PMASI - Master Projects
Students pursuing the Professional Master of Arts in Social Innovation are required to complete SI 690: Social Innovation Research Design and SI 693: Master Project in Social Innovation. Guidelines for culminating master projects, along with other helpful resources, are provided by The Graduate School. Requirements for final projects will also be discussed during Research Design class meetings and through information shared by the Graduate Program Director or the Academic Coordinator of Social Innovation.
It is recommended that students attend a workshop, organized by The Graduate School, on preparing for and presenting their final master projects. Aim to attend this workshop during the semester in which you're enrolled in the Research Design course, if at all possible. Check The Graduate School's Event Calendar for upcoming workshops and other opportunities.
All graduate students must complete Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training as a graduation requirement. Each graduate program, including Social Innovation, has selected a specific course or online module to best match program curricula. Successful completion of CITI courses will be communicated to the Office of the Registrar and notated on your transcript within 2-3 weeks. If you are going to be conducting human subjects research, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) requires all protocol personnel to complete Human Subjects Protection training. Before submitting your protocol, please check to make sure you have completed the necessary training.
Any graduate faculty member may serve as a student's Project Advisor. If you have a faculty member in mind to supervise your master's project, connect with the Graduate Program Director of Social Innovation to discuss. Students should regularly consult with their Research Design instructor and their Project Advisor for guidance and mentorship toward the completion of their culminating project.
Submission of Final Master's Projects
Following their presentations, students in SI 693 are required to submit their final projects for approval. Students may download this title page template to include within their final document. Students will also insert the Project Final Approval Form into their document, as directed in The Graduate School's Guidelines for Culminating Master's Projects, but not until the form has been signed by all reviewers.
To submit, students must email their Project Final Approval Form and final project document to their Project Advisor. The project document may be sent as a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF file attached to the email or sent as a Google link within the email, if the file size is too large. If sent as a Google link, please be sure the share settings are such that anyone with the link is able to view the file.
Master's projects will be reviewed and approved by the student's Project Advisor and then forwarded to the Graduate Program Director, Azfar Hussain. Dr. Hussain will review and approve the master's projects and then forward onward to the IRIS Department Chair for final signature.
If any follow-up work is needed before approval is received, the student will be notified and should re-submit their edited document through the same procedure.
Once all signatures are obtained, the entire project document, including the signed Project Final Approval Form, will be forwarded to the student via email by Sherry Moyer, Academic Coordinator, at moyers@gvsu.edu
You may direct questions related to Social Innovation master's projects or presentations to Dr. Hussain, Graduate Program Director, at [email protected] or Sherry Moyer, Academic Coordinator, at moyers@gvsu.edu.
ScholarWorks@GVSU
Once the final SI 693 master's project is approved, students are required to submit their completed work to ScholarWorks@GVSU, as specified in the Master's Project Guidelines ( pg. 11). You may follow these instructions for uploading your final project documents to ScholarWorks@GVSU.