Madison Plan of Study

Degree Information

• Fellow's name - Please enter your complete, legal name.
• University at which you have matriculated - Enter "Ashland University".
• School of university in which you are enrolled - Enter "College of Arts and Sciences".
• Exact name of degree - Enter "Master of Arts (MA)".
• Subject of degree
  • Students enrolled in the MAHG program should enter "American History and Government (MAHG)"
  • Students enrolled in the MASTAHG program should enter "Teaching American History and Government (MASTAHG)".
• Minimum number of credit hours/courses required for your degree
  • MAHG students should enter 30.
  • MASTAHG students should enter 33.
• Ashland University operates on a semester calendar.

Foundation-Approved U.S. Constitutional Coursework

• Check the "6 Semester Credits" radio button.
• The program director will complete and sign as the university official after you and the program staff have completed your POS.

U.S. Constitution-related coursework table

This section must add up to 12 semester credit hours. Estimate the term in which you will take each course.

Enter the year you expect to attend the Foundations of American Constitutionalism summer institute in Washington, DC. For most fellows, this will be the year AFTER their award year. Thus, if you received your fellowship this year, you will attend the summer institute NEXT year.

For the remaining lines, enter a total of 6 additional hours of constitution-related coursework you expect to take at Ashland. The foundation's academic staff has the sole power to determine if a course is acceptable as constitutional study. Below are some MAHG courses that are consistent with the foundation's expections.

• HIST 502 or POLSC 502 - American Founding
• HIST 632 or POLSC 632 - The American Presidency I, Washington to Lincoln
• HIST 633 or POLSC 633 - The American Presidency II, Johnson to the present
• HIST 644 or POLSC 644 - The Congress
• HIST 641 or POLSC 641 - The Supreme Court
• HIST 643 or POLSC 643 - Constitutional Rights and Powers*
• HIST 510 or POLSC 510 - Great American Texts*

Courses marked with an asterisk (*) are repeatable varying topics courses. Sections of HIST 643 and POLSC 643 will always study some aspect of the Constitution; certain (but not all) sections of HIST 510 or POLSC 510 will study some aspect of the Constitution. For example, a section of HIST/POLSC 510 on The Federalist Papers may fulfill the requirement, while sections of 510 with more literary or historical texts or authors may not.

If you list 643 or 510 on your POS, you must list the exact topic you propose to take, not the generic name. Here are some commonly-offered topics that are good choices for the constitutional study requirement.

• 643 - The First Amendment
• 643 - The Fourth Amendment
• 643 - The Fourteenth Amendment
• 643 - Executive Power and the Constitution
• 643 - National Security and the Constitution
• 643 - Religious Liberty and the Constitution
• 643 - Federalism
• 643 - Separation of Powers
• 510 - The Federalist

Tally up the number of credit hours and enter the subtotal where indicated.

Other Coursework

This is a plan and you should not consider this set in stone. It can be amended later, but you should make your best effort to project which courses you will take and roughly when you expect to take them. If you do make changes to your intended coursework or summative option, be certain to notify the Madison office as soon as possible. Changes to the courses listed on your plan may be made by following the procedure outlined in your fellow's handbook. Changes to your chosen completion track (e.g. switching from the Qualifying Exam to a Thesis, etc.) may require submission of a new POS.

Failing to notify them of changes to your Plan of Study may result in reimbursement delays.

Subsection A: Thesis, Capstone, Seminar

MAHG students on the thesis track should enter HIST 691 or POLSC 691 - Thesis. This course is worth 4 semester credit hours.

MAHG students on the capstone project track should enter HIST 692 or POLSC 692 - Capstone Project. This course is worth 4 semester credit hours.

MASTAHG students should leave this section blank as the thesis and capstone tracks are exclusive to MAHG. MASTAHG's sole completion track is the Qualifying Exam.

A Constitution-related working title/topic MUST be entered here. The fellowship requires theses or capstone projects have a topic related to the Constitution and your proposed topic MUST be submitted on your initial POS. While they may be open to changes to the exact topic later as you progress through your studies, the topic MUST remain related to the Constitution and changes MUST be approved before you proceed with your thesis or project. The foundation reserves the right to refuse to pay tuition for the thesis or capstone course if your topic does not comply with foundation policies.

Enter the term in which you expect to finish your thesis or capstone project. MAHG students register for the thesis or capstone course (and pay tuition for it) in the semester in which their thesis or project will be completed.

