Campus News

Paths Eased for Five New Academic Degrees

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 8, 2012) ―The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today approved changes to five of its academic degrees.

Students can now pursue a master’s of arts and a doctorate of philosophy with a major in gender and women’s studies. Both degrees will be awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences, effective fall 2012. The Department of Gender and Women’s Studies will provide an integrative, multidisciplinary, theoretically diverse approach to the study of gender, which includes the social construction of femininity and masculinity across cultures.  The department is committed to research and teaching about the lives, cultures, perspectives and activities of women as well as men globally, and to the understanding of gender as a construct that permeates human experience, thought and history. 

The second degree change establishes the academic program required to achieve a Bachelor of Science in Education with a major in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Education (primarily mathematics and physics) in the College of Education, effective in the fall 2012 semester. This degree program and major will allow for greater flexibility and multiple pathways toward becoming a STEM teacher and will address state and national STEM teacher shortages.

The nation is facing a crisis as middle and high schools cannot find highly qualified mathematics and science teachers.  For example, unqualified teachers teach about 56 percent of high school students taking physical science and 27 percent of those taking mathematics.  At the state level, the Kentucky Department of Education annually compiles a list of certification shortages areas. Mathematics and science certification areas have been on the list since its inception in the 1990s. 

The Board of Trustees also approved the establishment of a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in human health sciences in the College of Health Sciences, effective in the fall 2012 semester. The proposed program will prepare graduates to pursue health care careers requiring a bachelor’s degree as well as preparing the graduate to enter advanced degree programs in the disciplines of dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistants and physical therapy.  This program is not intended to replace other traditional pathways to health care careers.  Instead, the program offers a unique alternative for those who seek careers in health care and the health professions.  

The Board of Trustees approved a change in the name of the Doctor of Education with a major in educational policy studies and evaluation degree to Doctor of Education with a major in educational policy studies, measurement and evaluation, effective in the fall 2012 semester.

Measurement of student and institutional improvement and change has always been implicit in the doctoral degree, first created in the 1980s. Recently, measurement has become valuable for aspiring education researchers. The faculty seek to better market the degree by making explicit what has always been implicit.

Students formally interested in earning a Doctor of Philosophy with a major in public administration will now be pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy with a major in public policy and administration, effective in the fall 2012 Semester. The proposed degree change more accurately reflects research and service activities at the James W. Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, which itself underwent a name change in 1994.