Summary of Major Graduate Program Requirements

June 2005

Master’s Guidance Committee

• Your Master's Guidance Committee (a.k.a. the Plan of Study Committee) must be formed by the second semester of your first year at MSU.
• Your Advisor is normally chair of your Master’s Guidance Committee. The Chair must come from your Interest Group.
• The Master's Guidance Committee has three members, including your Advisor.
• Committee membership guidelines (see Graduate Handbook, section 2.1.5):
• At least 2 of the 3 Committee members must be regular members of the Psychology Department faculty.
• Only 1 of the 3 Committee members may be an adjunct or Emeritus member of the Psychology Department.

Course Requirements for Master’s

• A total of thirty (30) credits are required.
• Plan A (thesis) Master’s: 4-8 credits PSY 899, no more than 3 credits in PSY 890 (Special Topics).
• Plan B (nonthesis) Master’s: Number of PSY 890 credits determined by Interest Groups.
• PSY 815 - Quantitative Research Design and Analysis in Psychology. Most Interest Groups require an additional quantitative course.
• No more than 6 of 30 credits may be at 400 level.

Doctoral Committees

• You create a Doctoral Guidance Committee (sometimes referred to as "Plan of Study Committee") upon being admitted to the doctoral program.
• Doctoral Guidance Committees consist of four (4) members, three of whom are regular (non-adjunct or Emeritus) members of Psychology Department.
• Chairperson of committee must be a member of your Interest Group.
• Your Doctoral Guidance Committee works with you to develop your doctoral program. This includes:
  • All relevant course work (listed on the Doctoral Plan of Study).
  • The content and format of your comprehensive exams.
  • The area of your dissertation research.
  • Any internships or placements required by your Interest Group.
• Our department uses the term “Dissertation Committee” to refer to the committee that supervises the dissertation itself and signs off on the proposal and final product.
• The Dissertation Committee membership may be the same or different from the Guidance Committee membership.
• Note: The University uses only the term “Doctoral Guidance Committee”; the name “Doctoral Dissertation Committee” is internal terminology. The University only recognizes one committee -- the Doctoral Guidance Committee.
• If the Dissertation Committee contains members not on the Guidance Committee, you must file a form to amend your Doctoral Plan of Study.
• Regulations concerning who may serve on Doctoral Dissertation Committees are essentially the same as those for the Doctoral Guidance Committee. Exceptions must be approved by the Associate Chair.
• The Associate Chair may add a committee member to any Doctoral Committee.
• The University requires a Dean’s Representative – a representative of the College of Social Science who is NOT a member of the Psychology Department – be present at the oral defense of the dissertation.
• The Dean's Representative has a vote on the dissertation.
• It is highly recommended that you ask someone from outside the department to serve on the Dissertation Committee right from the beginning, especially if doing interdisciplinary research. If you don't have an outside member on your committee, the Associate Chair may ask you to add one.
• The Dean’s Representative may come from any unit on campus except Psychology (the person may be an adjunct member of our department, however).

Course Requirements for Ph.D.

• PSY 815.
• Twenty-four (24) credit hours of PSY 999.

This summary was origianally prepared by Fernanda Ferreira in August 2001. It was updated by Robert Caldwell in June 2005

Consult the Graduate Handbook for a more detailed presentation of this material.