Course Catalog

Provides a solid understanding of institutional research (IR) structures and roles within US higher education and also the broad set of ways IR work is practiced across institutions and outside of IR offices. Also covers what IR professionals do and how their work connects to all aspects of higher education.

Prerequisites: none
 
This course introduces individuals to the research, theoretical, and practical issues surrounding access to college and equity in higher education institutions. It specifically addresses access and equity issues related to racial/ethnic minority groups and socioeconomic status. Major themes include: college choice, affirmative action, community colleges, financial aid, and access to the professoriate.

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing

Examines colleges, universities, and other formal postsecondary educational institutions, as complex social organizations, through application of basic concepts of organization theory. Discussion focuses on individual, group, organizational, and interorganizational-level variables and approaches to analyzing colleges and universities as complex social organizations.

This course examines the financial landscape of higher education from federal, state, local, and institutional perspectives, with a focus on the implicit and explicit implications for selected fiscal mechanisms. Through seminar-based discussions and hands-on activities, students will explore the tensions and tradeoffs in finance policy, including how such decisions perpetuate and/or attenuate inequities across institutional sectors and student groups. Principles discussed may apply across the P-20 spectrum, though course materials will focus primarily on postsecondary education.

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing
 
Focuses on legislative and executive policy formulation processes at the state, regional, and national levels. Considers theoretical and conceptual approaches to understanding public policy formation, including the role and function of the major organizational factors at each level and their modes of influence in determining policy for postsecondary education. Examines in depth selected current public policy issues that cut across political levels.

Prerequisites: Graduate Standing
 
Required of all CSHPE doctoral students. Examines research approaches commonly used in higher and continuing education, and focuses on key issues related to research design, modes of analysis, and causal inferences.

The research lab/group is the primary mechanism through which Ph.D. students are exposed to, articulate, practice, and apply a number of skills that are essential to your scholarly development. As part of a research lab, you develop research questions, discuss conceptual models, and design research studies; discuss methods and prepare analyses; develop, write, and submit manuscripts for publication and presentations for presentation at conferences; receive professional socialization regarding the peer review and publication process and lab management.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
 
Before they are admitted to candidacy and undertake dissertation research, CSHPE doctoral students must demonstrate their ability to design and conduct research, which is especially important for those with limited prior research experience. This involves participation in a scholarly activity that culminates in a published research article or a refereed research paper that is presented at a professional conference. The project may be an independent study conducted with faculty supervision or part of a faculty member’s ongoing research for which the student assumes primary responsibility. In the case of articles or presentations prepared jointly with faculty or other students, the student’s role is expected to be that of a lead author or equal co-author. The Practicum provides both an opportunity to directly experience the research process prior to the dissertation and to gain entrance to professional networks that are important for career development. Students may submit single- or lead-authored higher education-related research they completed prior to enrollment in the doctoral program for faculty review; this should be submitted to the student’s advisor. A waiver of the Practicum requirement may be granted based on this review.
 
Students should discuss this requirement with their faculty advisor at an early point in doctoral study (no later than the beginning of the second year of full-time study) in order to complete the Practicum prior to (or shortly after) the Comprehensive Qualifying Examination. Students should register for EDUC 767 (3 credit hours) while working on their research project. Upon completion, they should submit a completed Research Practicum Form along with a final copy of the product of the research (typically a conference paper or an article submitted or accepted for publication) to the faculty member serving as his or her advisor for EDUC 767.
 

This course is an introduction to the economics of education. The central aim of the course is to assist students in viewing the education “industry” and its educational processes through the perspective of economics. Several tools of economic analysis are used to address the links between education and economic growth, consumption, investment, employment, and equity. Students are afforded an opportunity to examine an important issue related to the economics of education, which helps them to become more knowledgeable about the economics of education literature and learn how to apply the tools of economic analysis to an important policy issue.

This course provides a historical, philosophical, and organizational overview of the practices of philanthropy as it relates to college and universities. Examines the implications for research and practice in higher education that are associated with its cultivation of philanthropy, institutional advancement and fundraising activities.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.
 
Comprises supervised reading, research, or other inquiry regarding higher and continuing education.

May be elected more than once.

Explores new topic areas, which may vary each time the seminar is offered, according to mutual interest of a limited number of students with one or more faculty members. Often the seminar is generated by a group of interested students and the resulting material is incorporated into existing courses or leads to development of new courses.

May be elected more than once.

Examines contexts in which preservice teacher education takes place and the rationale for employing those contexts. Explores historical and contemporary debates about the appropriateness of these contexts, examines current research and positions regarding them, and investigates new directions and alternatives. Topics may include the place and nature of university- and school-based teacher education sites; formal and informal learning environments; social, political, and community contexts; and field experiences.

Explores instructional/pedagogical approaches to the preparation of prospective teachers. Presents scholarship and research for critical examination and analysis of methods of educating prospective teachers. Topics may include instructional processes, organizational structures, delivery systems for curriculum, and inquiry and reflection strategies.

Examines policy, scholarship, and research relevant to the professional development of teachers. Considers the relationship between the means employed and the ends achieved in the preparation of teachers. Topics may include teacher beliefs, teacher socialization, the relationship between psychological development and professional development, and the influence of cultural identity on teacher preparation in a multicultural society.