UNT System
To prepare graduate students to work immediately and effectively in critical science and technology industries and for government oversight in the tech sectors, a group of higher education leaders is advancing professional science / mathematics master's programs called PSMs in university systems across the country. PSMs are two-year (non-thesis) master's that combine advanced, graduate level science/math curricula with coursework in business, management, policy, patent law, regulatory affairs, leadership, and communications. They also include an internship with a corporate or public entity. The number of formally recognized PSM programs grows with every passing month.
Photo: National PSM advocates, Sheila Tobias (left) and Donald Langenberg.
Since 2002, PSMs have been launched on five individual campuses in Texas; but not yet system wide as in New York (SUNY and CUNY), Massachusetts, (U-Mass System), California (CSU), Pennsylvania (PASSHE), University of North Carolina (UNC), Illinois (UIUC), and Washington State University. Local Texas programs are at University of Texas at El Paso (Bioinformatics), University of Texas at San Antonio (Industrial Mathematics), Texas A&M University (Biotechnology), Rice University (Nanoscience, Subsurface Geology, Environmental Decision Making), and University of North Texas (Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Industrial Chemistry). The Texas programs have graduated a total of 243 PSM graduates, many continuing to work and reside in Texas.
According to CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed whose system-wide PSM adoption has generated 23 campus programs in California, the PSMs are critical to America's competitive strength in the global economy, because PSM faculty work closely with business/industry advisers. "This helps ensure," says Dr. Reed, "that university graduates … understand how to apply their knowledge in the professional setting."
National PSM advocates, Sheila Tobias and Donald Langenberg will be in Texas the last week in July, to meet with CPUPC and TCCAO in Austin on Wednesday July 27 and with corporate leaders, HR professionals, and Foundation staff, at other times and venues. Work to promote PSM programs is sponsored by the National Association of System Heads (NASH), to reflect its priority to promote new educational models to meet public needs for economic development and job creation.
Tobias authored the 1995 book, Rethinking Science as a Career, which laid out the case for a professional science master's. Langenberg is chancellor emeritus of the University System of Maryland and a past president of the National Association of System Heads.