SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CARBONDALE MASTER'S PROGRAM

GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION

PROGRAM STATEMENT

The Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education offers students access to both basic content knowledge and practical experiences in higher education. Focusing on student affairs, this concentration prepares participants to provide leadership in community college and university environments serving divisions such as residence life, student development and programming, student centers, admissions and recruitment, student life and activities, orientation and new student services, student discipline and judicial affairs, and academic advising. Program graduates have gone on to successful careers in student affairs administration at public and private institutions across the country and outside of the United States.

PROGRAM MISSION

Our mission is to educate postsecondary educators and practitioners to understand and teach collegiate student populations. We enable students to develop abilities that allow them to enter and to advance within student affairs areas of higher education. Our students gain practical skills, build an awareness of student cultures, and recognize and develop an appreciation of collegiate student diversity. Our graduates are prepared for professional positions in student affairs in a variety of postsecondary settings, as well as for advanced graduate study in higher education.

PROGRAM UNIQUENESS

Our college student personnel program specializes in the study of student cultures. We strive to wed student development, critical theory, and pedagogy to allow students to analyze their cultures, beliefs, and personal and professional actions. We are committed to a multicultural pedagogy, designed to improve human communication and a person’s ability to be an active part of a society that incorporates many cultures. Using this concentration, we train students to plan educational programs, policies and practices in a variety of settings, by applying the information and theories they learn. Our work is focused toward fostering a more complex understanding of higher education, of students, of life, and of our perceptions of reality.

Our faculty is committed to social justice and equity, but we also recognize that those issues are not identical to multiculturalism. In our view, multiculturalism is a refinement of the traditional concept of civic education long held by higher education. We use the idea – and the ideal – of multiculturalism in our courses through content integration, knowledge construction, and a self-reflexive and self-critical equity pedagogy. Our reason for this approach is to foster a critical, reflective student who will be able to, in their professional capacities, also be able to foster critical, reflective students.

The first year’s curriculum is focused on the foundations of higher education and the student affairs profession. Each student will be able to articulate a personal philosophy statement of their how and why to work with students, analyze student cultures, and understand and apply student development theories. We are committed to making theory real and applicable; to do so, most of our first year courses are case-study based.

The second year shifts to a more practice-oriented curriculum. Coursework centers on student affairs skills, roles and requirements. In addition, students also complete internships with directors of Student Affairs and Development offices across campus, gaining “real world” working experiences. Internships are available in one-credit blocks that total between three and six credits. Between the internships and the seminars, students build their internship experiences to match their personal and professional interests. The combination of second-year coursework and internship experiences allow students opportunities to apply academic knowledge to the “real world” of student affairs and development in ways that help to ease the transition from school to work.

APPLICATION AND ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

• GPA: 2.70 in last 60 academic credit hours
• GRE or MAT
• 3 letters of recommendation
• Personal statement
• Complete both the Graduate School (available online at: http://www.siu.edu/gradschl/admissions.htm) and departmental application forms
• A non-refundable application fee
• B.A. or B.S. required
• Deadline – rolling deadline, with January 15 priority for fall assistantship placement

CURRICULUM INFORMATION