New Online Master's Program in Community Planning Approved

Reprinted Courtesy K-State Media Relations and Marketing

Kansas State University is part of a new online master’s degree program that is the first of its kind in community development, according to program organizers.

Faculty from K-State have partnered with other universities, through the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance, to develop the interdisciplinary, interinstitutional degree program. The program is designed to accelerate the work of those who are building rural community capacity for a sustainable future. The program offers students the opportunity to achieve a master’s degree online while applying their new skills and knowledge in the settings where they work.

“By offering valuable education at a distance to community practitioners, this degree program promises to provide hope and a better tomorrow for both rural and urban communities in America,” said Al Keithley, K-State professor of landscape architecture and regional and community planning.

The new community development master’s degree program was officially approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in November. It will be available to students enrolling in the spring 2007 semester.

K-State and the five other participating universities — Iowa State University, North Dakota State University, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska and South Dakota State University — are bringing together nationally recognized faculty to provide program instruction. The faculty originates from several disciplines, including architecture, agriculture, regional and community planning, economics, Native American studies, sociology and speech communication.

The joint program will be offered at K-State and the other participating institutions, and students may choose at which university they would like to matriculate. The course work incorporates various perspectives and the latest materials from the field through interaction with faculty. Students will take required courses in principles and strategies of community change, organizing for community change, community analysis, community and regional economic analysis, and community and natural resource management.

Students then will choose elective courses from among several tracks, which currently include working with native communities, building economic capacity and natural resource management. Additional tracks will be added as the demand for the program increases. A master’s degree is earned upon completion of 36 credits, which include either a thesis project or a non-thesis — course only — option.

At K-State, the program will be administered through the graduate program in regional and community planning, offered through the department of landscape architecture and regional and community planning in K-State’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design.

Active faculty participants in the new degree program from K-State include Keithley, and Sheri Smith, assistant professor, and Ray Weisenburger, professor, of landscape architecture and regional and community planning.

K-State enrollment coordinator is Debra Wood, who also is coordinator for the School of Family Studies and Human Services in the College of Human Ecology.

Sue Maes, co-director, and Ruth Williams, project coordinator, both with the K-State Institute for Academic Alliances, facilitated development the online degree. Other faculty members from K-State who were involved in the initial preparations include David Darling, professor emeritus of agricultural economics, and David Proctor, director of the Center for Engagement and Community Development. Also assisting was the late Leonard Bloomquist, former head of the department of sociology, anthropology and social work.

Funding for the development of the program was provided by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Higher Education Challenge grant, a U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant, and a Council of Graduate Schools Professional Master’s Program planning grant, which were received by K-State’s Institute for Academic Alliances and Iowa State University’s North Central Regional Center for Rural Development.

More information is available by contacting Debra Wood at 785-532-1480.

For more information, contact:
Al Keithley, 785.532.5961
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090