Business Administration - John F. Kennedy University

College of
Professional Studies
College of Professional Studies
oral examination. Students who are required to retake the oral
examination must re-register and pay the appropriate
non-refundable fee. A student who fails the oral examination must
meet with the review and Advisement Committee.
Master’s Thesis
A master’s thesis consists of a detailed, systematic, original
explora tion of a topic. The thesis revolves around one key research
question that formulates your approach to the topic. Thesis work
is recommended for students who intend to be published, to work
in or with academia as part of their career, or to consider even tual
doctoral work.
For the master’s thesis option, the required sequence of courses is
PSy 5054 research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative, PSy
5990 Master’s Thesis Proposal, and three quarters (two units each)
of PSy 5991 Master’s Thesis, namely PSy 5991A, PSy 5991B, and
PSy 5991C.
In terms of sequence, students must complete PSy 5054 research
Methods before enrolling in PSy 5990 and PSy 5990—including
the master’s thesis proposal, which students will develop in that
class—before enrolling in PSy 5991A and starting on the master’s
thesis itself. This means that students must finish the research
proposal during the first quarter.
Once students finish the proposal and enroll in PSy 5991A, they
must progress to PSy 5991B and PSy 5991C without missing any
quarters in between. This means being registered for a minimum
of three consecutive quarters. Upon completion of PSy 5991A and
PSy 5991B, students will receive an in-progress (IP) mark on their
transcript. After submission of the final bound thesis and oral
presentation of the thesis findings, the IPs will convert to credits.
However, units of the PSy 5991 classes are not applied toward the
total unit requirements for the degree.
Students who have not completed their thesis at the end of PSy
5991C will be required to take PSy 5992 Supplemental Thesis
Assistance for one unit each quarter until the thesis is com pleted.
These supplemental units do not count toward the degree’s unit
requirements. The thesis must be completed and approved before
the degree can be awarded.
The required number of quarters of field placement is six.
However, Pleasant Hill and Campbell students who elect the
complete a master’s thesis may also elect to do only five quarters of
fieldwork. With the BBS requirement of 150 face-to-face client
hours in order to graduate, it is highly recommended that you plan
to do six quarters of field placement in order to acquire the
necessary hours. Students enrolled in the Berkeley and Santa
Cruz/Central Coast Cohorts who desire to write a master’s thesis
may elect to do so after completing the academic coursework in the
cohort, thus extending their time in the MA Counseling program.
note that there will be no leave of absence granted throughout this
research process unless there are urgent extenuating circum stances
and you obtain permission from the instructor.
Professional development Workshops
As a part of the MA in Counseling Psychology program, students
attend a series of workshops designed to enhance their
develop ment as professionals as well as their post-master’s
internship and employment opportunities. In Phase I, students
enroll in PSy 9010 Issues with HIv and AIdS, which satisfies BBS
require ments for seven hours of coursework covering
characteristics and methods of assessment and treatment of people
living with HIv. Phase I students also take PSy 9001 diversity
Awareness Workshop, which is a prerequi site to PSy 5620
Multicultural Competence in Counseling and Community Practice,
and PSy 9000 Child Abuse Assessment, reporting, and Treatment,
which fulfills the AB 141 requirement for seven hours of training.
PSy 9004 Human Sexuality, which satisfies BBS requirements for
ten hours in this area, is also taken during Phase I. PSy 9007
School-Based Program Workshop is an orientation to the
school-based pro gram and is a prerequisite to school-based
placement.
Phase II students take PSy 9009 domestic violence Workshop,
which satisfies the BBS requirement for persons who begin
graduate studies on or after January 1, 2004, to complete 15 hours
of coursework in domestic violence.
Phase III students enroll in PSy 9008 Aging and Long-Term Care,
which satisfies BBS requirements for persons who begin graduate
studies on or after January 1, 2004, to complete a minimum of ten
hours of course work in aging and long-term care.
Personal Psychotherapy
Throughout their course of study, students are encouraged to take
responsibility for their personal development and knowledge of self
and to become sensitive to the impact that they have on those
around them. Consistent with this, there is a non-credit
requirement that students participate in at least 50 sessions of
personal (individual, couple, family, or group) psychotherapy.
Guidelines for the student psychotherapy experience are available
in the program office. Students are encouraged to begin their
personal psychotherapy when they begin PSy 5232, Clinical Skills
C, as they will be required to be in therapy when they begin
fieldwork. Students register for PSy 9075 Personal Psychotherapy
in the quarter during which they will be completing this
requirement. Students who receive therapy from a licensed
therapist may count those hours toward BBS hours of experience
requirements.
California MfT licensing requirements
The MA in Counseling Psychology program meets the educa tional
requirements for the California Marriage and Family Therapist
(MFT) license. Licensing statutes and regulations are subject to
future legislative or administrative revisions. Counsel ing
psychology students will be kept informed about MFT licensing
requirements and any changes that occur.
A description of the requirements of the law (Business and
Professional Code §§4980.37 and 4980.38) and how the program
meets these requirements is available from the Counseling
Psychology office.
individual Program of Study
Students may create their own individually designed MA in
Psychology. Students who choose this option need to be aware of the
fact this program does not fulfill the educational requirements of the
BBS for MFT licensure. This MA degree needs to follow the generic
rules as outlined in the Graduation requirements chapter of this
catalog. A program designed according to these rules must be clearly
different from any MA program already offered by the College of
86 College of Professional Studies JOHn F. KEnnEdy UnIvErSITy