|
NEWS
| february 20, 2004
Education
School may create degree
The doctorate in educational leadership
will be the 1st if approved by the state.
By Kate
Bolen
The Shorthorn Staff
A doctorate in educational leadership was unanimously approved by
the Graduate Assembly on Thursday.
The doctorate would combine doctoral programs for Kindergarten through
grade 12 and higher education. There is no other degree like this
in the nation, Educational Leadership chair Charles Funkhouser said.
“We are not aware of another program that has a program for
K though 16,” he said. “That is the uniqueness.”
With the approval of the assembly, the proposal will be sent to
the president and provost. If supported, it will then go through
the UT System and finally to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board, Dr. Funkhouser said. “We are currently at the front
end of the whole thing.”
Funkhouser said that if the board approves, the target date for
the program to go into effect is fall 2005.
If and when the program begins, 15 students will be admitted every
year. The number of available spots will increase when more faculty
and funds are allotted, he said.
Funkhouser said he and other representatives from the college met
with the Graduate Assembly’s Committee on Program Policy for
the first time three months ago. Two more meetings were held before
the proposal was ready for presentation.
James Grover, Committee on Program Policy chair, said the committee
views all proposals to make sure they are presentable.
Competition with the University of North Texas could also play a
large part in the approval of the board’s proposal, Funkhouser
said.
“When I arrived here, I was told there was an unwritten agreement
that UNT would never get into engineering and we would never get
into education, but things have changed,” he said.
He said he believes the uniqueness of the program will prevent a
duplication from becoming an issue.
CORRECTION
The headline for this article should have identified
the College of Education as a college, not a school.
|
|
