Student FAQ Regarding EPOL Merger

1. Will students who came in the 2010-11 academic year (the first year of the merger) and years to come, have EPOL on their diploma?

EPOL is the department name and does not show on student transcripts or diplomas. Once an EPOL major is established (which could take up to 2 years), EPOL will show as the major on the transcripts.

2. Can students who came in before the merger get EPOL on their diplomas?

No. Department names are not listed on the transcript or diplomas. At present an EPOL major does not exist, so current students can attain degrees only in the existing majors (EOL, EPS, HRE).

3. In EPS, students are admitted programmatically (philosophy, socio-cultural foundations, global studies, sociology, history). Will these specializations appear on student diplomas?

HRE & EOL currently have official concentrations with the Graduate College. EPS is developing a proposal to add official concentrations. Students with an official concentration on record will have that listed on their transcript. Here are the current concentrations:

HRE: elearning, human resource development, community college teaching & learning.
EOL: higher education, educational administration & leadership

4. Can students from all merged departments have advisors from a different department than the one in which they were accepted? Does this work the same way with dissertation advisors?

Yes, this is not a new policy. However, typically students will have an advisor in their concentration, but they may have a dissertation director from another area.

5. In terms of the dissertation committee, students typically need an external person on their committee. Will professors from different programs (EPS or HRE, for example) count as an outside member to an EOL dissertation?

This is yet to be decided as it is a College of Education policy. EPOL is proposing to follow the Graduate College policy, which allows for diversity on the committee. If the proposal is accepted, a faculty member outside of a student's concentration could count as the "outside" member.

6. What are the implications for qualifying exam structure? Departments and programs administer them differently, so will this change for current and/or incoming students?

This is currently in discussion by the EPOL Advisory Committee.

7. What are the master and Ph.D. course requirements? Will courses in EPOL count as "core subject areas" all together, or will they count differently? For example, if an EPOL student is concentrating on HRE, will EPS courses count as core subject courses, or will they be considered electives?

Current student degree requirements will not change. Future students will follow their major requirements. Once the EPOL major is available, it is anticipated that there will be some common (core) courses taken by all students.

8. In the current HRE master's program, there are required courses outside the department, and some of these courses are EPOL, EOL, C&I or EPSY. Will this change?

These are College foundation requirements, which are requirements common to all master students within the College of Education. This will not change unless done so by the College's Graduate Programs committee.

9. Can a student have more than one concentration?

Yes, a student can have up to 3 concentrations but those must be in one of the existing majors. Once an EPOL major is established, students will be able to choose up to 3 major concentrations from EPOL. The current concentrations are:

HRE: elearning, human resource development, community college teaching & learning
EOL: higher education, educational administration and leadership
EPS: (currently unofficial & not listed on transcripts- history of education, philosophy in education, social & cultural studies, global studies in education.)