Program Proposals

• College of Engineering & Computer Science
• College of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies

SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE

CpE Masters Program

Justification:

The proposed change is to offer the Plan C comprehensive examination to the culminating experience.
1. Students will have to be approved for the Plan C option by one of the elective area faculty advisors and the graduate coordinator.
2. The comprehensive examination will be in written form.

This change is justified by the following considerations ...
1. In line with what appears to be a national trend in the discipline, many Universities are now offering a culminating experience comprehensive examination option for the MS degree, which requires no industrial experience qualification and has no oral component. Other campuses in the CSUS system with computer engineering masters programs are gradually following suit, in order to remain competitive.
2. There is a very high student demand and a very limited support budget for both the faculty workload and technical facilities required by culminating experience plan B. The program cannot support the current percentage of students, who are attempting to graduate under plan B. The proposed plan C changes will make that plan much more attractive to students and reduce the heavy demand for plan B.

SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE

International Affairs Masters Program

Justification:

The purpose of the proposed comprehensive examination is to install a more rigorous method to ensure that a graduate student in the International Affairs' Master's program has the necessary tools of research and scope of knowledge to be competitive for applying to a PhD program in the discipline and to seek out professional opportunities in the field generally. The exam provides a level playing field for all students in our program to demonstrate their breadth and depth of learning in the subject of International Relations. The exam also has the advantage of providing graduate students a clearly structured exit point based on a very concrete assessment tool, a proctored eight hour examination covering International Relations field and in one subfield. Students are required to write a total of four substantial essay (two in each field/subfield) answering questions composed by the IA faculty. The exam is a comprehensive review of the most of the required courses in the department, and assumes that students will have attained competency in their specific track of choice within the department's offerings. This change should benefit students who often languish for years preparing to undertake thesis research, and struggle to submit and satisfactorily defend their thesis research. Thus, graduate students will be much more likely to complete the curriculum within the expected two-year time horizon. We hope that this will reduce the time commitment of faculty to mentor thesis research, increase the rigor and reputation of the program, and provide clarity to students as they navigate the difficult pathway toward completion of their degree requirements. While we strongly encourage all graduate students to take the comprehensive examination, those students who wish to write a thesis will still h ave that option. We will only encourage those students who anticipate applying for a doctoral program to select the thesis option. Requirements for the thesis option remain unchanged.