Program Requirements for
Social Justice

Admissions Process Requirement:

Prospective applicants must first meet the requirements of the Graduate School and the Social Justice program.  Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree from an accredited 4-year institution of higher learning with a major from any discipline at the time of matriculation in this graduate program with at least a 2.75 undergraduate grade point average.  The application also requires two letters of recommendation (one from a professional teacher and one from an individual in the community).  Preference will be given to students who have extensive undergraduate coursework and or an undergraduate degree in social justice/sociology.

Grade Requirement to remain in the Social Justice Graduate Program

Graduate students must maintain a 3.0 GPA.  If the GPA falls below a 3.0 the student’s continuation must be approved by the Sociology graduate faculty.  Students in the program can only receive one C grade but must maintain the required 3.0 overall GPA in the program.

Graduation Requirements for the Master’s in Social Justice

Completion of at least 36 semester hours of coursework is required.   The coursework will include a minimum of 6 hours in research methods, 3 hours in Statistics and 27 hours of sociology/social justice prescribed courses and 3 hours of electives at the 500 and above levels.  Students also must complete a satisfactory thesis project and Human Services Internship experience.

Advisor

Graduate students in the Social Justice program must identify and acquire a graduate advisor no later than the latter part of the Fall semester of the first year of matriculation.  The graduate student and advisor will develop a specified plan that will include courses and other graduation requirements during the duration of graduate program of study.  Full-time graduate students are required to complete their course work by the end of their fourth semester in the program.

Required Thesis

A written scholarly thesis describing a major social research problem, must be submitted two weeks before the oral defense to the Thesis Committee. The Graduate Student Handbook provides the guidelines for preparing and presenting the thesis document.  The Thesis Advisory Committee is selected in the Spring semester of the student’s first year.  The committee must consist of three faculty members of the Social Justice program, one of whom is the chair of the thesis committee.

Oral Defense Required

The program requires an oral defense of the research by the graduate student.  The defense consists of a one to two hours oral presentation before the Thesis Committee.  Pass or Fail by the committee will be determined by a vote after the defense is completed by the graduate student.  This defense must occur 10 days before all materials for graduation are require.  The Graduate trainee will be examined by the Thesis committee only.