Please note that the foundation STRONGLY encourages fellows to choose the qualifying exam track. New fellows are strongly urged to contact the Madison program office to discuss their desire to write a thesis or capstone project before drafting their POS.

The Qualifying Examination is NOT listed in this section. See Subsection B for instructions.

Subsection B: Additional Coursework

Include here all other courses you will take for your degree. MAHG and MASTAHG students should be sure to include here any core course NOT listed above for constitutional study purposes, plus as many HIST or POLSC electives are needed to complete the degree. MASTAHG students should also list their education core courses here.

IMPORTANT: The full 12 hour American History and Government core is required of all students. Be sure your POS includes HIST 501 or POLSC 501, HIST 502 or POLSC 502, HIST 503 or POLSC 503, HIST 505 or POLSC 505, HIST 506 or POLSC 506 and HIST 507 or POLSC 507.

Fellows who plan to finish via the Qualifying Exam track should enter HIST 693 or POLSC 693 Qualifying Examination in this section. Enter 0 for the Number of Credits.

Tally up the number of credit hours and enter the subtotal where indicated.

Subsection C: Courses taken prior to fellowship

If you were awarded your fellowship after you began work on your degree at Ashland OR you have completed coursework elsewhere you wish to transfer to Ashland, enter those courses here.

For courses previously completed at Ashland, enter the exact prefix, number, course title, credit hour value and semester in which the course was taken.

MAHG and MASTAHG students are limited to 6 hours of transfer credit, which will be consumed by the summer institute hours. Please be sure to consult and receive approval from your advisor prior to listing transfer credits here. DO NOT include transfer credits anticipated from Madison summer institute.

Tally up the number of credit hours and enter the subtotal where indicated.

Choosing the expected term for each course

Fellows are expected to keep their POS in sync with the Payment Request Form (PRF) they will submit each semester AND with the transcripts they will submit annually showing your progress toward your degree. You are expected to take the courses listed on your POS unless you inform the Madison office of your desire to change a course they have previously approved in advance of the start of the course and prior to your request for payment. You are also expected to take the courses listed on your POS in the term you listed on your POS unless you notify the Madison office of the change in advance of the start the course.

Follow the procedure in your handbook to make amendments to your POS.

For your POS, consider the following when choosing terms:

• Pacing - Choose a steady but not overwhelming pace for your studies. 6 hours is a reasonable summer semester load; 4 hours is a reasonable load for fall and spring semesters for MAHG students (5 hours is a reasonable load for MASTAHG students taking a 3 hour education course).
• Core Courses - Core courses (501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 507) are offered every semester, usually at least twice. You are NOT required to take courses in chronological sequence and there are no absolutely required prerequisite courses, but it is suggested that 501, 502 and 503 be taken relatively early in your studies. These three courses cover the founding era and the early republic. Most other coruses will call back to the lessons learned in these courses. 505 and 506 are best taken later in your studies.
• Electives - Elective schedules vary. Some are seldom offered, so avoid putting 601 and 602 on your POS. The branches of government courses and other courses that lean to the political science side are each offered about every other semester (632, 633, 641, 642, 643 and 644). Most other electives appear about once per year.
• MAHG students must also take at least six courses (12 hours) on-campus during summer semesters. Most fellows will split this as two summers of three weeks each OR as three summers of two weeks each. A few will come to campus for one week after the summer institute, though most are content to go home after DC. Be sure your POS includes at least six courses labeled Summer 20xx. MASTAHG students are encouraged to come to campus for one or more weeks as their schedule permits, but are not required to do so.

Feel free to reach out to us for advice about which courses are likely to appear in which upcoming term.

Again, remember that this is a plan. We'll work together to come up with the best plan possible, but you should expect to amend your plan at some point. For example, a novel elective that catches your interest may appear on a future schedule. You are still welcome to take that, but you will need to amend your POS by notifying Madison that you will no longer take <insert elective from your POS> and will instead take this new elective course.

Wrapping up

Tally the total number of credit hours listed and enter the Total Hours where indicated. The total should equal 30 hours for MAHG students and 33 hours for MASTAHG students.

You are strongly encouraged to use the fillable PDF version of the POS form (link provided above). Complete a first draft and email it to Chris Pascarella at the MAHG office. There's no need to sign it just yet! Leave it editable. He will work with you to finalize your draft. If revisions are needed, the POS will be returned to you with comments and suggestions. Once all looks good, he will set it up to be digitally signed by you and your faculty advisor. Once signed, he will return the final, signed document to you for submission to the Madison office.