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Culminating Experience Requirement

Core Courses / Internship / Culminating Experience / Electives & Elective Emphases

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There are two options for the culminating experience requirement:

• PA 800 Capstone Course, 3.  The Public Administration Capstone Course is a semester-long course which will focus upon synthesizing the material learned throughout the entire degree. To do this, a rigorous analysis and critique of case studies from the field will be used. Emphasis will be upon the portfolio and focusing the future of the public service (public and nonprofit sectors). To complete their culminating experience, students will write a Strategic Assessment Memorandum of one of the cases studied, focusing upon what steps a manager would take to resolve the situation presented in the case-- and utilizing all of the areas and resources studied during the course of their degree. This take-home project will serve as the written comprehensive examination option of the University’s culminating experience requirement.   The e-portfolio is also created during this class.
• PA 898 Master’s Thesis, 3.   The Master’s Thesis is a traditional option and will incorporate a rigorous prospectus incorporating the problem statement, literature review and methodology sections. This prospectus and the approval of the Human Subjects Committee must be completed the semester prior to the student entering the PA 898 course to work on the thesis.  Any research methodology may be utilized but the format will be more formal and the expectations will be of primary research making a significant contribution.
• A student files the Proposal for Culminating Experience with the Department) the semester prior to wanting to enroll in the culminating experience course (on October 1st for students wanting to graduate the next spring and on March 1st for students wanting to graduate the next fall).  
  • For the PA 800 Capstone Course, the student files the Written Comprehensive Examination version of the Proposal for Culminating Experience form
  • For the PA 898 Master's Thesis course, the student files the Thesis version of the Proposal for Culminating Experience form

 

Procedures for the Thesis—PA 898

• Each student chooses a faculty member to chair their two person Faculty Committee and then a second faculty member for their committee, as well.    The student works most directly with the committee chair on their prospectus and thesis.
• Before writing the thesis, a prospectus, composed of a problem statement, full literature review (not annotated bibliography), and research methodology, must be completed.   If appropriate, research hypotheses should also be included.  The prospectus must be approved by the Faculty Committee in the semester prior to that in which the student signs up for PA 898 and works on the thesis.  Approval of the thesis is signified by Faculty Committee signatures on the Culminating Experience forms as well as on the all-important Human Subjects forms. 
• The semester a student believes they will be ready for graduation; they should apply for graduation with the Graduate Division.  
• Each student signs up for PA 898 for the subsequent semester and works on their thesis, consulting carefully with the Committee Chair.   
• When the Faculty Chair believes the thesis is ready for review by the second faculty member, it is forwarded to the second faculty member for review.   Note: Getting the thesis ready for review typically requires multiple drafts and reviews.   Students MUST allow adequate time for faculty to review their drafts—and allowing for the fact that faculty are also reading other students’ papers who are also trying to finish their degree.
• A thesis is completed if and only if both members of the Faculty Committee approve its content and format according to the standards of quality within the University, the Department of Public Administration, and the discipline of public administration.  
• If there is disagreement between the two faculty members, then a third faculty member will be added to the Committee to review the thesis and make a determination as to its quality and appropriateness for a Master’s Thesis.
• If the Graduate Division deadline is not met by the student, then generally,  the student must sign up for PA 897: Research in Public Administration in the next semester and continue working during the next semester.   This is due to the fact that the student is continuing to utilize University resources in continuing to work on their thesis. 
• Students must simultaneously work with the Graduate Division to ensure that their thesis meets its formatting requirements.  These include writing a proper Executive Summary and proper signature pages as well as necessary margins.
• If a student must work into the next semester and they were enrolled the previous semester, they do not have to be re-admitted but just enroll in PA 897 and register for graduation once again.
• Once the Faculty Committee has approved the thesis and the student has made any final changes requested, both faculty members sign the Report of Completion and the final Thesis on the appropriate signature pages.  The student must then turn in their thesis to the Graduate Division and obtain a Thesis receipt.  

 

Procedures for the Strategic Assessment Memo (Written Comprehensive Examination) within PA 800: Capstone Course

• In the case of the Written Comprehensive Examination (or Strategic Assessment Memo), the Culminating Experience Faculty Committee chair is the faculty member teaching the PA 800 Capstone course, in which the Written Comprehensive Examination is written.  
• The second member of the Faculty Committee will be assigned by the Chair during the PA 800 class according to the topic of the case study chosen by the student to write upon.
• The Culminating Experience form must be completed the semester prior to taking PA 800, as with the thesis, but there is no prospectus.
• The semester a student believes they will be ready for graduation, they should apply for graduation with the Graduate Division.  
• The exact structure of the PA 800 course is determined by the faculty member teaching it.  However, it will involve reading and analyzing several public and nonprofit sector cases.  Then, one of these cases will be chosen as the basis for the Strategic Assessment Memo (Written Comprehensive Examination) written during the class.  
• A Strategic Assessment Memo is completed if and only if the two person Faculty Committee approves its content and format according to the standards of quality within the University, the Department of Public Administration, and the discipline of public administration.   
• The Strategic Assessment Memo will receive a numeric grade by the faculty member teaching the PA 800 class, for purposes of completing that class.   It will receive an assessment of High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, or Fail by the two faculty members serving on the Culminating Experience Committee.
• If there is disagreement between the two faculty members on the assessment of the Strategic Assessment Memo, then a third faculty member will be added to the Committee to review the Strategic Assessment Memo and help to make the determination of passing or failing.
• If a student has passed the Written Comprehensive Examination, the Faculty Committee will sign the Report of Completion form and the Department of Public Administration office will forward it to the Graduate Division.
• If a student has not passed the Written Comprehensive Examination, they will be given until the beginning of the next semester to rewrite the paper without having to take PA 897.   If the paper is reviewed again and still does not meet the standards of quality required in the Department of Public Administration, then the student will be required to sign up for PA 897 the subsequent semester to rewrite the paper.  Once the paper has been approved, the Report of Completion form will be signed. The grade for PA 800 will reflect the initial assessment of the Strategic Assessment Memo, however.
• If the Graduate Division deadline is not met by the student, then generally,  the student must sign up for PA 897: Research in Public Administration in the next semester and continue working during the next semester.   Students will receive a grade of “Satisfactory Progress” in PA 800 and must complete it during the next semester, as well.
• If a student must work into the next semester and they were enrolled the previous semester, they do not have to be re-admitted but just enroll in PA 897 and register for graduation once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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