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Methodist University METHODIST UNIVERSITY NOW OFFERS THE MASTER OF EDUCATION PROGRAM IN ADDITION TO THE MASTER OF MEDICAL SCIENCE IN PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES, THE PROFESSIONAL MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND THE MASTER OF JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION. In mid-May, the M.Ed. program already had 11 students lined up to start in the cohort, a term for the educational group, Godwin said. The students will matriculate together for 36 semester hours over two years, and a new cohort will begin each summer in June. Three of the inaugural students are former MU students, and four are from counties surrounding Cumberland. In the summer, the classes are face to face, and in fall and spring the classes will be hybrids of classroom and online time, with the goal of work- ing around the schedules of program students who teach full-time, Godwin said. Students have, so far, selected the reading concentration. During their coursework, they'll have the opportunity to diagnose a student to determine areas of improvement and then provide remediation for that student. Based on its research into students' desires to have an M.Ed. program, as well as build- ing on its other master's program successes, Methodist expects the M.Ed. degree to be very popular. Methodist started its graduate Physician Assistant Studies program with just four students and now the program has 40, Brookman said. The University's other master's degree programs are: the Master of Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies, the Professional Master of Business Administration, and the Master of Justice Administration. "What makes us stand out is that all of our graduate programs have some sort of capstone component," Brookman said. "We try to get our students to bring with them some sort of question or problem that they have regarding their own work environment. Especially for the non-PA programs, the students work on that particular question throughout their two years in the master's program. M.Ed. students are being asked to start thinking about the projects well in advance of completing the course. "In the MBA program, one university employee worked on developing a social media policy, Brook- man cited as an example. Other students have researched different types of health care programs. "While you take the specific courses, what each person gets out of it will be unique and personalized," she said. In the next five years, the University's goal is to have 300 graduate students, accord- ing to the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. The office provided the 28 | ACCENTS • 2012/2013

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