Innovation - MA Thesis

FOUR TARGET AREAS for REFORM

The issues that became the centerpiece of our CID activities originated from a joint effort by our CID Committee and direct cooperation with Graduate Students. Our Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) drafted proposals of issues they hoped to address through the project and worked with the CID Committee to define an agenda Ultimately, we decided to focus on four aspects of the graduate program:

The Advisor/Advisee Relationship

The MA program/ MA Thesis

General Exams (Prelims)

Teaching Load

We have made significant progress in each of these areas, and will continue to add information to the SNAPSHOTS. Below is a description of the reform process for one target area, the MA Program

MA Program/Thesis
At the center of our review of the MA Program was the MA Thesis. Graduate students and faculty expressed interest in considering the advantages and disadvantages of requiring a thesis to complete the MA, which is standard practice in our department. Graduate students hoped to clarify the expectations surrounding the thesis in terms of overall purpose and in terms of practical matters such as length.
Official policy also allows students to satisfy the requirements for the MA by completing a set of writing requirements that does not include a thesis. Typically, this means the student writes one or two seminar papers and "defends" them in a manner similar to students who produce a thesis. In practice, this option is used most often by certain professors in particular fields and is not the department standard. A broad consensus emerged among graduate students to make this option more available. Faculty also expressed an interest in promoting both options equally.

Changing the language . . .
After productive discussions among graduate students, the CID committee and the department as a whole (See RETREAT Snapshot) we sent a proposal to the Graduate Studies Committee recommending that the language in our department Graduate Student Handbook be changed to give equal weight to both the thesis and non thesis options. Previously, the non thesis option required the approval of the Graduate Studies Chair.
We also agreed a "publicity campaign" of sorts would help make sure all students and faculty were aware of the changes in the Handbook.
It is important to note that these changes have not been put into effect. The proposal still must go to the entire Department faculty for a vote, which should happen in early Spring 2005

What will this change?
The answer depends on the teaching philosophies of individual professors and the personal preferences of individual graduate students. Some faculty members believe an MA Thesis takes too much time in a program geared toward producing PhDs. Others found the thesis an essential element of the program. The change in language will promote a department standard that takes all of these issues into account.