Higher Education (HED)

HED5401  Foundations of Higher Education  (3.0 Credits)  

This course provides an overview of the basic structures, functions, participants, constituencies, tensions, and challenges facing higher education and student affairs in the United States. The course will focus on the philosophical assumptions that guide higher education, the unfolding of its history, and the ways in which philosophy and history have shaped the higher education curriculum.

HED5403  College Student Development Theories  (3.0 Credits)  

This course examines a range of human development theories that offer insight into the processes of student learning, growth, and development during the postsecondary years. Special focus will be on understanding the implications of these models and concepts for the policies and practices of higher education in general.

HED5404  Higher Ed Org & Strat Planning  (3.0 Credits)  

Course material includes an overview of management functions, governance, authority, organizational arrangements, and administrative style and behavior. Students will examine in detail several administrative operations, including offices of academic affairs, business/financial affairs, university advancement, institutional research, registrar, admissions, athletics, building and grounds, facility planning and construction, marketing, and public relations. Furthermore, this course will provide a conceptual framework for developing an integrated and comprehensive institutional strategic plan, while suggesting guidelines intended to assure its successful implementation. Students will examine environmental challenges and trends, ways to examine institutional strengths and weaknesses within a broader competitive context, and the function of major components within a plan. Attention will be given to organizational structures and processes for developing and implementing institutional plans.

HED5405  Rsrch & Assessment Higher Ed  (3.0 Credits)  

This course includes a study of various techniques and strategies of higher education research and assessment with an emphasis on understanding and interpreting research. Students will have the opportunity to explore assessment for accreditation and accountability as well as assessment for continuous improvement and demonstration of effectiveness. Students will have the opportunity to focus on institutional engagement, student affairs engagement, and the assessment of student learning. Students will create an assessment plan for an on-campus unit, as well as gain experience in presenting information related to assessment, which is an important component of the assessment process.