Courses:
CS 6310 Introduction to Systems Analysis and Design
3 semester hours
Concepts, methods and techniques used in the analysis and design of
information systems. Student projects using the techniques in practice.
CS 6320 File and Database Systems
3 semester hours
Development and application of databases with emphasis on topologies,
normalization, and queries. Prerequisites: CS 6310 and proficiency in Pascal or
Pascal-like language.
CS 6330 On-Line and Communication Based Systems
3 semester hours
Introduction to intra- and inter-computer communications concepts and
methodology. Issues include topologies, error detection and correction, LAN, ISO models,
and protocols. Prerequisite: CS 6310.
CS 6340 Advanced Software Concepts
3 semester hours
Modern methods of software design development and implementation.
Emphasis is placed on application system generators and very high level programming
languages. Prerequisite: CS 6310, proficiency in Pascal or Pascal-like language.
CS 6350 Systems Hardware and Software
3 semester hours
Introduction to different types of computer hardware and operating
systems software at both the microcomputer and large system level. Students will work with
both the DEC VAX and a representative micro computer and their operating systems.
Prerequisite: CS 6310.
ED 6302 Foundations of Educational Practice
3 semester hours
Explores presuppositions of educational efforts via analysis of
existence and intentionality and inquiries into cognition and epistemology. Relates basic
norms of ethical educational practice to the intellectual, moral, and religious
conversions of the educator and learner. Locates the ground of professional practice in
the self-transcending intentionality of the existential subject. Relates the commonsense,
theoretical, transcendent, and methodological realms of meaning to the practice of formal
education. Criteria for interpretation of educational ends and means established through
investigation of personal belief systems, goal setting, and self-assessment strategies.
ED 6304 Human Development and Learning
3 semester hours
Theory and research related to cognitive development and learning and
their importance to the sequencing and structuring of curricula. Classroom management
theories and techniques. Understanding and use of social justice, collaborative decision
making, team building, and coalition building.
ED 6306 Curriculum Theory and Practice
3 semester hours
Strategic planning for curriculum development and improvement to promote
life-long learning. Theory and research related to the evaluation of the teaching/learning
process, the systemic change process and collaborative instructional planning.
ED 6311 Applied Educational Research
2 semester hours
Research designs and methods including gathering, analyzing,
disaggregating, and interpreting data. Utilize pupil personnel services and programs to
meet the needs of all students. Use of data to facilitate informed decisions for school
improvement and maximization of student learning.
ED 6350 Secondary Content Area Reading
3 semester hours
Introduction to reading instruction in various academic subjects. Study
of instructional strategies for vocabulary development, for actively involving students in
critical thinking activities through questioning and group discussion, and for developing
study skills.
ED 7390 Internship in Educational Leadership
3 semester hours
Administrator's internship in a public or "recognized" school.
The internship provides the opportunity to develop and enhance leadership skills under the
supervision of a person holding a Texas Education Agency Certificate with three years
experience at the level of assignment. Planning, development, and implementation of an
effective instructional system. Use of research findings, time, staff, advanced
technologies, community resources, and financial means to maximize student outcomes.
Presentations to boards of program preparation personnel and practitioners. Field-based
assessments by field and preparation program personnel. Peer assessment.
EN 7301 Contemporary Literary Criticism
3 semester hours
This course offers a background in current literary criticism including
approaches such as: Psychoanalytical, Feminist, Postmodern, and Postcolonial.
Students are introduced to key thinkers in each school of criticism. These critical approaches are
applied to a selection of contemporary masterpieces, such as, Proust, Poe,
Kafka, Fuentes, Hawthorne, and Borges.
EN 7302 Myth and Psyche in 20th Century Literature
3 semester hours
This course focuses on myth as a source of knowledge of the human psyche
and rests theoretically on the findings of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Jacques Lacan,
who provide through myth a wealth of knowledge about human values, fears, and obsessions.
The works of literature to be analyzed are 20th century classics by writers such as Kafka, Sartre, Garcia-Marquez, and
Lessing.
