Graduate Student Learning Outcomes

The department assumes students who enter graduate-level studies have been given appropriate training in the fundamentals of the discipline and possess the qualities necessary to produce graduate-level work. The department assesses students on several important outcomes:

1. The ability to produce quality scholarship
   Students will use their knowledge of the fundamentals of the discipline and the critical evolution of the discipline over time to help contribute to that field through research.
2. Mastery of one or more of the sub-fields offered in the major
   The program offers subfields that form the specialization a graduate student will develop while enrolled in the program. Students graduating from the program are expected to have mastered one or more of these subfields. Specifically, students should have an understanding of the traditional and critical literature of the subfield and be able to demonstrate a mastery of these fields.
3. Ability to think politically
   Graduate students are required to think politically about social phenomena. Comprehending that all social, economic, and cultural processes are also political is a crucial learning outcome. That comprehension creates knowledgeable citizenry capable of acting on policy decisions and conduct. That no knowledge is innocent, but that all knowledge has consequences is key to this learning outcome.