Education-Leadership, Foundations, and Policy

This course examines college student development as a complex phenomenon shaped by individual identities, institutional contexts, and systems of power. Using psychosocial, cognitive-structural, and social identity theories, students explore how college environments influence learning, growth, and meaning-making, with emphasis on applying theory to practice and promoting equity and social change in higher education.

This course prepares student affairs professionals to advise and support today's college students through practical skills and strategies. Emphasizing helping skills, advising approaches, and career development theory, it highlights how professionals can build inclusive relationships, respond to diverse student needs, and foster growth across academic, career, and personal domains.

This course examines the broad legal framework of higher education, including constitutional and contractual rights to due process, equal protection, and free speech; legal and policy issues regarding tenure, promotion, intellectual property, and the constitutive role of the state in higher education; and tort liability and the impact of federal statutes such as the ADA, Title IX, and FERPA on the administration of colleges and universities.

We will explore research literature to better understand the learning process, factors that influence learning, and practices that promote learning. You will take a 'deep dive' into a literature area of interest. Through engaging in evidence-based discussions, evaluating and synthesizing the literature, and developing written/oral arguments, you will gain skills and knowledge that will help you become a successful scholar in your field.

The commitment to effective professional learning increases educator effectiveness, providing a vehicle through which leaders can navigate change and seek improvement in their schools. Leaders who foster an environment of adult learning and build capacity to lead learning enhances the quality of instruction and student outcomes. Providing the tools and resources, leaders can create accessible means to develop new knowledge, skills, and practices.

Overview of the contributions of psychology to the teaching-learning process. Topics include learning theory, individual differences, motivation, human development and personality, teaching methodology, and measurement and evaluation.

An introductory graduate course in which prominent theories of child and adolescent development are introduced, supporting research considered, and applications for teaching, counseling, and parenting explored. Major topics include: child development as a field of study, research strategies and ethics in the study of children, the human genome, biologically influenced development, constructing knowledge, cognitive development, socio-cultural influences, development of moral autonomy, and the life cycle.

Intermediate-level course designed to explore classical and contemporary concepts of adolescence. Attention will be paid to all aspects of development physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. Emphasis will be placed on the interrelationships among these domains and the treatment of adolescent problems.

This seminar for students in the Educational Psychology-Applied Developmental Science MEd program explores issues in the field of educational psychology and promotes students' development as scholars and professionals. Students will develop and strengthen valuable skills to support their academic and career goals.

An orientation to designs and procedures utilized in educational research, emphasizing basic principles for conducting, interpreting, and criticizing published articles representative of educational problems and issues.

Detailed examination of the design and interpretation of single-subject research. Foci for the course include rationale for single-subject research; methods for planning, implementing, and evaluating studies; and issues in the use of these methods.

An overview of current program evaluation approaches, this class is designed to provide an overview of the theories behind and approaches to evaluation as well as to begin to train students in evaluation design and methods. Theoretical, methodological, and empirical readings emphasize the terminology of educational evaluation and the variety of theoretical and design approaches to evaluation. Consideration is also given to the application of evaluation approaches and designs to non-educational settings.

This course provides students with practical experience in survey research. Topics focus on survey design, administration, analysis, and reporting. Specific topics include item writing guidelines, cognitive interviews and pilot testing, survey implementation and planning, sampling methods, data analysis, and presentation of survey results. Particular attention is given to strategies for ensuring reliable survey responses and valid inferences.

This class serves as an introduction to the central concepts of qualitative methods in research and evaluation. Primary emphasis is on the development of skills required to conduct qualitative research, with a focus on research design, specific methods of inquiry, and approaches to analysis. The philosophy and epistemology of qualitative approaches are also discussed. Empirical readings provide examples of qualitative research within education and related fields.

This course provides an introduction to mixed methods in social science/educational research. We will consider the types of questions that mixed methods can answer and discuss the benefits/challenges of mixed methods research. We will cover research design, sampling, and analysis, including reading exemplars of mixed methods research. Students will apply the theoretical/methodological tenets learned by designing their own mixed methods study.

This course provides a theoretical and applied understanding of the general linear model in the context of continuous outcomes. Focus is on multiple regression with continuous predictors, dichotomous and multi-category predictors (i.e., ANOVA in a regression framework), and models that include combinations of these predictor types. Emphasis will also be placed on moderation and mediation, and model assumptions.

What is "social" about education? How are schools connected to larger issues in society? Using the lenses of history, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology we explore education as a social institution. Our goal is to develop a deeper insight into the processes, practices and values that shape education as we explore themes such as social inequality, social justice, and cultural diversity, and the changing nature of schooling in a global world.

The development of education in the United States since colonial times, emphasizing the social-historical forces and ideological concepts that determined the direction and nature of education in the United States to the present.

Inquiry into the applicability to present problems of selected philosophical themes and approaches. Issues include conceptions of pupils, theories of learning and teaching, educational equity and justice, indoctrination, and the adequacy of educational research itself.

Studies the sociological theory and research that applies to a systematic analysis of education as its functions in modern society. Selected social and educational problems are discussed to interpret the sociological nature of the educational process and the role of the school as a complex social organization. Research of educational outcomes and consequences is considered. The effects of school on social stratification are also considered.

In this course we consider how an anthropological perspective can help us understand the goals and purposes of education, how cultural differences matter for ideas and practices of teaching and learning both in and outside of schools, and how cultural difference intersects with the production of social and educational inequality in the US and globally.

Why does school look so similar across the world in spite of vast differences in resources, culture, and history? What countervailing notions of education might be displaced through the spread of formal Western education? This class explores the effort to expand access to formal schooling globally and probes the meanings, problems, and opportunities provided by modern education systems.

This course is designed to introduce the quantitative and qualitative social science research process to students, as well as to help familiarize students with some of the more popular forms of assessment within the fields of higher education, student affairs, and athletic administration.

What does it mean to educate in and for a multicultural society? This course offers a global comparative view of education in multicultural societies around the world. We will explore how different societies' experiences with multiculturalism have lead to a variety of challenges for educational systems globally. What are these challenges and what are some potentially promising approaches?

This seminar explores the relationship between higher education and society from a sociology of higher education/ sociological perspective.