Responses to UCC’s feedback regarding proposed M.S. Program in Kinesiology at CSUSM
I thank Matt and the rest of the UCC for thoroughly examining our materials related to the
proposed M.S. Program in Kinesiology. Below, I have attempted to respond to every concern
raised about this Program. Thank you. Also, if I need to incorporate these changes into the
current P form, I will gladly do this.
1. This is a fair point you raise. Courses are being offered every 2 yr (page 6 of P form) as
students will only be admitted every 2 yr, so if our program were to launch in fall 2014 with its
first cohort of students, the next class would not start until fall 2016. If student demand were to
merit accepting students on an annual basis, additional faculty would be hired to meet this
demand. That said, this model will reduce our workload somewhat in regards to thesis
supervision, as described further in #4.
2. Sure, this is not a problem. I will gladly modify the course number of all 2nd year classes as
well as practicum and thesis to 600-level classes, such as KINE 695 and 698; thank you.
3. Further discussions with my peers on the KINE faculty have led to the consensus that all
students will complete a thesis. The exact scope of this thesis will depend on early interaction
between the faculty mentor and student and relate to each student’s career aims. It is apparent
that many CSU campuses are going away from the traditional Master’s thesis and instead,
requiring students to complete a manuscript based on original data obtained from testing of the
scientific method. It is our intent to encourage all students to complete a thesis following this
model. Specific topics of theses will be identified in the first year of the Program and
continually refined in Seminar, so activities related to its completion (data collection and
dissemination) can ensue early in year 2. We will encourage students to collaborate with each
other on similar topics, with each taking a unique portion of the overall project. This team
approach will help to reduce faculty supervision and overall workload issues and promote
collaboration amongst students within our Program.
4. This is a very fair point you raise regarding faculty workload issues. Please note that in
addition to a tenure-line replacement search for Dr. Witzke that we will conduct this academic
year, we are in discussions with Extended Learning (EL) to acquire an additional faculty line
paid for by EL. We are also optimistic that an additional tenure-track growth hire could be
extended to our Department in the coming years due to our steadily increasing student
enrollment, currently equal to 358 KINE majors and 459 pre-KINE students, making us the 3rd
largest Department on campus in regards to student enrollment. Moreover, we have a strong,
experienced pool of part-time faculty as well as a growing list of new applicants who can teach
additional undergraduate classes if tenure-track faculty are indeed overloaded with
responsibilities in the graduate program. Monies are built into the budget to hire
Graduate/Teaching Assistants to teach undergraduate labs for Exercise Physiology,
Biomechanics, and Motor Learning which will free up our tenure-track faculty. Based on
responses to #1 above, faculty supervision on theses will not be as great as initially assumed as
we will only admit students every two years.
You also inquire as to the number of faculty currently engaged in undergraduate research, as
this is a clear strength of our current program. An estimated 10 – 15 undergrads currently
collaborate with faculty in research, and it remains to be seen how undergraduate research
activity will be impacted by the graduate program. While there may be greater competition for
research positions with faculty, the addition of graduate students with the ability to oversee
certain aspects of their own projects may actually create more opportunities for undergraduate
students to work with graduate students. In addition, faculty will still require research-based
projects in undergraduate classes. Ultimately, we see ourselves as a faculty composed of
productive scholars who will encourage and work with undergraduates who display an interest in
and aptitude for research.
5. For some reason, I ignored this as I was preparing this document. This is now completed and
attached to this document; thank you.
6. These inconsistencies have been modified and are now consistent across documents; thank
you.
7. Page 2 of the P form designates that the Program will be offered partially online, but by no
means greater than 50 % of instruction time. It is our goal to place select lectures and other
components of our pedagogy online, but we will primarily use a face-to-face teaching model
with on-line content supporting our instruction yet not serving as the primary means.
8. Proficiency in scientific writing will be required in every class offered as part of this Program,
and faculty will provide students with continued feedback regarding the adequacy of their
writing style and quality. Students will take the GRE exam as one admission requirement of our
Program, so we will use this score as a means to satisfy this writing requirement.