August 24, 2022

Lamar University 

Graduate Council  

Minutes #481

August 24, 2022

Attending: Brett Welch, Carly Cox, Theresa Hefner-Babb, David Short, Awais Saleem, Vivek Natarajan, Jeff Forret, Debbie Troxclair, Yueqing Li

Approval of Minutes 

#478 – May 18, 2022 motion to accept – Natarajan, second - Forret

#479 – June 15, 2022 motion to accept – Saleem, second - Natarajan

#480 – July 20, 2022 motion to accept – Forret, second - Natarajan

Old Business 

Deaf Studies & Deaf Education – proposing several items: 1) change to existing degree program title; current title is Master of Science in Deaf Studies Deaf Education, proposed new title is Master of Science in Deaf Education. Deaf Studies is under an MA in the same department since August 2021. 2) requesting the MS Deaf Education be moved to asynchronous online delivery, hours required for degree would be 33 hours for students already having Deaf Education certification and 36 hours for those that need certification. 3) proposing certificate in Deaf Education in the 21^st Century – 18-hour graduate certificate – still pending on submission of the revised proposal

Comments from July meeting: the end goal of these proposed changes is to have a MS in Deaf Education and a MA in Deaf Studies. The MS program changes are substantive and will require full approval, but are currently pending a revised proposal and syllabi. We anticipate the revised proposal for the August council meeting. The MA in Deaf Studies was approved in 2019 but contains 6000 level courses. We are required by THECB to change these to 5000 level courses instead. - still pending on submission of the revised proposal

New Business

College of Arts & Sciences

Earth & Space Sciences – Course addition: GEOL 5317 Seminar in Geospatial Sciences to be elective option in the MS GIS and GIS graduate certificate programs. Dr. Hefner-Babb noted issues with the course description. David Short asked if we had a sample we could share. Dr. Welch will work with the department to correct these issues. Motion to approve pending adjustments to language in syllabus – Saleem, second – Natarajan

Computer Science - Course Addition CPSC 5364. Required for Cybersecurity certificate program. They need to submit an updated degree plan also. Motion to accept pending revisions to syllabus – Forret, second – Hefner-Babb

College of Education & Human Development

Educational Leadership – proposing the following: 1) changes to prerequisite courses for GTED 5357, EDLD 5389, and EDLD 5303; 2) course addition SPED 5304 Special Education Law for M.Ed. Special Education – diagnostician and generalist tracks; 3) updates to degree plans – include SPED 5304 in M.Ed. Special Education diagnostician and generalist tracks, include existing college-wide research course, PEDG 5307, in M.Ed. Special Education generalist track, replace SPED 5315 with SPED 5302 in Educational Diagnostician certification plan, replace PEDG 5310 with PEDG 5307 and EDLD 5344 with EDLD 5321 in M.Ed. Teacher Leadership degree plan, replace EDLD 5388 with EDLD 5389 in both M.Ed. Educational Technology Leadership and M.Ed. Applied Digital Learning degree plans, and replace EDLD 5301 with EDLD 5307 and EDLD 5344 with EDLD 5321 in M.Ed. Educational Administration degree plan. All courses except SPED 5304 already exist in inventory. Motion to accept – Natarajan, second - Saleem

Department also requesting approval of 6-SCH Certified Digital Educator program. Plan consists of two existing courses, EDLD 5302 and EDLD 5317, and also requires completion of the Apple Learning Coach online program and submission of a digital portfolio that demonstrates student mastery of digital instruction. See memo for full details. This will need to go to BoR for approval. Motion to accept – Saleem, second - Natarajan

Counseling – proposing the following: 1) changes to prerequisite courses for CNDV 5323, CNDV 5380, CNDV 5390, CNDV 5393, CNDV 5394; 2) updates to degree plans – replace CNDV 5324 with CNDV 5326 in the M.Ed. Clinical Mental Health Counseling plan, replace CNDV 5353 with college-wide research course, PEDG 5307, in all Counseling M.Ed.'s and concentrations/tracks; 3) delete course CNDV 5324 from inventory.

Motion to accept – Natarajan, second - Saleem

College of Business

School of Accounting & Information Systems – requesting to add a new elective course option for MS Professional Accounting degree plan, ACCT 5353 Emerging Technologies in Accounting. Motion to accept – Natarajan, second – Saleem.

College of Fine Arts & Communication

Communication & Media – proposing a new degree, MS Strategic Communication, with thesis and non-thesis (project) options both requiring 30 hours for completion. Degree will be offered 100% online. Course additions needed are detailed below.

Dr. Yao provided a brief presentation on the MS Strategic Communication degree proposal. The program is designed to be completed in one year, is fully online, and will be offered on the 8-week course delivery schedule. Syllabi are ready but the department is working on some formatting issues currently. Courses will come to the council for approval later. Dr. Hefner-Babb asked about the number of hours that will be considered under the program fast track option, and the competency-based option will need justification and procedures for SACSCOC. She will work with the department on these issues. Dr. Natarajan asked about the thesis course being 8 weeks. Dr. Yao explained that thesis will be two 8-week courses. He also asked about any courses related to entrepreneurship. Dr. Yao said they plan to collaborate with the Entrepreneurial Institute (formerly CICE) in the future.

Motion to accept proposal pending approval of courses – Natarajan, second - Saleem