The Office of Graduate and Professional Education will extend the reach and impact of UD's professional programs beyond the region and to reap the benefits for all our students and faculty through closer engagement with our society, its needs, and its problem-solvers. The University will invest in professional programs that provide excellence, uniqueness, impact, and response to societal needs. Additional opportunities may include partnership with other institutions of higher education, and with the public and private sectors. Advanced scholarship and professional degrees in areas such as health, education, business, and law have become essential, both for practitioners and for the professions themselves.
Progress Update: The "Council on Professional Master's Programs" has been established with the goals to:
The Office of Graduate and Professional Education established a community of graduate professional program directors with focus groups and shared resources. Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs currently in development include Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, and Software Engineering. Master’s programs in Statistics and Operations Research are being revised to fit the PSM model. Several graduate certificates have also been developed and other PSM programs are under consideration. Related professional master’s programs in Landscape Architecture, Computer Engineering, and Systems Engineering are under consideration.
Professional Continuing Studies was merged with the Office of Graduate and Professional Education to enhance offerings, cultivate greater synergies and develop a robust pipeline to graduate education. Marketing, recruiting, financial aid and distance program development efforts are being initiated.
The Office of Graduate and Professional Education will support continuing outreach to the regional business industry and government to determine and keep current on professional education needs and trends, engaging the community to provide co-ops, internships, and professional development opportunities for our students and for their employees.
Progress Update: A grant was secured from the Delaware Valley Innovation network to develop a Professional Science Master’s program in Biotechnology. Industry Advisory Boards have been formed for PSM programs in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. Industry partnerships are being formed to support graduate internships for PSM students. A new summer internship program for Delaware-based cultural institutions is under development for Summer 2010.
As part of the University Health Initiative, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources will create liaisons that foster collaborative programs in zoonotic diseases, including avian influenza; food safety and security; pathogen evolution; and immune competence. The College will develop opportunities for post-baccalaureate training in areas such as environmental and agricultural law, public horticulture, and poultry health and will explore possibilities related to landscape design and architecture.
Progress Update: The Department of Plant and Soil Sciences has formed a planning team and begun the design of a MLA program focused on Public Horticulture. The team has conducted focus group meetings and interviews with representatives from the Landscape Architecture industry, other universities with MLA programs, and the national accrediting body for MLA degrees. A proposal to implement and fund the MLA program is now being developed for 2010.
The College of Arts & Sciences will create new professional programs to serve the next generation of leaders in their fields. These will include certificate programs in specialized areas and Professional Science Master’s degrees.
Progress Update: The College’s Secondary Education programs completed their self-studies during 2009 as part of the NCATE accreditation process that will run through 2011. New hires in Math Education and English Education strengthened those two programs and reflected the college’s continued commitment to producing outstanding educators. The College is partnering during 2009-10 with twelve school districts and three charter schools to deliver top-quality, research-based professional development programs for Delaware educators. Two Professional Science Master’s degree programs, in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, have been developed and submitted to the Faculty Senate for approval. A new certificate program in Computational Science is also in the approval process. A new MS degree in Software Engineering, initially developed as a professional program to meet the needs of Army employees at Aberdeen, has also been submitted to the Faculty Senate.
The College of Engineering is working to establish new, and expand existing, professional degree programs. This will involve the creation of targeted professional degree programs and the introduction of 4+1 BS/MS programs. Initial programs will be submitted for approval during the 2009-10 academic year to begin in Fall 2010.
Progress Update: A series of 4+1 programs are being developed in the College of Engineering and will be submitted for faculty senate approval during the 2009-10 academic year. A joint masters degree program in Software Engineering has been developed by Computer and Information Sciences and Electrical and Computer Engineering. The program will be submitted for Faculty Senate approval during the 2009-10 academic year.
The College of Health Sciences will establish the University as the international leader in the development of new technologies, new measurement paradigms, and new clinical intervention strategies for the mechanical analysis of human motion.
Progress Update: The College has established a luminary agreement with C-Motion Inc., the developer of biomechanical analysis software package Visual3D. Visual3D is the most widely distributed analysis software for both clinical and research applications in biomechanics. The agreement results in partial funding for a UD faculty member to assist with the continued development of Visual3D and gives UD student and faculty researchers access to the latest software developments. This past summer, UD conducted its first workshop on Visual3D, attended by UD faculty and scientists from the US Air Force Research Laboratory.
The Department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences has begun to acquire instrumentation for the development of a teaching laboratory. The teaching laboratory will be a critical component of the professional master's degree in motion capture technology and will serve a similar purpose in the interdisciplinary Biomechanics and Movement Science program.
The Lerner College of Business and Economics will actively pursue high-profile strategic initiatives to deliver outstanding professional education and to elevate the visibility of its professional programs and centers. It will seek to be the preferred provider of business related professional education in the region and globally.
Progress update: The College is examining ways to offer business education to students in the professional science masters programs across campus. Also, conversations are underway with Thomas Jefferson University to discuss the feasibility of offering a joint MD/MBA program.
The Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance is sponsoring an Enterprise/Risk Management Conference in October 2009. This program is expected to attract some of the top corporate directors and prominent members of the legal profession.
Through the Venture Development Center, a University wide entrepreneurial forum and business plan competition was held in Spring 2009. In addition to educating business, government and academic leaders on business and entrepreneurial opportunities and pitfalls, the business plan competition encourages students to formulate ideas and create a full business plan that is ultimately “judged” by business community entrepreneurial experts.
University of Delaware • Newark, DE 19716 • USA • Phone: (302) 831-2792 • © 2008 
