their final project are
the exception, however. More typically, the
focus of the final project emerges from the
course work in consultation with advisors, and
particularly with the Chair of your advisory
committee. Whatever the project is, it must draw
on and synthesize your course work. For examples
of final projects, see p. 14 of these
Guidelines.
STEP 2. APPLY TO THE UNIVERSITY
5. If your proposed subject is appropriate
for the ITDS Program and can be ac-complished at
Sonoma State University, your next step will be
to apply for admission to the University. This
step is separate from and precedent to applying
to the ITDS Program.
6. The period for applying to SSU for the
Fall Semester of a given year begins in November
of the preceding year and continues through the
following January. The period for applying for
the Spring semester of a given year is August
through October of the preceding year. N.B.:
When applying to the University for admission to
Graduate School, enter the Name of Major as ITDS
and the Major Code as 49993.
7. Once Admissions and Records has received
and evaluated all of the documents required for
your admission to the University, they will be
forwarded to the ITDS Coordinator for approval.
Approval will be granted only if the initial
consultations described above have taken place
and the Coordinator has determined that you have
a viable program to propose. If approval is
granted, you will be admitted to the University
in Conditionally Classified Graduate status;
full Classified Graduate status is granted only
after you have successfully completed the
process of applying to the ITDS program and have
passed the WEPT (see Prerequisites to
Application, above).
8. YOUR FILE. Upon receipt of your completed
application for admission to the University, the
ITDS Coordinator will establish a file that will
contain, in addition to the application, a copy
of all documents, such as memos, letters,
petitions, and grade reports, that are related
to your program.
STEP 3. BEGIN COURSE WORK
9. PLANNING YOUR FIRST SEMESTER'S COURSE
WORK. As soon as you have received notice that
you have been admitted to the University, you
should meet with the Coordinator to plan your
first semester's course work and to discuss
potential members for your Academic Advisory
Committee. You cannot officially form a
Committee and apply to the ITDS Program until
you have begun taking classes. Because
registration and enrollment in classes takes
place by phone before the semester begins, it is
wise to plan your first semester's course
schedule and prepare for the various steps
involved in creating a Master's program in ITDS
well in advance.
STEP 4. CONSULT WITH ACADEMIC
ADVISORS
10. YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE. Once
you have begun your course work, you must find
three faculty members from at least two of the
disciplines found on your course list who will
agree to form an Academic Advisory Committee
(hereafter: your Committee) for your program of
study. Your Committee has three main
functions:
A. to recommend courses appropriate to your
program;
B. to advise you on any other matters
pertaining to your program, such as University
regulations or the career or academic potential
for such a program;
C. to function as your Final Project
committee.
Once you have formed your Committee, it is
your responsibility to plan with its members a
coherent, original, and feasible course of
study.
11. OFF-CAMPUS ADVISOR. It is possible for an
advisor other than the Chair to be from off
campus, as for instance on the faculty of a
near-by University or from business. Any such
potential committee member must submit a letter
stating a willingness to be on your committee
and a curriculum vitae or other documentation
indicating how his or her background or training
is relevant and necessary to your course of
study.
12. THE CHAIRPERSON OF YOUR COMMITTEE. One of
the members of your Committee must agree to be
its Chair. In addition to the responsibilities
mentioned above, the Chair has several special
duties:
A. to advise you on your course of study as a
whole;
B. to advise you in the writing of your
proposal and application;
C. once your proposal is accepted, to act as
your regular advisor concerning your course of
study and all other graduation requirements.
D. to supervise and assist you with your
Final Project.
13. Your Committee Chair must be a full-time,
tenured or tenure-track member of the SSU
faculty. You should ascertain from a potential
Chair whether he or she will be available during
the period in which you will be working on your
Master's degree. If your Chair plans to be away
for part of this time, as for instance on a
Sabbatical, you should plan with your Chair well
in advance for someone to take his or her place,
or consider another faculty member to fill this
important role.
14. CONSULTATION OF THE ITDS COORDINATOR WITH
YOUR COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON. Early in your
application process, the ITDS Coordinator will
contact the Chair of your Committee to discuss
the latter's responsibilities and answer any
questions he or she might have concerning ITDS
procedures.
