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GCAC-742 - Culminating Experience - Professional Master's (REVISED - Effective Fall 2025)

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Academic Goal

To ensure that all students pursuing a professional master’s degree complete their studies with a high-quality culminating experience that integrates the knowledge and research experience acquired during their time in the degree program.

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Purpose

To define acceptable culminating experiences for professional master’s degrees.

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Scope

All professional master’s degree programs.

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Background

Policy Statement


**POLICY REVISION - A revision to this policy has been approved by the Graduate Council. The below version will become Effective Fall 2025. View the current policy.**

  1. A culminating experience is required for all professional master’s degrees. The specific form of the culminating experience is proposed by the major program and approved through the Graduate Council curricular review process. Examples include but are not limited to a project, a paper or essay, a presentation, an internship, an exhibition, a production, a performance, a comprehensive examination, or a capstone course.
  2. Graduate programs are strongly encouraged to have their students submit the product of their culminating experience to ScholarSphere, as appropriate to the program and discipline.
  3. The student’s major program must establish guidelines for the culminating experience that are uniformly applied to all students in that program. These guidelines and evaluation criteria must be presented to the student prior to the student initiating the culminating experience. These guidelines must include clear criteria for evaluation and an evaluative tool (e.g. a rubric).
    1. These guidelines also must include the program’s policy describing the student’s options in case of failure, including:
      1. Whether or not retaking the capstone course or redoing the culminating experience is permitted, and if so under what conditions.
        1. If retaking the capstone course or redoing the culminating experience is permitted, whether or not there is a limit to the number of attempts or a time limit on completion.
      2. Which of the following outcomes the program uses for students who have failed the experience with no further attempts allowed and are not permitted to continue in the master’s program:
        1. Discontinuation from the degree program with the option to change degree.
        2. Discontinuation from the degree program with no option to change degree.
        3. Termination from the degree program with the option to change degree.
        4. Termination from the degree program with no option to change degree.

Process

  1. Graduate programs may require all students in the program to submit the product of their culminating experience to ScholarSphere.
  2. Outcome: The program must report the results of the culminating experience to the student, the adviser, and Graduate Enrollment Services in writing.
    1. In cases when the culminating experience is not passed, the student must also be notified whether a retake is offered or if the student's professional master's degree program will be discontinued or terminated (with or without the option to change degree). All discontinuations and terminations must follow the procedures outlined in GCAC-803.

Revision History

Approved by Graduate Council, April 16, 2025. Effective date: Fall 2025 (8/18/2025).

  • Added Policy Statement 3 regarding options in case of failure, including discontinuation and termination as routes to dismissal from a graduate program which should be outlined in program handbook.
  • Added Process Statement 2 on reporting of outcomes.

Approved by Graduate Council, March 17, 2021. Effective date: Fall 2021 (08/16/2021).

  • New policy.