Degree Requirements
General
For admittance to degree candidacy, students must have satisfied all outstanding prerequisites, completed a minimum of 60 approved course credits, achieved a final grade point average (GPA) of 3.0, and had their thesis approved by their defense committee. Students must have advanced to degree candidacy before being permitted to attend graduation ceremonies.
Thesis
Graduating students in the MFA in Illustration program are required to complete a master's thesis, in the form of an academic paper focusing on a specific aspect of illustration -- its history, various applications, or its current state. Students should select a topic whose research and composition is manageable within an 18-month period. With all its constituent parts, including but not limited to text, footnotes, bibliography and illustrations, the thesis will not exceed 100 pages in length.
It is the responsibility of the students to submit, and have approved, their topic proposal to the department thesis coordinator; the thesis coordinator will then select an individual advisor whose area of expertise is relevant to the paper's topic and research. Students are expected to submit their written proposals approximately six weeks into their first semester.
Detailed guidelines on the thesis process will be distributed in the early weeks of the first semester. Papers are due in April of the student's fourth semester in the program. In May of the fourth semester, students meet individually with a committee -- composed of the department associate chairperson, the thesis coordinator, and the student's thesis advisor -- to discuss and defend their thesis and research work, prior to the paper's final approval.
For admittance to degree candidacy, students must have satisfied all outstanding prerequisites, completed a minimum of 60 approved course credits, achieved a final grade point average (GPA) of 3.0, and had their thesis approved by their defense committee. Students must have advanced to degree candidacy before being permitted to attend graduation ceremonies.
Thesis
Graduating students in the MFA in Illustration program are required to complete a master's thesis, in the form of an academic paper focusing on a specific aspect of illustration -- its history, various applications, or its current state. Students should select a topic whose research and composition is manageable within an 18-month period. With all its constituent parts, including but not limited to text, footnotes, bibliography and illustrations, the thesis will not exceed 100 pages in length.
It is the responsibility of the students to submit, and have approved, their topic proposal to the department thesis coordinator; the thesis coordinator will then select an individual advisor whose area of expertise is relevant to the paper's topic and research. Students are expected to submit their written proposals approximately six weeks into their first semester.
Detailed guidelines on the thesis process will be distributed in the early weeks of the first semester. Papers are due in April of the student's fourth semester in the program. In May of the fourth semester, students meet individually with a committee -- composed of the department associate chairperson, the thesis coordinator, and the student's thesis advisor -- to discuss and defend their thesis and research work, prior to the paper's final approval.
Students will be expected to retain a professional copy-editor during the process.
Time Requirement for Degree Completion
Students will have three years to complete all degree requirements, except for the qualifying paper, which is due within 18 months after beginning the program.