15. ADDITIONAL ADVISORS: GRADUATE
COORDINATORS. In addition to consulting with the
members of your Committee, you must also consult
with the Graduate Coordinator of each Department
in which you take graduate courses. The purpose
of this requirement is to assure that you
receive advice from those who are most informed
concerning the graduate programs from which you
have selected courses. It is particularly
important that you receive correct advice
concerning the most appropriate Research Methods
course for you to take. A list of current
Graduate Coordinators may be obtained from the
ITDS office.
16. ADDITIONAL ADVISOR: CHAIR OF THE CHAIR.
The last person to be consulted is the Chair of
the Department of which the Chair of your
Advisory Committee is a member. The reason for
this is to inform the Department Chair of the
participation of a Department member as the
Chair of an ITDS student's Advisory Committee
and to obtain his or her approval for such
participation, with its attendant
responsibilities and demands on time.
STEP 5. COMPLETE AN APPLICATION
17. THE APPLICATION. In consultation with the
ITDS Coordinator and your Committee, you must
complete an application. The requirements for
the application appear below in these
guidelines. When you complete your application,
you must submit it in duplicate to the ITDS
Coordinator by an application deadline.
STEP 6. SUBMIT APPLICATION FOR
REVIEW
18. APPLICATION DEADLINES. There are three
deadlines each semester for filing an
application to the ITDS Program. Each semester's
deadlines are posted on the bulletin board
outside the office of the Coordinator. Because
each application is reviewed by the ITDS
Committee and may go through several revisions,
you are urged to submit the application by the
earlier deadlines and should allow a full
semester for the complete application and review
process to take place. Because the writing of
the application requires great thought and
considerable consultation, you should begin the
application at least three weeks before the
intended filing deadline.
19. THE REVIEW PROCESS. Filing an application
with the ITDS Coordinator does not assure your
acceptance in a Master's program in
Interdisciplinary Studies. Each proposal must be
reviewed by the ITDS Committee. After your
program is reviewed, the ITDS Coordinator will
inform you of the Committee's evaluation. The
Committee may recommend approval or conditional
approval of your application, it may request
that you rework and resubmit your application,
or it may reject the application. An application
approved by the ITDS Committee must then be
approved by the Associate Vice President of
Academic Programs and Graduate Studies (AVPAP).
If the application is approved at both levels of
review, you will be registered by the Graduate
Studies office as a graduate in fully classified
status.
20. On rare occasions, the ITDS Committee or
the AVPAP may seek the advice of the Graduate
Studies Subcommittee on a particular proposal.
On such occasions, the proposal will be
forwarded to the Subcommittee, which will render
its evaluation of the proposal.
21. ATTENDING THE REVIEW. The Chair of your
Committee may attend the Committee meetings at
which your application is reviewed. Information
regarding the date, time and place of the ITDS
Committee meetings can be obtained from the ITDS
Office.
STEPS 7-9. THE FORM TRAIL
22. You are responsible for submitting three
forms: The Advancement to Candidacy form, the
Application for Award of Degree form, and the
Completion of Requirements form. Each is
submitted at a different stage in your progress
toward completion of your Master's Degree. All
are available on floppy disk from the Graduate
Studies Office in Stevenson 2010 and from the
ITDS Coordinator.
23. Step 7. The Advancement to Candidacy form
must be submitted prior to your enrolling in the
first semester of your Final Project (in the
case of most ITDS students, ITDS 599A; see
§24, below). On this form, you describe
your Final Project and obtain a variety of
signatures including those of your Advisory
Committee Members and the ITDS Coordinator. In
order not to delay your enrolling in ITDS 599A,
complete this form the semester before you
intend to enroll in the class. Enrollment in the
course will be blocked until this form is
completed. Submit the form to the Graduate
Studies Office.
24. Step 8. Submit the Application for Award
of Degree at the beginning of the semester in
which you intend to graduate. Submit the form to
Admissions and Records.
25. Step 9. The Completion of Requirements
form is due when all of your course work has
been completed and the Final Project evaluated.
