Sociology Human Service Planning & Administration (MS)

Thesis Plan - 33 credits
Alternate Plan Paper – 34 credits

The Master of Science in Sociology: Human Services Planning and Administration is designed for a person seeking a leadership role as an administrator in the field of human services. The graduate of this program will have a solid grounding in the knowledge, values, and skills appropriate for a broad range of human services programs. The program especially encourages creative and critical thinking skills which enable the graduate to produce positive changes in organizations.

Student expectations

Students are required to maintain a 3.0 grade point average for the entire degree program. Half of all graduate credit applied toward the degree must be earned in courses at the 600 level. Up to six credits may be taken outside of the department with the approval of a student's advisor. The student must complete all graduate degree requirements within six years.

Alternate Plan Paper or Master's Thesis

The alternate plan paper or master’s thesis is written under the supervision of the student's advisor and examining committee. Requirements for the paper or thesis include an oral defense of a proposal at the beginning of the project and a successful oral defense of the product upon completion of the work.

An alternate plan paper may take one of two forms. An academic APP is a critical, comprehensive review of empirical research that applies relevant theory, identifies gaps in our knowledge, and offers original insight. An applied APP uses existing theory to identify practical or community problems and empirical research to identify possible solutions and is accountable to both the academy and the community.

A master’s thesis is written under the supervison of the student's thesis advisor and examining committee. The thesis may be original research, an historical review, replication of an existing study, secondary analysis of available data, or applied research. Thesis requirements include an oral defense of the thesis proposal at the beginning of the project and a successful oral defense upon completion of the work.

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