Graduate Course Descriptions

This course examines the legal principles within which higher education functions, with emphasis on structure, personnel, programs, property, and finance. Public policy issues related to federal and state funding mandates and compliance will be explored as well as the role of higher education leaders in assisting legislators with making policy decisions.

This course focuses on current standards for curriculum design and assessment in accordance with the standards set by state and regional authorities. Students will become familiar with state and regional agency documents related to the design and development of new programs as well as the assessment of existing programs. Modification and adaptation of the curriculum for students with special needs will be examined.

By providing both a theoretical framework and practical applications, this course will engage students in the history, status, and challenges of institutional advancement. Areas covered will include alumni relations, institutional positioning, marketing, communications, and funds development. The relationship of these activities to academic priorities, strategic planning, government regulations, and policy initiatives will also be covered.

This course will examine current trends pertaining to recruitment and retention of students at all levels of higher education. The application of technology to enrollment management along with the impact of recent changes in financial aid regulations will be discussed.

Taking both theoretical and practice-based approaches, this course will examine the wide range of issues currently affecting student development and engagement. Topics include enrollment management, diversity issues, residence life, student activities, athletics, discipline, and campus security.

This course will focus on strategic planning for program and institutional research and assessment. Topics will include the development of clear outcomes expectations, selection of reliable instrumentation, data collection plans, and feedback loops. The role of accreditation agencies will be examined.

This course provides a critical analysis of the characteristics, scope, public policy issues, and impact of two-year colleges in America.

This course provides an overview of topics, practices, and policies of current importance in higher education. A group of topical areas will be explored such as theories of human development, policy analysis, institutional evaluation, curriculum design/delivery/assessment or new trends. Topics will be explored from the perspective of students’ concentrations (administration & instruction, community colleges, or nursing education).

In this course, students explore a higher education system in a selected country and compare it to the system in the United States. The course involves a faculty-led study trip to the country of the system being studied and visits to universities of various types within that country. The two systems will be compared through an examination of the ways in which these two systems differ in light of current issues such as the globalization of higher education, funding, access and assessment. During the trip students will learn about historical and contemporary national culture as they explore various aspects of the area they are visiting.

A one-semester independent project, which meets the approval of the program chair and is conducted under faculty supervision, frames this course. Student may merit one, two, or three credits according to the complexity of the project. Examples of study include executive leadership, global models of accreditation, advanced quantitative or qualitative research methods, community and governmental relations, student persistence and completion, etc.