It lists the course work that constituted your
Master's Program and must include signatures
verifying that your Final Project has been
submitted and has been found acceptable. Submit
the form to the Graduate Studies Office.
OTHER REGULATIONS
26. MAKING CHANGES IN YOUR PROGRAM. Once your
application is approved, any changes in
curriculum or advisor must be approved by the
ITDS Coordinator and the Chair of your
Committee. If the changes substantially alter
the focus of your program, they must also be
approved by the ITDS Committee. You must submit
a letter of explanation for the changes to the
ITDS Coordinator for inclusion in your file.
27. THE FINAL PROJECT. All ITDS Master's
students must undertake a Final Project. For
your options concerning this project, see p. 9,
below. Six units are allotted to the project
(ITDS 599AB). Before you begin the actual
writing, obtain a copy of the Thesis Guidelines
and consult with the Chair of your Committee
concerning the most appropriate writing style
for your project. For the length of time allowed
for the completion of Final Projects, see
¶27, below.
28. DEFENSE OF THE FINAL PROJECT. You are
required to defend your final project before
your Committee. The defense is public and must
take place after you have filed your Application
for Award of Degree form but before you submit
the Com-pletion of Requirements form.
TIME CONSTRAINTS.
29. A. Seven-year limit for Master's
Degree. The California Administrative Code,
Title 5, and University regulations stipulate
that a Master's degree shall be accomplished in
seven years (14 semesters) beginning with the
first semester in which course work was taken.
Ways to validate outdated course work are
explained on the Validation of Courses Exceeding
the Seven Year Limit form.
30. B. Two-year limit for the Final Project.
Beginning with and including the semester in
which you enroll in ITDS 599A, you have two
years in which to complete your Final Project.
For an extension of this time limit, you must
receive prior authorization by the AVPAP.
Students who exceed the two-year limit without
prior authorization will be required to
re-register at SSU and re-enroll in the Final
Project.
31. CONTINUOUS ENROLLMENT. Beginning Fall,
1998, graduate students who have completed their
course work or who have begun work on their
thesis or other final project must be in
continuous enrollment until the final project
has been completed and approved. You can enroll
either through the regular SSU registration as a
half-time student and pay half-time fees (in
this way maintaining financial aid eligibility
and full use of university resources) or enroll
through Extended Education and pay a
continuation fee of $250 per semester (hereby
maintaining place in your academic program and
library privileges). The course designed for
both options is ITDS 578. See page 15 of these
guidelines for a complete statement of the
policy.
32. GRADE REQUIREMENTS. You must maintain a B
(3.0) minimum GPA in your course work for your
Master's degree. No course for which a final
grade below C (2.0) is assigned may be used to
satisfy a requirement for your degree.
33. ACADEMIC ADVISING. At the end of each
semester, you should be advised by the Chair of
your Committee concerning your schedule for the
following semester and your status with regard
to other graduate requirements. The ITDS
Coordinator is also available for advising.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
The candidate for this degree must
comply with the normal regulations governing
graduate study at Sonoma State University as
described in the SSU catalog. Requirements for a
Master's program in Interdisciplinary Studies
are as follows:
I. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
A. General requirements
1. A Master's program in Interdisciplinary
Studies consists of a minimum of 30 semester
units to a maximum of 32 semester units. These
units must be taken in two or more
disciplines.
2. A minimum of 21 units must be completed in
residence.
3. A minimum of 15 units of resident credit
must be taken in graduate level courses (500 and
above). The remaining units may include Upper
Division courses (300-499). No 100 or 200 level
courses may be included.
4. To assure the University that you have had
adequate and appropriate interaction with other
graduate students and that the institution
granting your degree has offered an appropriate
proportion of the graduate courses taken, at
least two of the graduate level courses must be
in seminar rather than individualized study
format. These courses are the following:
a. A research methods course and
b. An additional graduate-level seminar.
5. A Final Project is required. Research for
the Final Project is undertaken in two 3-unit
courses, 599A (3 units) and 599B (3 units).
These courses must be taken sequentially. No
more than 6 units shall be allowed for a Final
Project.
6. Note: When Sonoma State University does
not offer all of the courses needed to form an
academically sound program of study, it may be
possible for you to take the course or courses
necessary for you to complete your program
through cross regis-tration at UC Berkeley
and/or through visitor status or concurrent
enrollment at another CSU campus.
