MA in Individualized Studies

Welcome from Interim Program Director Ruth Farmer

The low residency MA in Individualized Studies is a 48 credit interdisciplinary liberal studies program integrating personal vision with radical thinking and engaged practice.  Low residency MA students design a curriculum uniquely suited to furthering their own personal and professional goals.

 

The low residency MA in Individualized Studies faculty believe learning should be rigorous, creative, liberating and responsible within the larger community. As a result, Individualized MA degrees are unusual in merging theory, practice, and an evolving self-knowledge.  Individually designed areas of study may combine or go beyond existing disciplines.

 

The low residency MA in Individualized Studies format allows students to make use of resources in their home communities and to draw on their own backgrounds of experience, while also seeking out learning opportunities new to them. Exceptionally experienced and supportive faculty advisors guide both the development of student degree plans and the course of each semester.

 

Work of the Program

The low residency Masters in Individualized Studies is a four-semester, 48 credit degree. Students begin each semester with an eight-day intensive residency, during which they plan the work which will be carried out independently throughout the semester. During the semester, students exchange five written packets with their faculty advisor. Packet materials can include reflective or critical essays, annotations of key readings, creative work, fieldwork or internship notes, and other relevant material. Faculty advisors respond to the student’s work with detailed letters that provide encouragement, guidance, and constructive feedback.

 

Studies may include fieldwork, workshops, internships, teaching, conferences, qualitative research, action research, exhibits, and more. They generally follow three overlapping phases: Mastery of one's field and personal development, learning by doing,and creating the final product.  The final product may be a thesis, or it may be a creative project (such as a curriculum, a memoir, a website, or a film) accompanied by a process paper that  contextualizes it personally and academically.

 

Core values of the program are self-knowledge, open-mindedness, awareness of the world, rigorous methodology and creative process, cultivation of liberation, and responsibility to the local and global community. students learn how to communicate their learning to others, apply their learning actively to real world situations and integrate experiential with theoretical learning.

 

The Faculty

Faculty of the low residency Masters in Individualized Studies bring rich backgrounds, experience, and scholarship to the program. Their knowledge areas include: Cultural Studies, Psychology, Language and Translation Studies, Religion Studies, Philosophy, Film Studies, History, Comparative Literature, Poetry and Creative Writing, Music Theory and Composition, Mathematics, Environmental Education, Photography, Sociology, and Political Science.

 

Faculty advisors facilitate and encourage students in their exploration of their individual learning needs and goals, in finding their individual focus, and in using their graduate studies in ways that are personally meaningful and socially responsive. In the advising relationship, students experience a unique mentorship - challenging, supportive, and transformative.

 

The Residency

Each semester in the low residency Masters in Individualized Studies Program begins with an eight-day residency on the Goddard campus in Central Vermont. During the residency, students work one-on-one and in small advising groups with their faculty advisor to develop learning goals and plan the work of the semester in an atmosphere that is strongly supportive and encouraging of dynamic, innovative thinking.

 

Students also attend seminars, workshops, mini-courses, graduating student presentations, and group discussions, providing opportunities for concentrated learning and a solid basis for independent study during the semester.