What college has a masters degree with two 18 hour concentrations?

I'm about to start the program in January with concentrations in PolySci and History. I'm hoping to transfer in 6 credits of polysci courses from APU. They only allow 6 credits of transfer. I asked one of my advisors about the exit requirements, and he said it is our choice. However, if we opt to do a thesis, we have to notify them early to put together a committee. From what I gathered, the thesis does not have to involve both disciplines. The comps, however, do.

Hope that helps,

-Matt

 

I'm guessing even though you are saying the comps do involve both concentrations you actually mean there are two separate comps. I can't imagine 1 comp for both History and MIS

 

The way I read it, it sounded like the option of comprehensive exams involved two comps (one for each field). However, designing one comp for both History and MIS might not be entirely undoable, if you go someplace that has a professor who is expert in computer uses for historians.

 

So, the student gets to choose whether to do a thesis, a final project, or two comps? Goody! The way their website was worded didn't make it too terribly clear whether the students each made their own individual choices or whether each department mandated a particular option for all of their students.

 

This sounds pretty cool. With the so-called "magic 18" in two different disciplines, does that mean you can teach them at the college-level? Someone explained it to me, but I forgot how the 18 credit thing works. Can one of you guys offer a quick recap? Thanks in advance.

 

The Southern Association has a regulation stating that in order to be considered qualified for a professorship you need either a doctoral degree in your field or a master's degree in your field or a master's degree with an 18-hour concentration in your field. It used to be that all master's degrees, thesis or non-thesis, were 30 semester hours. With the rise of the 36 semester hour non-thesis master's degree, one can now fit two 18-hour concentrations into one master's degree, thus qualifying one for both professorships and doctoral admissions in two different fields with one master's degree.

 

The WNMU degree also permits study in one 18 credit area and two 9 credit areas.

 

I would primarily be interested in an 18 credit hour requirement in Criminal Justice in order to teach. I think the second 18 hour emphasis would probably be in MIS for a couple of reasons. #1 it's useful outside of teaching and law enforcement and #2 where I work at least, technology is becoming a huge, huge factor in what we do. Additionally the more society uses technology, the more we need technically savvy law enforcement. A natural match considering my undergrad cert in IT.

 

This is pretty much a true statement (or will be) for any industry and career. Being able to teach MIS courses is never a bad thing.

 

Another question for the experts and those already teaching at the college level: Will a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies degree be looked down on or disrespected simply because of its title? I am admittedly ignorant when it comes to hiring college instructors, but the title seems cheesy. Thanks.

 

You would list your concentrations on your resume/vita:

M.A. Interdisplinary Arts (History/Political Science) - New Mexico State University.

Shawn

 

The HIST/POLS 580 seems to be some sort of course designation that allows a professor to introduce a course on a trial basis (with the possibility that the course may become a permanent course with its own number ... note that HIST 580 Frontier Justice of Fall 2006 seems to have evolved into HIST 517 Frontier Law Enforcement by Fall 2008). Usually course numbers that allow a professor to introduce a course on a trial basis also allow a student to design an independent study. Such was the case with good old SOSC 490G Workshop in the Social Sciences, HIST 585 Special Topics in History, and SOSC 693 Seminar & Problems in the Social Sciences back at good old Western State College of Colorado back in the good old days when they still had a Master of Arts in Social Sciences with History Emphasis prior to the program's final phase-out in the Summer of 1989.

 

I agree that wording it properly helps, but it is still a degree in interdisciplinary studies. Are these kinds of degrees generally viewed as inferior?

 

Ah, I see! You must've clicked on the link to Available Courses, which only listed the courses available for the current semester.

 

Exactly! Near the link I clicked would be the perfect place to include more information about other online classes that may be available during future semesters.

 

Here is the link www.wnmu.edu/catalog2008-2009/gradCrseDesc.htm showing all of Western New Mexico University's graduate courses. Apparently, all Political Science courses have been brought online, but not all the History courses. Maybe they plan to bring the remaining History courses online within a five or six year cycle that represents the normal maximum time in program for a master's degree. And maybe some of the Professors of History still need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern world. But here are the History classes that have not been brought online.

