Education-Leadership, Foundations, and Policy

This course will focus on key issues in adult psychological and physical development. We will explore development from a biopsychosocial perspective, examining topics such as health, cognitive function, personality, interpersonal relationships, and work. This will be a theory-to-practice class, with an emphasis on current theories of optimal or successful aging. In particular, we will focus on how adults respond and adapt to changes in their health, their environment, and their sense of self. Contexts for development will include education, health care, the family, and the community, with attention to individual differences (gender, race, ethnicity).

Students analyze the principles of excellent academic writing including research papers, conference proposals, & Capstones focusing on the development of a clear, interesting, & rigorous research paper. Students also receive detailed feedback on their writing. During editing & redrafting activities, attention is given to the structure & logic of the author's argument, the use of details & visuals, the placement of transitions, word choice, & flow.

This course introduces strategies for effectively working with large-scale quantitative data for social science research. Topics covered include: data cleaning, recoding and checking; merging data from multiple sources; reshaping data; documenting processes; writing programs and macros to reduce errors; and presenting descriptive data through tables and graphs. Students will utilize Stata, a statistical software package.

The course covers descriptive and inferential statistics. Students learn to identify the type of data, select appropriate statistic and graphical methods, analyze data, and interpret the results. Specific methods include the t-test, chi-square test, correlation, simple linear regression, one-way ANOVA, and repeated measures ANOVA. Calculations are done by hand and with statistical software.

This course is designed to provide students with a broad overview of strategic management within the corporate, academic and intercollegiate contexts. Basic concepts and learnings in the area of strategy will be explored paying particular attention to higher education and athletics strategy and will cover fundamental strategy formulation i.e. planning, competitive analysis, market positioning; and the application of learnings to implementation.

Examination of the governance structure of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its conferences. Focus is on the historical evolution of NCAA governance; understand the legal, financial, educational, and diversity issues which underlie decisions in intercollegiate athletics. Students will examine compliance and enforcement issues in that stem from rules and regulations emanating outside of the college/university setting

How has the life of former Heisman trophy winner Ricky Williams been affected by social anxiety? What kind of resilience did Katie Hnida need to become the first female kicker in college football? In this graduate level course, we will learn and practice effective counseling skills for use with student athletes in individual and group settings.

This course will focus on understanding motivation theory and research, and then applying these understandings to our lives in two main ways. First, we'll develop a deeper awareness of our own motivations, including personal strengths, obstacles, and opportunities for growth. Second, we'll apply our insights to help build more motivationally-supportive environments (e.g., school, sport, work, family, community).

This course is designed to examine race and ethnicity as social constructs and to explore how they matter in the lives of youth through a critical examination of youth development research, policy and practices. We will identify dominant group narratives and analyze how research and policy contribute to these narratives, and how individual, interpersonal, and structural factors mediate the associations between group membership and youth outcomes

Cultural contexts are powerful influences on child development and learning and have long been recognized as shaping the very notion of what a child is across time and place. This course considers contemporary sociological and anthropological efforts to rethink notions of child development, learning, parenting, risk, etc. to recognize both the impact of cultural differences and to recognize the cultural agency of children. Globalization has become a major influence on children and childhood as well and the course will also examine this phenomenon in the light of issues concerning culture and children's welfare. The course is designed to stimulate students' critical thinking about culture and its role in raising and educating children.

This course seeks to uncover and address questions of educational inequality through a historical perspective. In the course, students will consider questions such as: What have been the forms of inequality and the processes that support it throughout US history? How has societal inequality historically shaped American education? How have schools served to disrupt and perpetuate societal inequalities in the US?

This course introduces students to the range of topics, theoretical frameworks, and research strategies appropriate to the study of higher education.

This course introduces college and university management functions, organizational arrangement, administrative style and behavior, functional areas of administrative operations, decision-making, and long-range planning.

This course examines trends and changes in the characteristics of college students and institutions they attend, as well as the larger social context in which they operate. It will explore emerging theories and methodologies that address student experience and research related to how college affects students.

Students apply academic experiences in professional and/or research settings; reflect and critically and constructively analyze experiences from multiple perspectives; and view the work as connecting course content authentic contexts. Students work as professionals with site supervisors and instructors to complete related assignments and relevant background research on the professional and academic resources available.

Prerequisite: Instructor permission.

This course examines contemporary policies and practices in the financing of American higher education. The interpretation and uses of financial data, sources and methods of securing funds, budget processes, and policies and issues regarding the financing of higher education are some of the topics covered.

Explores equity, access, and identity in U.S. higher education through critical analysis of systems, practices, and lived experiences. Emphasizes theory-to practice connections and prepares students to advance inclusion and justice through informed dialogue, reflection, and action.

Prepares students for applied work in student affairs through exploration of campus programs, organizational models, and professional practice. Focuses on real-world issues, student development strategies, and the evolving role of student affairs in fostering inclusion, engagement, and student success. Connects theory to practice through case studies and critical reflection.

This course is designed for graduate students interested in enhancing their understanding of intercollegiate athletics administration. We will explore principles, techniques, regulation, and process related to the management of college athletics. It is important in today's dynamic environment of collegiate athletics that student's value effective leadership and management principles.

This course applies political and social theories to the study of education policy, with a focus on higher education. Students will examine concepts such as public and private goods, the role of the State, pluralism, interest groups, and social movements, and learn to apply political theory and policy frameworks to analyze and research key issues in education.

An introductory course in which principles of assessing educational policies are applied to the evidence currently available across a range of policies. Areas of education policy may include early childhood education, charter schools, accountability, teacher recruitment, retention and assessment, and bridging from K-12 to high education. Discussions focus on linking policies to outcomes for students.

This course will examine the foundations of educational policy from critical theoretical perspectives rooted in the social sciences and humanities in a graduate level seminar intended for both disciplinary students and students pursuing specialized work in educational studies. The goal of the course is to examine from a variety of critical perspectives, the core issues that underlie contemporary debates over public and educational policy.

Prepares students for the transition from graduate study to professional practice. Emphasizes career planning, job search strategies, and development of a personal e-portfolio. Students reflect on their learning, articulate core competencies, and build tools for lifelong growth as practitioner-scholars in higher education.

This course is the culminating experience for the M.Ed. in Higher Education and prepares students for leadership roles in their professions by providing a high quality cumulative experience that integrates prior theory and content into practice.