2019-2020 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
Social Innovation - Program Description
Housed in the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Department within the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Website: www.gvsu.edu/pmasi
Accreditation
Accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission
Admission Requirements for the Professional Master of Arts in Social Innovation (PMASI)
- A minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework
- A minimum combined GRE score for verbal and quantitative reasoning of 300
- Personal statement of career goals and background experiences, including an explanation of how this program will help achieve educational and professional objectives.
- Written recommendations from at least two individuals who are in positions to attest to the applicant's successful completion of the program.
- An official transcript from each undergraduate and graduate institution
- Submission of an official TOEFL or IELTS score report of 80 or better is required of applicants whose native language is not English
Applications will not be reviewed until they are complete. The admissions committee may request additional information or a personal interview if it deems them appropriate and necessary. The admissions committee is looking for the evidence that an applicant will be successful if admitted into the program. This evidence can take several forms. Furthermore, the admissions committee considers each applicant as a whole student. No decision is based solely on any single factor.
Retention and Termination Standards
A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher must be earned in the entire program in order to graduate. Students are not permitted to elect to take a class as credit/no credit if it is a graded course. Students may be terminated for serious violations of university rules or standards of conduct, as enumerated in the Graduate Catalog, the GVSU Student Code, or other official university publications.
The 36-credit PMASI at Grand Valley State University is designed to prepare graduate students to be change agents who will foster and lead innovation throughout their organizations, businesses and communities both in terms of specific projects and in structural ways that impact daily operations. The primary goal of the PMASI program is to provide graduate students from a variety of undergraduate disciplines with key social innovation skills to engage in interdisciplinary innovation across sectors, including skills in sustainability, environmental and social justice, human-centered design, interdisciplinary research methods and critical assessment of social innovation practices. Students will enter the program with a variety of content expertise from their various undergraduate degrees. Through a focused core of interdisciplinary PMASI courses, students will develop their social innovation skill set and will hone this expertise through internship, project, and application credits. In this way students will transform their existing knowledge into professional expertise through the acquisition and practice of key skills in social innovation.
Minimum number of credit hours in program: 36
The following program is available:
Master of Arts in Social Innovation