EN 7303 Critical Approaches to the Short Story
3 semester hours
The course will be divided between the "classic stories by classic
writers" and the contemporary stories that are revitalizing the short story form in
America and throughout world literature. The course will benefit writers and teachers, as
well as all those who wish to understand how the short story has emerged as a major form
of literary expression in our age.
EN 7311 Comparative Literature: Modern and Postmodern
3 semester hours
By concentrating on the fascinating phenomenon of postmodernism, this
course develops a thorough perspective of contemporary literature from modernity to recent
days. It also sharpens analytical skills through the study of critical theories that
define the Postmodern. Works will range from Kafka and T.S. Eliot to Jorge Luis Borges,
Julio Cortazar, Marguerite Duras, Margaret Atwood, and Thomas Pynchon.
EN 7312 Literature of the Renaissance
3 semester hours
This course is designed to provide graduate students with a detailed
survey of non-dramatic poetry and prose of the early Tudor and Elizabethan periods. The
course will examine selected texts from an historical perspective with special emphasis on
the development of literary genres during the sixteenth century. Political, philosophical
and social issues of the period will be raised as we consider the debates that shaped the
poetics of the early and High Renaissance. Readings include Sir Thomas, Sir Philip Sidney,
Edmund Spenser, and many more.
EN 7313 Realism and Naturalism in the American Novel
3 semester hours
Based in historical interpretation, this course offers the first
literature of the modern, mass society we ourselves live in. The interpretive strategy
will consider the complex, self-contradictory nature of a literary construct as it
reflects its social context. We will cover eight novels (none very long), among which are
Rebecca Harding Davis’s Margaret Howth, Elizabeth Stuart Phelp’s Doctor
Zay,
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Henry James’s The Bostonians, and Edith
Wharton’s The Reef.
EN 7315 American Transcendentalism
3 semester hours
This course defines transcendentalism by exploring its origins and
development in 19th and 20th Century American history, culture, and literature. The course
should provide an in-depth philosophical approach to American literature, as well as an
increased ability to read literature critically. We will study works by the following
authors: Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson, Hawthorne, Alcot, James, Cather, Frost,
Welty, Stevens, and Percy.
EN 7316 History of the American Novel
3 semester hours
As a comprehensive overview of the American novel, this course offers on
highly representative novel from each literary period with additional attention to
minority fiction. Periods and possible authors are as follows: Neo-Classical
(Brockden
Brown), Low Romantic (Cooper), Romantic (Melville), Realist (James), Naturalist (Wharton),
Modernist (Faulkner), and others.
EN 7321 Shakespeare’s Major Plays
3 semester hours
The course follows four Shakespeare plays through the centuries,
examining how they were treated--or mistreated--during the Restoration, and during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Film versions of the plays will be compared with
Shakespeare’s text. The course also traces the main lines of Shakespeare criticisms
from Ben Johnson to Benard Spivak.
EN 7331 Writing Assessment
3 semester hours
This course asks, "What is good writing?" Through holistic
grading, portfolio grading, and other types of grading, students learn how to evaluate all
types of writing. Both discussion and a final project teach students to derive their own
conclusions about good writing through process instead of product. This course also
involves multicultural, gender, class, and age issues in writing.
EN 7334 Approaches to Teaching Writing & Critical
Thinking
3 semester hours
IR 7320 Asian Security Issues
3 semester hours
This course examines the politics and economics of current
security issues in Asia. Both military and non-military security issues will be discussed.
Examples are: collective security organizations, environmental security issues,
technological transfers, the arms trade, and immigration/refugee patterns.
IR 7340 Middle East Security Issues
3 semester hours
This course examines the politics and economics of current
security issues in the Middle East. Both military and non-military security issues will be
discussed. Examples are: regional balance of power politics, the role of international
agencies, environmental security issues such as water, technological transfers, and
immigration/refugee patterns.
IR 7350 European Security Issues
3 semester hours
This course examines the politics and economics of current
security issues in Europe. Both military and non-military security issues will be
discussed. Examples are: the changing role of NATO, a united European
defense system, environmental security issues such as water, technological transfers, and
immigration/refugee patterns.
IR 7380 African Security Issues
3 semester hours
This course examines the politics and economics of current
security issues in Africa. Military and non-military security issues will be discussed.
