POLICY #6.63
SUBJECT: Graduate Studies: Capstone and Research

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of this Policy is to provide policy guidelines for capstone and research activities in graduate studies.

II. REFERENCES

1. Southern Utah University Policy 5.52 Intellectual Property
2. Southern Utah University Policy 5.54 Copyright Policy
3. Southern Utah University Policy 6.60 Graduate Studies: Personnel and Curriculum
4. Southern Utah University Policy 6.62 Graduate Studies: Grading and Graduation Requirements

III. DEFINITIONS

N/A

IV. POLICY

1. Capstone Supervisory Committee
   1. Not all master’s programs require a capstone experience, which may be a thesis, project, or internship at the capstone/culminating level.
   2. For programs that require a capstone project and/or capstone committee, students are urged to form their capstone committees as early as possible. SUU will confer the master's degree when the following conditions have been met:
      
      1. submission of the required graduation application for degree;
      2. completion of all degree course requirements;
      3. satisfactory completion of a capstone experience (for applicable programs); and
      4. certification of capstone completion by the capstone committee (for applicable programs).

1. 3. The appointing of the committee members, and changes thereto, is by mutual agreement between the student and the Program Director, or Department Chair where there is not a Program Director. The committee members are selected so that relevant emphasis is given to all areas of the capstone topic.
   4. The supervisory committee has a minimum of two (2) and normally no more than five (5) members. With the approval of the Program Director (or Department Chair where there is no Program Director) and Dean, members of the supervisory committee may be outside the program (outside the department, College/School, or University), when they have specialized knowledge in the capstone topic. Otherwise, all members of the supervisory committee must be members of the graduate faculty in the program in which the student is seeking a graduate degree. The chairperson must have specialized academic competence in the student’s capstone topic, as determined by the Program Director or Department Chair.
   5. All master’s theses are submitted in digital format and stored at the SUU Library. A program/department may have additional requirements for storing papers arising from a capstone experience.
   6. All copyrights to papers prepared in the capstone experience belong to the student-author.
   7. The student-author may choose to send the thesis (or other written document arising from the capstone experience) to a body of knowledge database and pay all costs of doing so.

V. RELEVANT FORMS/LINKS

• Thesis Permission Form

VI. QUESTIONS/RESPONSIBLE OFFICE

The responsible office for this Policy is the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs. For questions about this Policy, contact the Chair of the Graduate Council.

VII. POLICY ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT DATES

Date Approved: January 30, 2015

Amended: N/A