Students must actively meet with faculty during their first year to start the process of securing a thesis committee chair. Students are responsible for securing a research committee chair within 12 months of enrolling in the program.
Once a thesis committee chair is secured, students will work with their chair to organize a thesis committee that will be comprised of at least three hospitality faculty members and a fourth faculty member outside of the college and who has Graduate Faculty status at the Graduate College. The fourth committee member is known as the “Graduate College Representative”. One additional committee member may be added at the discretion of the student or college. Visit the Graduate Advisory Committee Guidelines to learn more.
Students will register for their first 3-credit hour HOA 789 course in their third semester and their second 3-credit hour HOA 789 course in their final semester. After the thesis advisory committee is formed, students will complete the form below to register for 3-credit hours of HOA 789.
At the end of the third semesters, students must organize a time for their committee to meet for an oral Thesis Proposal Defense exam. During this exam, students explain to their committee their thesis research plan and allows the committee to evaluate if problem and plan is viable. Upon successful completion of this exam, students will complete the form below to register for their final 3-credit hours of HOA 789.
Important Reminders When Completing a Thesis
- Thesis Guidelines are available at https://www.unlv.edu/graduatecollege/thesis. Contact your thesis chair committee for additional guidelines.
- Students will work closely with their thesis committee chair on their research and writing fo their thesis.
- All research project protocols must be reviewed by the UNLV Institutional Review Board (IRB) (https://www.unlv.edu/research/ORI-HSR). Upon completion of IRB review of a student’s research project protocol, the Office for the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) will issue an Approval Letter, Approved as Exempt Research Letter or a Notice of Exclusion. One of these letters must be presented to the thesis chair before starting the thesis research project AND must appear in the appendix of the thesis.
Final Oral Exam
Students will complete a Final Oral exam for their thesis committee when the draft of the thesis is ready. Students must send the following information to the Hospitality Office of Graduate Programs 2-weeks prior to the exam date. Information needs to be emailed to Valerie Calbert at valerie.calbert@unlv.edu.
- Title of Thesis
- Exam date, time, and location.
- Name and email address of thesis committee
Once this office receives the following information, they will publicize the exam to the faculty, staff, and students in the Harrah College of Hospitality as the presentation part of the exam is open to the public.
Students must also email the Graduate College at gradrebel@unlv.edu with the following information about their Final Exam and copy their Thesis Chair and Diane Wrightman (diane.wrightman@unlv.edu).
- First and Last Name
- Type of Degree (Master’s in Hotel Administration)
- Thesis Title
- Name of Thesis Chair and committee members
- Thesis Exam Location
- Thesis Exam Date and Time
Thesis Deposit
- Students must work with their thesis committee chair to ensure any changes required from the Oral exam are incorporated into the final copy of the thesis that is deposited with the Graduate College.
- Students will work their thesis committee chair to ensure a format check is completed on their thesis. The Graduate College requires students to APA Format. Visit https://www.unlv.edu/graduatecollege/thesis, number 10 for guidance.
- Students must deposit their final thesis with the Graduate College by the deadline for the semester in which the plan to graduate.
