Non-Thesis Option
to the Masters Degree in Dairy Science

Rationale

Recent years have witnessed a substantially increased demand for advanced technical training in Dairy Science, training which is not heavily focused in research methodology.  This demand has come primarily from current students and relatively recent graduates with potential or existing careers in cooperative extension, in education, in various industries that serve production agriculture (mostly nutrition and genetics), and even among dairy producers themselves.  During the most recent two years, in fact, we have turned away seven students with interest in a master’s degree program in Dairy Science that could be completed within a 12-18 month period of study, and without the need to conduct research and prepare a thesis.

A departmental committee charged with evaluating the need for, and desirability of establishing a non-thesis option within the MS degree program in Dairy Science strongly recommended doing so.  Justifications for their recommended course of action included:      

• Attracting additional students to the graduate program in Dairy Science
• Filling a clear need expressed by students and employers
• Little if any loss of students from the traditional thesis option
• Little if any additional resources needed to support the non-thesis option

Plan

A non-thesis option has been established within the MS degree program in Dairy Science.  Each candidate for this non-thesis option MS degree will be assigned a principal advisor and advisory committee to assist in designing an academic program consistent with the student’s career goals and to support selection and completion of an appropriate project and project report. 

Students in the non-thesis option MS degree program in Dairy Science will be required to complete an additional 30 credit hours of course work beyond requirements for the BS degree, to include a minimum of 21 hours of 5000-level courses and a maximum of nine credit hours of 4000-level courses (not required for the BS degree in Dairy Science), as required by the Graduate School.  All students will complete an appropriate project, and will prepare and defend a project report, on a topic selected jointly by the student and the student's advisory committee.  All students will complete a comprehensive final oral and/or written examination (as determined by the advisory committee) covering the student’s course work and project subject matter.

Course work will be selected by each student in consultation with his/her principal advisor and approved by the student’s advisory committee.  Required courses beyond DASC 5004 Graduate Seminar are not specified with the expectation that course selections will be made to best meet career and personal goals of the individual student.  A sample of courses is listed below.  It is anticipated that an increasing proportion of the non-thesis academic program will be made available on-line and may originate in part from institutions other than Virginia Tech.