Students enrolled in the MS in Family and consumer Sciences, will graduate with an in-depth knowledge of the content area of interest.
Objective
Knowledge And Skills
Students graduating from the MS in FCS program will demonstrate adequate knowledge and skills necessary for upper-level employment positions in their selected fields including teacher education in family and consumer sciences, interior design, fashion merchandising, and nutrition.
Indicator
Knowledge And Skills
Comprehensive exams for Family and Consumer Sciences covers all major and minor course areas undertaken by each student; grades are assigned on a High Pass, Pass, or Fail basis. These exams are graded holistically, and must cover content of specific course work taken for the degree. The answers are written into "blue books" and are graded by the faculty under whom the work was complete. Any student who does not score a grade of High Pass in every area is required to take an oral exam over every area where a grade of High Pass was not awarded.
Criterion
Knowledge And Skills
At least 80% of the students who complete the master's program in FCS will score a grade of Pass or higher on each area of the comprehensive exam AND/OR will pass a follow-up oral exam.
Finding
Student Knowledge Of Content Area
One student graduated during the 2008-2009 academic year with the degree of MS in FCS, specializing in the teacher education for family and consumer sciences content area. She took written comprehensive exams, and did not achieve a grade of High Pass on all questions. She then sat for oral exams and did pass on every question. She is an example of how the process works, and it did work as outlined in this assessment document. (Because there was one student and she passed the exam process, the finding was for 100%.)
Action
Student Knowledge Of Content Area
Because there is no formal grading rubric for written comprehensive exams for the MS in FCS, it is a goal for the coming cycle that one be written.
Goal
Student Enrollment
To increase the number of students enrolled in the General FCS Masters program through multiple and innovative recruitment strategies and program development.
Objective
Recruitment Effort/Program Enrollment
Increase recruitment efforts through more concentrated marketing initiatives; focus on promoting "concentrations" in areas of interior design, fashion merchandising, teacher certification and nutrition. Increase enrollment and number of courses offered in each content area of the department.
Indicator
Recruitment Effort And Program Enrollment
In order to recruit students for this program, the department needs to participate in recruitment fairs at all major conferences in all disciplines of FCS; improve the department's website, adding promotional video clips; send out periodic mailings of program brochures to undergraduate FCS programs in Texas and surrounding states; and increase the number of graduate courses offered in each of the major pre-professional content areas of FCS (i.e., interior design, fashion merchandising, teacher certification and nutrition).
Criterion
Recruitment Effort
Completion of 100% of the activities cited in the indicator above (participation in recruitment fairs, improvement of the department website including video clips, distribution of brochures to undergraduate programs in Texas and surrounding states, and increasing the number of graduate courses offered in each of the undergraduate content areas of the department) would mean that this criterion was fully met.
Finding
Recruitment Effort
While the department did promote the MS in FCS in several ways during the 2008-2009 year, not every activity on the list was completed. Several members of the department attended conferences and sponsored display tables where the MS in FCS was promoted. However, updating the department's website to further promote this master's program, sending out brochures, and developing graduate courses all have been pushed forward to next year's agenda.
Criterion
Student Enrollment
Student enrollment will increase by 100% (double the current enrollment from three to six) to more than meet the minimum enrollment requirements for a full "General FCS" class (defined as a minimum of five students enrolled and active in the MS in FCS program); the number of graduate applications in the MS in general FCS will triple (from three applicants to nine).
Finding
Student Enrollment
Three graduate students were enrolled in the MS in FCS program for the fall of 2008. During the Spring 2009 semester, eight students applied for admission for the Fall 2009 semester. By the beginning of the fall semester, five students were accepted for admission into the program.
Action
Recruitment Effort/Program Enrollment
Recruitment of highly qualified students for this program must continue. Because this program accepts students on a year-round basis, recruitment also needs to be year-round. The list of activities (video clips, mailings, development of new brochures) needs to be completed for the coming academic year. With new personnel at the Associate Dean level for the college and at the Dean of Graduate Studies for the university, talk of growing graduate programs should translate into action, resulting in greater numbers of students in this program.