Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools

MAGS Thesis Awards

The Executive Committee of the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools (MAGS) is soliciting nominations for the 2012 MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Awards. The awards are to recognize and reward distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.

The Guidelines for the 2012 MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Awards are:

Each member institution may submit one nomination for the award. Each nomination requires the written endorsement of the Dean of the Graduate School or equivalent official. The institution selection process is the responsibility of that individual.

To be considered, a thesis must contain original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. It must be in a format that conforms to accepted disciplinary standards, and it must have been accepted as final by the degree-granting institution. Theses submitted electronically will normally be in pdf format; hyperlinks to additional materials may be included but must be verified prior to submission. Any institution wishing to submit a thesis in another electronic format should consult with the chair of the MAGS Outstanding Thesis Committee prior to doing so.

Nominations will be accepted in any discipline in which the institution offers a master’s degree. Original works accepted by an institution “in lieu of thesis” (such as musical compositions, published books, works of art, computer software, etc.) may not be nominated.

A nominee must have been awarded the master’s degree within the calendar year from October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2011. Since the intent of the competition is to recognize scholarship by students who are pursuing their first graduate research degree, individuals who received a Ph.D. (or comparable research degree) in any discipline prior to the writing of the master’s thesis are not eligible. However, recipients of a first professional degree awarded prior to the writing of the thesis may be nominated.

The nomination process is to be as follows:

The nomination form, the abstract of the nominated thesis (submitted as a standalone document), and the thesis must be submitted electronically to griffinp@nku.edu by Monday, OCTOBER 31, 2011. Please use as the subject heading “MAGS Thesis.” The abstract, describing the research and its significance, must not exceed 300 words and contain the title of the thesis and the name of the author but not the name of the nominating institution.

Letters from the faculty mentor and (or) the Dean of the Graduate School or equivalent may accompany the nomination.

Those institutions unable to submit their nominated thesis and supporting documents electronically may send one photocopy of the thesis to the review committee by surface mail carrier. This document will NOT be returned to the institution. The deadline for receipt of the photocopied thesis will be as above MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2011.

Any institutions experiencing difficulty submitting the thesis by the deadline may burn a copy of the required documents to a CD and send it via surface mail to the review committee. The deadline for receipt of documents on CD will be Friday, November 4, 2011. Please notify the committee of this late submission by email to griffinp@nku.edu on or before October 31, 2011.

Materials needing to be submitted by surface mail should be send to:

Peg Griffin, Ph. D.
Director of Graduate Programs
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY 41099

Each recipient of a MAGS Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award will receive a $750 honorarium. In addition, up to $500 will be available to each recipient for travel expenses to attend the Annual Meeting, April 11-13, 2012 in Chicago, IL. It is expected that the winner's institution will cover any travel expenses which exceed the $500 provided by MAGS for the awardee to attend the meeting to receive the award. The faculty mentor or thesis advisor will also be invited to attend the presentation ceremony.

Questions may be directed to Dr. Griffin:
by email at griffinp@nku.edu
or by telephone at 859-572-6364