Focus of Study Options (9 Semester Credits)
Community College Leadership
This focus of study centers on the unique needs of leadership in a community college setting. With the growing cost of higher education, local institutions will serve a greater role in supporting student achievement, enabling them to complete degrees for career options which may not exist today. Consideration is given to the historical development of the two-year college in light of the economic dynamics existing in the 21st century and how change is needed to build community relationships, service students, and sustain institutional growth.
Enrollment Management
Enrollment management provides direct support to individuals seeking degree programs to fit their personal and professional goals. This focus of study combines appropriate theories and research, aligns policies, and identifies strategies and practices influencing how an institution markets to prospects, helping to retain them through strategic decisions shaped by data. By modeling ways to build a collaborative culture, leaders choose effective processes to enhance the prospect’s experience through enrollment as a student.
Institutional Research and Planning
Academic analytics yield critical information to establish and measure institutional goals and objectives, and to report to stakeholders and required state, regional, and federal agencies. This focus of study contrasts ways of handling surveys, collecting data, identifying trends impacting policies, determining how assessment of students and evaluation of programs will be addressed. Institutional research searches, discovers, and shares information in a manner which tells the story to both internal and external entities.
International Education
This International Education focus of study is intended to prepare and equip leaders with skills, knowledge, and a theoretical foundation to address international education and transnational dimensions of learning. It is well suited to those aspiring to work in the field of international education, and institutions of higher education among others. Designed to complement and support professional agendas, the course provides a broad overview of international dimensions of education, introducing students to international development policy, aid, organizations, and comparative research; refugee education; global foundations, and cross-national studies of education and policy analysis.
Leadership
Leadership is more than managing tasks; it involves investing in individuals, pursuing effective policies and procedures to ensure an organization is successful. Enhancing personal and professional abilities and traits, this focus of study identifies practices of exemplary leadership, asking students to engage in actions leading to change through shared vision, analyzing processes, and enabling others to reach their potential through shared modeling and advocacy. Leaders make a difference as they bring change.
Student Development and Affairs
Admission into an institute of higher learning is the first step towards achieving personal and professional goals. Leadership in student affairs serves the interest of students through advising, program support, technology guidance, and information necessary to successfully complete a degree pathway as aligned to institutional policies, processes, and procedures. Grounded in development theory, this focus of study supports understanding how adults learn, achieve, and transition to new careers.
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