HIST 500 Colonial American History
HIST 509 Seminar in Local History
HIST 510 Cultural Perspectives of the Far East
HIST 514 History of the Southwest
HIST 521 The Contemporary North American Indian
HIST/BSAD/ECON 523 Railroad History
HIST 535 Civil War & Reconstruction
HIST 541 Ancient Civilizations
HIST 542 Mediaeval Civilizations
HIST 543 Early Modern Europe1350-1750
HIST 556 Social & Intellectual History to 1865
HIST 557 Social & Intellectual History Since 1865
HIST 576 World War II
HIST 595 Tutorial Reading in History
HIST 598 History Thesis

 

Depends on what you want the degree for. My guess is the degree was started by WNMU to address the requirements for 18 graduate hours to teach at a college.

If you are looking to teach at a community college, many CC's (including mine) would look at this degree as a plus - you could teach in two disciplines. If your plans are to earn a PhD down the road, IMHO, as long as you have a Masters Degree, and your test score is high enough, that what your masters degree is in is not very important.

If one is looking to teach at a four year college with the WNMU interdisplinary degree only, then I believe they would be at a disadvantage, because they are competing with "specialists." Then again, if you don't have a PhD, you're probably at a disadvantage looking for a position anyway.

Shawn

 

In my case it would be my 2nd masters. My first, the MBA would allow me to teach various management, leadership and general business courses while the MA from WNMU would allow me to diversify into Criminal Justice and MIS. I think having 3 different options from which I could teach would be wonderful. Especially for CCs and career schools who need the most bang for their buck so to speak.

 

And here is the history of Education (Bilingual Education, Education, Reading, and Special Education) graduate classes offered online at Western New Mexico University from Summer 2006 to Spring 2009.

BLED 501 Current Issues: Language Minority Education (Summer 2006, Summer 2007, Summer 2008)
BLED 514 Multicultural Education (Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Summer 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
BLED 527 Lingustics 1 for Second Language Teachers (Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008)
BLED 528 Linguistics 2 for Second Language Teachers (Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009)
BLED 534 Content Literacy in Spanish (Fall 2006)
BLED 541 English Acquisition & Development (Summer 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2008)
BLED 545 ESL Methods Content Literacy (Summer 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2009)
BLED 580 Workshop: Writing & Communication/TESOL (Spring 2008)
EDL 525 Education in a Pluralistic Society (Fall 2006)
EDL 560 Legal Aspects of Education (Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 500 Methods of Research (Fall 2006, Spring 2009)
EDUC 503 Action Research (Summer 2007, Summer 2008)
EDUC 506 History & Philosophy of Education (Spring 2008, Fall 2008)
EDUC 534 Integration of Technology Into the Classroom (Spring 2008, Summer 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 536 Classroom Management (Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 539 Instructional Design (Fall 2008)
EDUC 544 Professional Development: Creating an Online Course for Classroom Teachers (Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 544 Professional Development: Designing an Online Course (Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 544 Professional Development: Mentoring Online (Spring 2008)
EDUC 544 Workshop: Trends of Distant Education (Summer 2006)
EDUC 564 Teacher Education Program Field Experience (Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 571 Secondary Curriculum & Instruction (Spring 2007, Fall 2008)
EDUC 572 Elementary Methods & Curriculum (Summer 2006)
EDUC 573 Elementary Methods & Curriculum II (Fall 2006)
EDUC 574 Classroom Assessment (Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
EDUC 580 Workshop: Diversity Issues/Classroom (Summer 2007)
EDUC 580 Workshop: Technology Enhanced ESL Strategies (Summer 2008)
RDG 510 Teaching of Reading (Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2009)
RDG 511 Corrective Reading Instruction (Fall 2006, Fall 2008)
RDG 512 Diagnosis & Prescription of Reading for Diverse Learning (Spring 2008)
RDG 537 Literacy: Teaching Applications (Spring 2009)
RDG 553 Children's Literature (Fall 2008, Spring 2009)
RDG 560 Reading Skills in Secondary Education (Summer 2008, Spring 2009)
SPED 508 Introduction to Exceptional Children (Fall 2006, Spring 2008, Summer 2008)
SPED 541 Practice Teaching - Special Education (Fall 2006)
SPED 552 Family, School, and Community Relations & Exceptional Children (Fall 2007, Fall 2008)
SPED 556 Culturally Diverse Exceptional Children (Fall 2008)
SPED 570 Nature & Needs of Persons with Learning Disabilities (Summer 2008)
SPED 576 Nature & Needs of Persons with Emotional & Behavioral Disorders (Spring 2008, Summer 2008)

 

My beloved alma mater, City University of Seattle, used to (and maybe still does) put own a projected schedule that went 18 months into the future. Thus, upon matriculation, one could project one's next fifteen 5-week fast-track courses (45 quarter hours), i.e., one's entire MBA program.