The curriculum and programs of any academic unit are fluid to the extent that they can and must be reviewed and updated over time, including creating new courses and degrees. This fall, the COB debuted the new MS-SHRM, the Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management. Already 13 students have enrolled in the entirely online program, from Texas and points beyond, and interest is running high for an even larger incoming class in the Spring semester.
“I am hoping we have 30 or 40 students this Spring,” says Dr. Andrew Li, Williams Professor of Management. Li also reports that, thus far, about one-half of the students in the program already have a Master’s degree, while the other half does not. “Half are working in HR, and half are not,” he adds.
But much like with double majors at the BBA level, there is advantage to “double dipping,” as Li calls it, for students to earn two Master’s degrees. “We allow students to carry nine credit hours over into the new program. So basically, even though the new program is 31 hours, they only need to do 22 hours.” He notes one of his students who finished her MBA this last August, and hopes to finish the MS-SHRM in just one year.
While the program is completely online, Li mentions that “…we have not completely closed the door of offering it on-campus.”
The program gained its final approvals late last Spring, as was quickly launched this semester. “We have been doing a lot of things to promote it over the last few months,” he reports. “The first thing we did was participate in the annual Professional and Graduate Career Fair. The second thing they did was to create a brochure.
More recently, two Management faculty attended the Texas SHRM conference, where they spoke about the program. They have also placed an ad on the Texas SHRM website, and promoted the program in an email blast that went to all 22,000 members in the state.
Lastly, Li reports that an academic contact in China reached out and requested more information about the program. “We are hoping to get a group of Chinese students to participate in the program. If that happens, we may then be able to offer the program on-campus.”
For more information about the MS-SHRM program, visit their web page.