Advising
The Student-Advisor Relationship
When admitted to the program, each student is assigned a full-time faculty member as an advisor. Advisors are faculty at MSU that are tenure track, three-year fixed-term, or clinical fixed-term assistant professors. The program makes all attempts to pair students with an advisor who matches his or her area of interest.
Throughout the course of the program, the student and advisor will work closely to ensure academic and programmatic success. In addition to support with identifying appropriate coursework and ensuring that each student will be eligible to take the BACB examination following graduation, each student’s advisor will also chair his or her master’s thesis committee. During the thesis process, students work closely with their advisor to develop a thesis that matches his or her area of interest. Advisors also provide continued guidance and support during the implementation of the thesis and assist the student with finishing it in a timely manner.
The student-advisor relationship follows a junior-colleague model. In it, each student and his or her advisor shares equal responsibility in planning for academic success and ensuring that the student makes timely progress in meeting the degree requirements of the department, college, and university. Also, the student and advisor will work collaboratively in ensuring the student’s professional goals are met and that the student attains substantive experience in his or her area of interest.