Graduate & Professional Studies

Instructor: G. Labreck
Dates: July 29 – August 2
Time: 8:00 am – 4:30 pm
Room: AD-205

Though classroom instructional strategies should clearly be based on sound science and research, knowing when to use them and with whom is more of an art. This course presents a model for ensuring quality teaching that balances the necessity of research-based data with the equally vital need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of individual students using the brain research. The author of one of the texts, Robert Marzano, articulates his framework in the form of 10 questions that represent a logical planning sequence for successful instructional design.

Instructor: T. Martin
Dates: August 5-9
Time: 8:00 am – 4:30pm
Room: AD-205A

This course examines the educators’ roles and duties in addressing the needs of students at risk. Various “at risk” categories are identified and explored. Focus areas include implications for school improvement programs, individual intervention, and referrals to community services.

Instructor: J. Donato
Day: Mondays
On-Campus Dates to be determined

An introduction to internal accounting, this course emphasizes the use of accounting information in controlling the operations of the enterprise. Specific areas include cost-volume-profit analysis, cost classifications, cost accumulation through job-order and process-costing techniques, budgeting, responsibility accounting, and transfer pricing. The fundamental accounting concepts and techniques for planning and control apply to all types and functions of organizations.

Instructor: M. Ziobro
Day: Wednesdays
Room: AL-227

This course is designed to help the student develop the ability to prepare and deliver effective speeches and presentations.  The course covers both the knowledge required to plan and organize a speech and the interpersonal delivery techniques necessary to overcome nervousness and achieve maximum impact.

Instructor: D. Leland
Days: Thursdays
On-campus dates to be determined

This course introduces students to Entrepreneurship inside and outside the organization. The special problems of small businesses are considered. Students study the management and marketing skills necessary to succeed as an independent business owner. This course incorporates lectures, guest speakers, case studies, and business plan preparation.

Instructor: TBD
Day: TBD

This course introduces students to legal issues likely to be encountered in the business world. Topics include torts, contracts, agency, partnerships, corporations, property, commercial paper, and secured transactions.

Instructor: D. Cragen

This course provides students with an introduction to the role of marketing and the process involved in developing a marketing mix for a new product. Topics covered include marketing functions, product development, channels of distribution, market segmentation, pricing policies, product life cycle, and promotional activities. Students will complete a project developing a product that incorporates the marketing mix.

Instructor: T. McAdam
Day: Mondays
Room: AL-228

The complexity of today’s health care reimbursement and payment systems requires an in-depth understanding of health insurance mechanisms, public funding sources, managed care functions, and the wide array of reimbursement options. This course includes a required, function-specific research project.

Instructor: M. Santo
Day: Tuesdays
Room: AL-209
On campus dates to be determined

This course analyzes the use of accounting as a managerial tool. Topics include budgeting, systems building and evaluation, inventory valuation, fixed asset valuation, and analysis and interpretation of financial reports from internal and external sources.

Instructor: F. Appunn
Day: Wednesdays
Room: AL-204
On campus dates to be determined

This course intends to build on a thorough project management foundation to include detailed insight into large projects, projects with diversified stakeholders, multi-location, and international projects. Topics including portfolio theory and information economics are designed to enhance previous learning and extend to project portfolio management and project management office functions

Instructor: B. Harrington
Day: Thursdays
Room: AL-116
On campus dates to be determined

This course focuses on financial decision-making by the firm. Topics include financial analysis and planning, valuation and the cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure and dividend policy, long-term financing, and working capital management. Emphasis is placed on case studies of practical business problems using computer electronic spreadsheet programs.

Instructor: R. Wheaton
Day: Thursdays
Room: AD-123
On campus dates to be determined

This course enables students to build skill in developing, managing, and maintaining outstanding customer service to internal and external customers. It includes a technology component, addressing how companies can use technology accelerators to build customer intimacy through data mining, point-of-purchase systems, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. There is also a significant human component, as that is a crucial part of customer service. The value of customer loyalty and the importance of communications and emotional intelligence to providing exceptional customer service are addressed. Additional areas of emphasis will include developing a customer-centered culture, as well as the use of customer service as a way to differentiate your organization from the competition.

