Academics - Graduate Programs
We hope you will find this information both interesting and helpful to you in your search for a program and a place to continue your advanced studies. Our Graduate Studies programs are enjoying a very good academic year, with almost 500 students enrolled in the four Masters' degree programs. The MAE (Master of Arts in Education) degree program and the MSP (Master of Science with an Option in Public Service Management) degree program are both operating at a near capacity enrollment. The MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree program began the Fall Semester with a refocused and strengthened curriculum and stands ready to move toward a capacity enrollment as well.
All four of the Masters' degree programs feature creative and innovative teaching methodologies that are unique to Cumberland and which help to prepare students for successful professional performance in the 21st century world. The MAE program features both traditional classroom instruction and also a distance-learning delivery model. The distance-learning model enables Cumberland to draw students from all regions of Tennessee. The Board of Education of the State of Tennessee supports this delivery model and is following its growth with great interest. Recently an Alternative Licensure Program was created by the State of Tennessee Board of Education to encourage more persons to enter the classrooms of Tennessee as teachers. Its purpose is to offer an Interim E Teaching License to persons with a baccalaureate degree but who do not hold a Tennessee Teacher License. They are required, however, to work with an institution of higher education in a program which would move them toward professional licensure. Cumberland was the first institution to create and submit such a program to meet those state regulations. This program, when completed by the participant, provides a professional teaching license to replace the Alternative Interim E License. This semester will see 17 of our students complete this program and virtually all of them will continue their studies with us in our MAE degree program, for in completing their professional license requirement they have also completed one-half or their MAE degree requirements. These students range geographically across the state from Cleveland to Memphis.
The MSP program features courses that take learning outside the classroom and into the community. An MSP course on "Contemporary Community Issues" involves students in developing visual portfolios of various community problems or issues. Examples of projects are The Nashville Cemetery, several nursing homes, and the community of Free Hill, Tennessee, once known as a drug haven. Some of these projects have served as an impetus for city, county, and/or state agencies to take action to solve particular problems.
The MBA program is designed for both a person who works in a service organization and a person whose manufacturing firm has a service component. Cumberland University's MBA Program is fully accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
The Special Programs area of Graduate Studies offers an extensive curriculum that enables teachers to renew their teaching licenses and/or to complete an endorsement to the Tennessee teaching license, the Master's Plus Thirty, entitling them to a salary supplement. Over 1300 teachers were enrolled in this program in the summer 2003 and for the entire academic year 2002-2003, a total number of 2672 students were enrolled.
All four of the Masters' degree programs feature creative and innovative teaching methodologies that are unique to Cumberland and which help to prepare students for successful professional performance in the 21st century world. The MAE program features both traditional classroom instruction and also a distance-learning delivery model. The distance-learning model enables Cumberland to draw students from all regions of Tennessee. The Board of Education of the State of Tennessee supports this delivery model and is following its growth with great interest. Recently an Alternative Licensure Program was created by the State of Tennessee Board of Education to encourage more persons to enter the classrooms of Tennessee as teachers. Its purpose is to offer an Interim E Teaching License to persons with a baccalaureate degree but who do not hold a Tennessee Teacher License. They are required, however, to work with an institution of higher education in a program which would move them toward professional licensure. Cumberland was the first institution to create and submit such a program to meet those state regulations. This program, when completed by the participant, provides a professional teaching license to replace the Alternative Interim E License. This semester will see 17 of our students complete this program and virtually all of them will continue their studies with us in our MAE degree program, for in completing their professional license requirement they have also completed one-half or their MAE degree requirements. These students range geographically across the state from Cleveland to Memphis.
The MSP program features courses that take learning outside the classroom and into the community. An MSP course on "Contemporary Community Issues" involves students in developing visual portfolios of various community problems or issues. Examples of projects are The Nashville Cemetery, several nursing homes, and the community of Free Hill, Tennessee, once known as a drug haven. Some of these projects have served as an impetus for city, county, and/or state agencies to take action to solve particular problems.
The MBA program is designed for both a person who works in a service organization and a person whose manufacturing firm has a service component. Cumberland University's MBA Program is fully accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
The Special Programs area of Graduate Studies offers an extensive curriculum that enables teachers to renew their teaching licenses and/or to complete an endorsement to the Tennessee teaching license, the Master's Plus Thirty, entitling them to a salary supplement. Over 1300 teachers were enrolled in this program in the summer 2003 and for the entire academic year 2002-2003, a total number of 2672 students were enrolled.