B. Additional requirements
1. Your application must include a list of
the courses that constitute your program, the
unit value of each course, and the semester in
which each is to be taken. It is your
responsibility to check with individual
departments regarding the availability and
scheduling of all courses on your list, as well
as their prerequisites.
2. At least 20 units must be graded (A-F);
the remainder (up to 1/3 of the total number of
units of your program) may be taken in a
non-traditional grading mode. (In order to
receive a Credit (CR.) grade in a graduate level
class, you must earn the equivalent of B- or
better.)
3. It is best to submit your proposal no
later than the second semester of course work.
By this time you should have become familiar
with faculty who are expert in your fields of
study and who are willing to be members of your
advisory committee.
4. If you have been out of school for some
years, or if there is a question about your
preparedness to undertake graduate level work,
the ITDS Committee may ask that you take a
prerequisite course or two to prove your ability
to undertake graduate academic work.
5. You must maintain a B (3.0) GPA each
semester of graduate work. If your GPA falls
below 3.0 for a single semester, you will be
placed on probation. A GPA of less than 3.0 for
two consecutive semesters will result in
automatic disqualification.
Summary of unit and course
requirements
30-32 unit range for Master's Degree program
in ITDS
21-23 unit minimum of resident credit
9-unit maximum of non-resident, including
transfer, credit
The 21-23-unit residence requirement includes
the following :
15-unit minimum of graduate (500) level
courses, including
6-8 units for a research methods course &
an additional graduate seminar
6 units for the final project
The 30-32 unit range for the degree is to be
distributed as follows:
15-unit minimum of graduate (500) level
courses
15-17 additional units of graduate and upper
division course work
20-unit minimum of graded work
A 3.0 GPA each semester of graduate work
C. Signatures. Your application must include
the signatures of the following persons (see
Application for the signature sheets):
1. Each member of your Academic Advisory
Committee.
2. The Graduate Coordinator of each
Department in which you take a graduate
course.
3. The Department Chair of the Chair of your
Academic Advisory Committee.
4. The ITDS Coordinator.
If your proposal is approved by the ITDS
Committee, the ITDS Coordinator will forward it
to the AVPAP for final review.
D. Course restrictions.
1. Only 6 of the 21 in-residence units may be
numbered Special Studies 495 and/or Special
Studies 595. A Special Studies form for each
project must be submitted with the
application.
2. No more than 9 units of non-resident
(e.g., extension and/or transfer) credit may be
included in your program.
3. Courses taught by another student or a
course that you teach without direct faculty
supervision may not be included in the 30-32
units.
4. A course for which you are a student
assistant and that you teach under direct
faculty supervision may be included in the 30-32
units.
5. You may include in your course of study
upper division and graduate level courses taken
prior to receipt of the BA or BS under the
following conditions only:
a. They were taken during your final
undergraduate semester;
b. The courses were not required for
graduation; and
c. You filed a petition to apply the courses
in question to graduate studies at the same time
you filed the application for award of the
degree.
II. WRITTEN ESSAY
The application must be accompanied by a
written essay. The major portion of this essay
will cover the same topics addressed in §4
of the Guidelines: the subject and title of your
program, your goals for the program, a
description and justification of the courses on
your course list, and the final project.
NOTE: Be sure that your proposal fulfills the
following criteria:
1. The course work you have chosen should
support your stated goals for the program? If
you intend to teach a given subject at a JC, for
esample, your list of courses should include
courses in both the subject and from the
Department of Education?
2. Your course work should support each
aspect of the title of your program? For
instance, if the title of your program is
Health, the Elderly, and Public Policy, your
course list should probably include courses from
the disciplines of Kinesiology, Gerontology, and
Public Administration.
3. The course work should be of a substance,
coherence, and breadth equivalent to those of a
Master's program in a single subject?
4. The final project should be a logical
outcome of the course work? (See C6 below.)
Keep the above questions in mind when
composing your essay.