Instructor: W. Alexander
Day: Mondays
Room: AD-205A

This class will provide a broad background for thinking about issues of education in historical and philosophical context. As the introductory course in the Thomas College Masters of Education Program, it will help prepare students for subsequent courses in the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment of learning. Students will have the opportunity to begin to identify questions about teaching and learning that will help focus their research throughout the remainder of the program.

Instructor: G. LaBreck
Day: Wednesday
Room: AD-205

This course provides an introduction to the concepts, principles, and practices related to designing and administering effective assessments in education. Teacher-designed assessments and standardized achievement tests are examined.

Instructor: P. Thompson
Day: Tuesdays
Room: AD-205A

In this course, students will examine concepts of leadership through the lens of poetry and selected films. The main focus of the course will be connecting key leadership characteristics and behaviors with the art and aesthetics of language and dramatic performance. Main topics will include leadership scenarios for building administrators, the reading and discussion of published poems on the theme of leadership, and the viewing and discussion of a variety of film scenes whose characters display a varied leadership style and/or behavior. Students will be encouraged to connect their personal and professional experiences in leadership with the course material.

Instructor: T. Brewer
Day: Thursdays
Room: AD-205A

This course is about understanding schools as organizations and how to change them to improve learning for all. It draws on literature about organization theory, organizational behavior, culture, change, leadership, and professional learning communities. It is designed to promote critical thinking about and planful action toward creating schools that are true learning organizations. The course begins with an overview of diverse models of organizations and moves to a focused examination of culture and its impact on organizational behavior. Frameworks for understanding organization change and resistance to change are then explored, followed by critical examination of leadership capabilities and skills necessary to lead successful school change efforts, including shared vision, inquiry-based use of data, and broad-based involvement and collaboration.

Instructor: T. Martin
Day: Thursdays
Room: AD-205A

Students in this course will investigate how to effectively implement a comprehensive literacy assessment approach and to link assessment results to the day to day instruction in the classroom. Students will gain theoretical knowledge as well as experience in application, design and architecture of the RTI model, and RTI implementation (including instructional practices) for literacy improvement.

Instructor: K. Rybakova

Through current research and best practices, reading development and instruction across a variety of texts and contexts from early childhood through adolescence will be explored in this course. Students will assess and implement a variety of instructional strategies to address the literacy acquisition process of students from diverse backgrounds.

Instructor: F. Appunn

Managers need to understand how they personally value risk in order to recognize the potential impact their behavior may have on organizations and stakeholders. They need to be able to foster sound processes in group environments. The course will include approaches to optimize decision-making and risk analysis to solve problems in different operating environments. This is a qualitative course covering a framework for making decisions, as well as understanding how these decisions can be used to manage risk. Contemporary techniques such as TRIZ, KT, McMaster, and others are explored.

Instructor: J. Grady
Day: Thursdays
Room: AL-204

Provides an understanding of the technology used to deliver safer hardware, software, and external links. Technologies includes IoT, cloud computing, asset control, authentication, access controls, models, controls and countermeasures, assessment of vulnerabilities in the light of threats and their mitigation, cryptography. The diverse areas lead to solution designs, practical execution of security assessments, and comprehensive solution testing strategies.

Instructor: M. Marsolais

Homeland Security is a national and international service and protection initiative that experienced significant growth following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Additionally, Homeland Security refers to the vast network of federal, state, local, and private agencies that organized and integrated after the attacks to respond to future threats to the country, its people, its infrastructure, and way of life. This course provides a student with a comprehensive examination of Homeland Security from its mission and organizational perspectives.

Instructor: H. Felch
Day: Thursdays (Hybrid)
Room: AL-204

Provides a foundation in digital forensics and investigations in general. The course includes forensics acquisition methods for computers (physical as well as virtual), mobile devices to include cell phones, network intrusions, and cloud storage. It will include forensic analysis and validation, examine e-mail, social media investigations.