Professional Studies master of science degree

For example, students interested in integrating sustainability into their career as a facilities manager might combine courses from the sustainability and facility management programs. Educators may be interested in combining courses from the school psychology and secondary education of students who are deaf or hard of hearing programs to improve their knowledge of special learning populations and the social issues students face in today's educational environments. There are a wide range of concentrations that can be created based on each student's professional career aspirations.

The degree also includes a capstone project. This applied, hands-on project is directly related to the student’s individualized plan of study.

The professional studies degree can be completed on campus or online.

Concentration areas

Students create two or three concentrations with courses selected from a wide range of graduate programs at RIT. Some common concentration areas include:

Applied and Computational Mathematics
Applied Statistics/Quality
Bioinformatics
Business (Marketing, Management, etc.)
Chemistry
Color Science
Communication and Media Technology
Computer Engineering
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
Electrical Engineering
Environmental, Health and Safety Management
Facilities Management
Health Systems Administration
Human Resource Development
Imaging Science
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Industrial Design
Information Sciences and Technologies
Microelectronics Manufacturing Engineering
Packaging Science
Product Development and Design
Project Management
Public Policy
School Psychology
Secondary Education of Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Service Management
Software Development
Software Engineering
Sustainability
Workplace Learning and Instruction
Visual Communication Design

Plan of study

The program requires the completion of 33 credit hours and can be completed through full- or part-time study. Students begin their studies with Contexts and Trends (PROF-705), the program’s foundation course. Throughout this course students explore their personal career objectives and research RIT’s portfolio of graduate programs to identify courses that best match their professional and personal goals.

Students create two or three concentrations that make up their required course work for the degree program. Each concentration is a selection of courses drawn from existing RIT graduate programs and can range from 9 to 15 credit hours. Graduate credits earned in other programs may be used in completing a concentration, upon approval.

Credit hours not required to fulfill a concentration area may be used as electives. All elective and transferred graduate courses need to be integrated into the proposed plan of study. With certain concentrations, the degree may be completed entirely through online learning.