A. Subject and Goals. Your program
must have a focus that goes beyond that of a
single discipline. The title of your program
must express this interdisciplinary focus. Begin
your essay with a statement of the subject of
your program. You may choose to precede this
statement with a description of your background
or a particular social, economic, or historical
condition relevant to your proposal, then go on
to state the program's topic and its general
features.
In addition to describing the program's
topic, you should also state your goals or
ambitions for the program: what you want to
learn or what you want the course work to
prepare you to do. By the end of this initial
portion of the essay, you should have stated the
subject of the program, described your hopes and
expectations of it, and provided any relevant
background information, including a description
of the interests, experience and training that
have prepared you to undertake the program
B. Courses. The courses you have
chosen will be judged by their relevance to the
subject of your program and your stated goals.
Also keep in mind that an interdisciplinary
course of study requires the same standards of
coherence, substance, and breadth found in an
established Master's Degree program in a single
subject in a Liberal Arts Institution. Describe
the courses in your course list from the
standpoints of what they contribute to the study
of the subject of your program and how they meet
the standards stated above.
In describing your courses, you may group
them according to field or subject area, or you
may present them individually. List and explain
any supplementary courses that are not included
in the 30-32 units of required courses.
C. Final Project.
1. Topic of the Final Project. The topic of
the Final Project must be an obvious outcome of
your stated goals and course work; it must bring
together the various aspects of your course of
study. It must also be limited enough to
accomplish within the given time and unit
constraints.
2. Type of Final Project. The final project
may consist of a thesis, a creative project, a
curriculum project, or an investigative or
research project. For definitions of these
terms, consult the Guidelines for Master's
Theses and Projects, available in the ITDS
Coordinator's Office and the Graduate Studies
Office.
3. Description of Final Project. Include a
description of the proposed Final Project,
including the specific hypothesis to be tested
or goal of a creative project. When appropriate,
describe the theoretical framework,
method-ologies, and type of data to be used.
Consider also the significance of the field
chosen for the thesis.
4. Resources and Facilities. Include a list
of resources and facilities to be used and
individuals to be consulted in preparation of
the thesis or project. These could include
libraries, research or museum facilities,
collections, data banks, consultants on and off
campus, agencies, etc. List the departments,
institutions or other affiliations for persons
to be consulted.
5. Bibliography. Provide a bibliography to be
used in preparation for the thesis,
investigative or research project or, when
appropriate, the creative project. The
bibliography should include basic background
sources in relevant areas and must include
current research. The bibliography shall be
extensive and thorough. It should include
references to both books and journal articles.
The bibliographic style should be appropriate to
the discipline.
6. Relationship of Course Work to the Final
Project. Your course work should support your
program as a whole, rather than just the Final
Project. It is relatively broad in its scope and
provides information, concepts and skills in the
fields of study that constitute your program. It
is in your Final Project that you apply what you
have learned in your course work to a specific
but narrowly defined aspect of the broader field
covered by your program. It allows for a full
exploration or practical demonstration of the
tools you have acquired. The following examples
illustrate the difference between the program as
a whole and the Final Project:
Program Title
|
Final Project
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Archaeology and Folklore
|
Medieval Literature and Irish
Prehistory: Cultural Transition and
Transmission
|
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Intersections: Philosophy and Poetry
in the 20th Century
|
Heidegger's Conception of the
Thing in the Poetry of George
Oppen
|
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Living arrangements for the Elderly:
The Impact of Residential Care
|
The Meaning of Home: A Human
Services Model Addressing Transitions
in Living Arrangements
|
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Socio-cultural Aspects of
Communication
|
Social and Cultural Factors
Influencing Communicative Proficiency
of Culturally Diverse Students in US
College Classrooms
|
|
Women in International Politics
|
Gender as a Discrete Variable in
International Politics: Women and their
Destinies in UN Policy
|
|
Environmental Sciences Education
|
Education Programs for Wildlife
Rehabilitation Centers
|
|
Mexican Aesthetics
|
Artistic Manifestations of Mother
Earth: Coatlicue
|
|
Perspectives in Culture and Cultural
Change
|
Tlingit Response to Euro-American
Religious Proselytism
|
|
Imaging Science and Technology
|
Biased Moire Fringe Contour
Methods
|
|
Western Mysticism and the History of
Consciousness
|
Comparing Medieval and 20th
Century Mysticism
|
|
Philosophies of Education and the
Teaching of Critical Thinking
|
The Effect of Varying
Philosophies of Education on the
Teaching of Critical Thinking
|
|
International Development Studies
|
Economic Development of the
Middle East
|
7. Collecting Data from Human Subjects. If
your Final Project involves the collecting of
data from human subjects, you must familiarize
yourself with the regulations concerning human
subjects and submit a form indicating details
concerning venue, method of collection, etc.
