MES Plan of Study
During the first semester in residence, students enrolled in the MES program work with the program director and a faculty committee to develop a "Plan of Study" (PS), which integrates the student’s academic background and experience with an appropriate graduate course of study to allow the student to achieve his or her career goals. The development of the PS is a four-phase process:
- Evaluation of the student's admission materials
- Interview to ascertain the student’s interests and career goals
- Oral candidacy exam to ascertain the appropriate graded coursework to recommend in the PS
- Development of a formal PS which identifies the specific coursework, research or teaching experience, and capstone component that the student will be expected to complete before the MES is awarded (minimum of 30 credit hours).
Students who have completed the PS process will be considered degree candidates.
Thesis or Internship
Each student will participate in either a thesis or an internship. The thesis has an education to education focus. It requires the application of each student’s research, writing, computational and library skills. The thesis also focuses on manuscript development. The graduate committee makes a final assessment of the student’s work.
The internship has an education to work focus. It gives the student the opportunity to apply his or her academic, writing, computational, teamwork, and interpersonal skills in the workplace. The graduate committee makes a final assessment of the student’s work.