WNMU & 18 graduate hours

You know something? Sometime in my 3.5 years on this board, I seem to remember our fearless leader Bruce Almighty saying he might like a master's in history some day. With all those history of criminal justice courses - Border Issues, Crime & Punishment, Drug Wars, and Frontier Justice - and with the possibility of Criminal Justice as a second major, perhaps this master's in history might also be right up Bruce Almighty's alley (or right up the alley of any of several other criminal justice types on this august board).

 

Same here. I'm looking forward to taking classes with you. That's why I'm hoping there's some element of threaded discussions in the classes.

 

I can tell you that in the case of my colleague who is enrolled at WNMU - that YES, there are threaded discussions for the classes.

Shawn

 

I'm trying to get my husband to enroll at WNMU in History/Poli Sci or History/English...

 

Whooohooo! Bring it on, Ted

I'm taking a poly-sci class through APU (The Presidency) in Oct-Nov. While I'm sure that will transfer, I'm just looking for the credits so I can teach these courses for my school, and then go from there. ODU has a "History Connects" course at the graduate level that focuses on Virginia's US History course. I may take that too in the spring to transfer into the WMNU program.

Now I just have to apply to WNMU. I want to kick myself for spending so much to apply to USD and then dropping the program, but I think I'm better for it.

-Matt

 

Thanks for the info, Capella Rocks! I'm happy to hear it!

 

Tell him that if an MBA can enroll for an MA in History (and fairly likely I will), then he can too!

 

USD? University of San Diego or University of South Dakota or yet something else?

 

I found out about the threaded discussions when I was speaking to my colleague. He told me that the discussions were very enjoyable - and it gave him the chance to critically analyze other points of view.

For the record - my colleague has a BA from a small but prestigious liberal arts college, and he has nothing but praise for WNMU. He recomended the program to another colleague the other day.

Shawn

 

University of South Dakota. I was planning to pursue an EdS in Administration, but realized the "education" market is too saturated with people who have administrative endorsements, yet are still teaching because they can't get a job. With 18 hours in Poly-Sci and History, I can open up a great deal more doors.

-Matt

 

When I finish my MS from TUI I have plans of doing Criminal Justice and Psychology at WNMU.

 

Right behind ya TED

Glad to hear it TED. I will be starting there next summer, but not in your same concentrations. Mine will be psyc. and special education/ed. tech. So far all my communications with WNMU have been positive. Can't beat the price either.

Tim(from Seattle)

 

Cool.....

 

Good for you two, too, Refugee and thesage!

 

For Your Information ...

... Western New Mexico University's available concentrations in the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies are: Bilingual Education, Criminal Justice, Education (Educational Technology, Elementary Education, and Secondary Education), English, History, Management Information Systems, Political Science, Psychology, Reading, and Special Education. You can take either two 18-hr. concentrations OR one 18-hr. concentration and two 9-hr. concentrations.

 

Does anyone know if the History/PolySci concentrations require a thesis? And if it does, do those thesis hours count toward the 18 hours required to teach courses at the community college level?

-Matt

 

If I'm not mistaken, the options (for all concentrations) at Western New Mexico University www.wnmu.edu are: thesis, final project, or comprehensive exams.

EDIT: Yup, I was right. It's in the FAQ.

 

My impression is that theses do count towards one's 18-hr. requirement. I once saw a 32-hr. summer-only Master of American History and Government at Ashland University www.ashland.edu that required 14 hrs. in history, 14 hrs. in government, and a 4 hr. thesis. The only explanation for that would be that one chooses a topic that crosses disciplinary bounds between history and government and, adding the 4-hr. thesis to the 14 hrs. each in history and government, the student ends up with 18 hrs. in both.

 

It would make sense to me that a thesis or project would count. I know most programs I have looked at label the thesis something like HIST 700 - Thesis. If that were on the transcript, it would show it was history related.

I was just curious about the program, however. For Walden I had to do a portfolio, but that, of course, was an education program. We had to do a major research project as well, but that was not the final part of the program, the portfolio was.

-Matt

 

Okay, I've figured out my problems with the online application. Application submitted. All that remains is to submit my transcripts. Stay tuned.