Approval for the collecting of such data must be
given in writing before you begin collection.
Data collected before written authorization is
obtained may not be used. For more information,
contact the Graduate Studies Office.
D. Justification of your program in ITDS. The
justification of your program should cover the
following points:
1. The appropriateness of ITDS, as opposed to
a single discipline, for the course of study you
have chosen.
2. The specific academic reasons why the
proposed program of study cannot be pursued
through an existing Master's program at SSU or
other service area university. It is your
responsibility to consult the catalogs of SSU
and other service area universities to determine
if there are such programs.
E. Additional Resources. List the names and
departments of appropriate faculty members, in
addition to the members of your Committee, who
are available for consultation. (You are urged
to consult with such faculty members during the
planning of the program of study.) Also list the
names of any persons outside of campus who are
expert in your program area and are available
for consultation.
F. HELP. If you would like assistance in the
writing of your application or your thesis, two
resources are available to you:
1. The SSU Writing Center on the first floor
of Ruben Salazar Library
2. Thesis writing workshops. At least one
workshop is offered each semester. For dates,
contact the Graduate Studies Office in Stevenson
2010 (664-2237).
III. FORMAT OF THE PROPOSAL
A. The title of your program should not
exceed 65 characters, including spaces and
punctuation marks. (The reason for this
limitation is that 65 is the number of
characters that will fit on a diploma.)
B. Your written essay should not exceed five
double-spaced, typewritten pages. The five-page
limit applies only to the written essay; it does
not include the bibliography, letters of
recommendation, Special Studies and Internship
forms, transcripts, or other documents.
C. The pages of your written essay and
bibliography must be numbered.
CONTINUOUS ENROLLMENT POLICY
Beginning Fall 1998, all graduate
students who have completed their course work or
who have begun to work on their thesis or other
final project must be enrolled each semester
until they have completed their degree. The
continuous enrollment policy applies to all
students regardless of their catalog year. This
policy serves to ensure the following:
1. Continuous enrollment preserves your right
to meet degree requirements for an elected
catalog year;
2. Continuous enrollment allows you to
receive the advice and supervision of faculty or
to use university facilities such as the health
center, library or computer labs; and
3. Continuous enrollment facilitates your
completion of your degree in a timely
fashion.
The University has developed the following
mechanisms for you to follow in order to
maintain continuous enrollment until completion
of your graduate program:
A. Those who wish to maintain eligibility for
financial aid and to utilize the full resources
of the university must maintain regular
half-time enrollment and pay half-time fees. If
you choose this option, you must sign up for
ITDS 578 - Project Continuation. Permission of
the ITDS coordinator is required.
B. Those who do not seek the full services of
the University may maintain continuous
enrollment by enrolling in ITDS 578 through
Extended Education ($250.00 charge). This will
allow you to receive library privileges.
Permission of the ITDS coordinator is
required.
C. With the written support of your graduate
advisors, those who, due to extraordinary
circumstances, cannot continue work on your
programs may seek special consideration by
petitioning the Graduate Studies Office for a
leave of absence for a defined period of time
not to exceed two years. This petition process
does not extend the seven-year limitation on
course work applied to your degree.
Finally, if you fail to enroll without taking
an official leave of absence, you will be
considered to have withdrawn from the University
and your degree program. Should you decide to
return, you will be required to apply for
readmission and, as a condition of readmission,
shall be assessed $250 for every regular
semester of the period during which you were
absent from the University.
Please contact me at (707) 664-2762/2468 if
you have any questions regarding this policy or
contact the Graduate Studies Office, Stevenson
2010, 664-2237 for further clarification.
Revised December, 1998
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