Examples are: root causes of regional conflict, the international arms trade,
environmental security issues, technological transfers, and immigration/refugee
patterns.
IR 8300 Theories on the Causes of War
3 semester hours
This course examines the current
theories on the root causes of war and violent conflict, both civil and
international. Causal actors such as ethnicity, race, religion, territory,
water, population migration/refugees, arms race/militarism, personality of
leaders, etc. are researched.
IR 8305 International Conflict Resolution Theory
3 semester hours
This course examines the latest
research on how to resolve civil and international conflict. Emphasis is
place on paring the appropriate conflict resolution theory to various
categories of conflict.
IR 8325 Business in an Interdependent World (same as BA 8325)
3 semester hours
A survey of the effects that differences in
the cultural, economic, legal, political, social, and technological
environments of countries have on the way business is conducted throughout
the world. Also explored are the effects that regional economic and
political arrangements, and international institutions are having on firms
involved in business activities that cross national borders.
The course concludes with an examination of some of the contemporary
issues and challenges confronting U.S. business people at home and
overseas as a consequence of the growing globalization of economic activities.
PO 6300 Political Science Research Methods
(same as PA 6300)
3 semester hours
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the principles
of social science research design and the various statistical techniques used to
manipulate social science data. Students will be introduced to various research techniques
and methods utilized in all facets of the discipline from behavioral research to public
policy analysis.
PO 6301 Public Administration and Policy
(same as PA 6301)
3 semester hours
A survey of the field or public administration and public policy
including politics and the policy process, organization theory, management principles,
human resources management, fiscal policy, program design and evaluation, and ethics.
PO 6305 American Political Institutions
(same as PA 6305)
3 semester hours
A study of the interrelationships between the three branches of
government, intergovernmental relations and major trends in state governments.
PO 6307 Public and Constitutional Law
3 semester hours
The role of the judiciary in the interpretation and application of
constitutional and public law. Problems and issues arising from various legal areas as
well as judicial behavior.
PO 6312 International Relations Theory
3 semester hours
This course will provide students with an understanding of the diversity
of approaches to the study of international relations, along with an appreciation of key
concepts and frameworks. Another aim is to identify themes and issues that have enduring
importance rather than those which are of the moment.
PO 6315 United States Foreign Policy
3 semester hours
History of U.S. foreign policy; consistencies and variations. Analysis
of the role of vital interests of the United States in the world today.
PO 6316 Great Political Thinkers
3 semester hours
An introduction to the schools of thought and methods of analysis that
could include normative or empirical theory. An in depth evaluation of the traditions of
discourse in political thought to include classical and contemporary political theorists.
PO 6324 National Security Policy
3 semester hours
This course will examine the politics and economics of national security
issues. Special emphasis will be given to the changing international paradigm (i.e., post
Cold War) and the impact on domestic political and economic decision making.
PO 6352 U.S. Latino Communities
3 semester hours
Examination of U.S. cities with significant Latino populations, as well
as urbanization issues of U.S. - Mexican border.
PO 6353 Urban Issues in the Americas
3 semester hours
Comparative examination of phenomenon of organization in Latin America
(e.g., Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Santiago, etc.).
PO 6354 Campaign Management
3 semester hours
This course is designed to give students an
overview of the functioning of a political campaign. Topics covered
include the creation of a campaign organization, development of a
strategic plan, the use of media, fund raising activities, and the
organization of field operations. This latter topic includes construction
of databases, polling, phone banking and block walling. This is a survey
seminar in applied political science.
PO 6356 Campaign Finance: Political and Legal Aspects
3 semester hours
Scope includes campaign finance law on the
national, state, and local levels; history of growth of money and
electoral campaigns; effects of money on American electoral system;
research methods in campaign finance sources; campaign finance reform and
democratic government.
PO 6358 Gender Politics
3 semester hours
This course is designed to provide students
an overview of the relationship between gender and politics. Topics
include: the role of women in politics, women as candidates, officeholders
and voters, gender differences in attitudes and beliefs, and issues that
have particular relevance to women, i.e. gender discrimination and equal
rights.
PO 7300 Directed Readings
3 semester hours |
