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New graduate-degree concept combines business with science

New professional degree Illinois is developing a professional science master’s degree program, which combines advanced training in science or mathematics with graduate-level courses in business-related disciplines. Kevin Sightler is the visiting director of the PSM program in the Graduate College. The first cohort of students will begin classes in fall 2009, pending approval by the UI Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

A new graduate degree program under development at the UI aims to expand opportunities for graduates with bachelor’s degrees in science and math and provide employers with well-rounded workers who know the fundamentals of business as well as their disciplines.

The professional science master’s degree is a new degree concept for Illinois that will combine advanced training in science or mathematics with graduate-level courses in business-related disciplines. The Illinois PSM Initiative is a component of Chancellor Richard Herman’s Strategic Plan for the Urbana campus, which calls for developing academic programs in areas of pressing societal need.

“PSM degrees reflect the changing demands of the workplace for people who are working in science,” said Kevin Sightler, visiting director of the PSM Program in the Graduate College. “What employers have told us is they need people who are very proficient in science but they also need people who understand the basics of business, and that is particularly true for companies that are putting a lot of new products onto the market, such as biotechnology. They need a good solid science background but they also need to understand how to read a balance sheet, understand cash flow and regulatory requirements, manage projects and present themselves well.”

At its March meeting, the Urbana-Champaign Senate approved proposals from the Graduate College to establish a graduate concentration titled professional science master’s and to create two master of science degrees with majors in bioenergy and agricultural production, to be offered by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The new degrees would be offered as PSM degrees along with ACES’ existing non-thesis major in food science and human nutrition beginning in fall 2009, pending approval by the UI Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

The proposed curricular requirements include 32 hours of science courses plus 10 hours of business-related professional content, which is yet to be determined but probably will include accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management/leadership, strategy, human resources and business courses that interface with science. The professional content will be delivered by the College of Business and the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The PSM degrees will be structured as non-thesis, three-semester programs with a summer internship. Cohorts of full-time students will enter a program each fall and progress together. The courses will be traditional, face-to-face instruction, but some courses eventually may be offered through distance learning to reach prospective students who may not want to attend full-time, classroom-based programs, Sightler said.

PSM programs are designed to be terminal degrees, not intermediate steps toward doctorates, and are intended for students who want to enhance their professional and technical skills to be more competitive in the workforce.

“It’s important to understand that PSMs are not ‘watered down’ in science content to make room for the professional business content,” Sightler said. “It’s science plus business.”

The students who typically are attracted to PSM programs are students who are not interested in doing years of research and postdoctoral work to earn doctorates and are not interested in careers in academia. PSM students usually have just earned their undergraduate degrees, are full-time students and are interested in mid-level management positions. The university plans to focus on undergraduates as its initial target market but may expand its marketing efforts to mid-career workers who want to augment their skill sets and advance professionally.

PSM students will not be eligible for assistantships or tuition/fee waivers nor will they be able to transfer graduate credits into the program.

Last summer, the UI did a market analysis and surveyed potential students and corporate partners. Of the 203 students who completed the survey, 90 percent indicated they were highly interested in PSM degrees. Currently about 70 colleges and universities in the U.S. – including Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University – offer a total of 120 PSM programs, an increase of more than 50 percent over 2006, according to a pilot survey conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools. The programs span a wide range of disciplines, including industrial microbiology, human-computer interaction, and nanoscale physics, and sometimes are called “science-plus degrees.”

Other academic units beyond ACES have expressed interest in offering PSM majors, and campus officials hope to launch degrees in 10 disciplines over the next three years, with a maximum capacity of 20 students in each discipline at any one time when the programs mature.

A PSM Advisory Board comprising faculty members, students, civic leaders and representatives from major corporations and professional organizations is being formed to oversee the initiative. External advisory committees in participating academic units will plan and assess their degree programs and work with corporate partners to develop student internships.

The Illinois PSM Initiative is being funded by a three-year $300,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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