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2.7.1 Program Length (Continued)

Narrative (Continued)

Post-Baccalaureate, Graduate and Doctoral Degrees

All post-baccalaureate and graduate or professional-level doctoral degree programs at LSU require a minimum of 30 semester hours of credit beyond the baccalaureate degree.

The 76 masters degrees and 49 doctoral degrees, along with their associated minimum credit hours, are listed in the General Catalog [6] and Table 2. The minimum requirement for masters-level degrees is

30 semester hours of graduate work, 24 hours of which must be in course work and six hours in thesis research. In programs not requiring a thesis, the minimum requirement is normally 36 semester hours. At least one-half of the minimum required credit in the student’s master’s program must be in courses at or above the 7000 level [11].

The requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy at LSU include course work components. The Graduate School section of the General Catalog states that

While the Doctor of Philosophy degree cannot be earned solely by passing courses, the program of work prescribed by a department ordinarily provides for a substantial amount of course work, equivalent to three years of full-time study beyond the requirements for the baccalaureate degree. Some departments require considerably more course work [11].

Table 2 summarizes the minimum number of semester credit hours required for each of the graduate degrees offered by LSU.

Table 2: Post-Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees with minimum credit hours
Department	Curriculum (concentration)	Degree	Minimum credit hours
Accounting	Accounting	MS	30^T
Accounting	Accounting	PhD	54^D
Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness	Agricultural Economics	MS	33^T, 36^P
Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness	Agricultural Economics	PhD	57^D
Animal Sciences	Animal, Dairy, and Poultry Sciences	MS	30^T, 36^C
Animal Sciences	Animal and Dairy Sciences	PhD	56^D
Architecture	Architecture	MArch	36^T, 36^P
Art	Art History	MA	30^T
Art	Studio Art	MFA	60^D
Biological & Agricultural Engineering	Biological & Agricultural Engineering	MSBAE	30^T
Biological Sciences	Biochemistry	MS	30^T
	Biochemistry	PhD	54^D*
	Biological Sciences	MS	30^T
	Biological Sciences	PhD	54^D*
Business Administration	Business Administration	MBA	42^T
	Business Administration (Finance)	PhD	54^D
	Business Administration (Information Systems & Decisions Sciences)	PhD	60^D
	Business Administration (Management)	PhD	63^D
	Business Administration (Marketing)	PhD	57^D
Chemical Engineering	Chemical Engineering	MSCHE	30^T, 36^C
Chemical Engineering	Chemical Engineering	PhD	54^D*
Chemistry	Chemistry	MS	30^T, 36^C
Chemistry	Chemistry	PhD	54^D*
Civil & Environmental Engineering	Civil Engineering	MSCE	31^T, 37^P
Civil & Environmental Engineering	Civil Engineering	PhD	54^D*
Coastal & Ecological Engineering	Coastal & Ecological Engineering	MS	31^T
Communication Sciences & Disorders	Communication Disorders	MA	39^T, 39^C
Communication Sciences & Disorders	Communication Disorders	PhD	72^D
Communication Studies	Communication Studies	MA	30^T, 36^C
Communication Studies	Communication Studies	PhD	72^D
Comparative Literature	Comparative Literature	PhD	54^D*
Computer Science	Systems Science	MSSS	36^T, 36^P
Computer Science	Computer Science	PhD	54^D*
Construction Management	Construction Management	MCM	30^T, 36^P
Economics	Economics	MS	36^T*
Economics	Economics	PhD	54^D*
Educational Theory, Policy, & Practice	Curriculum & Instruction	MEd	36^T
	Curriculum & Instruction	PhD	71^D
	Education	MA	37^T
	Education	EdS	60^D
	Educational Leadership	MEd	39^T
	Educational Leadership & Research	PhD	54^D*
	Educational Technology	MEd	program suspended
	Elementary Education (Grades 1-5)	MAT	36^C
	Gifted Education	MEd	36^C
	Guidance	MEd	48^T, 48^C
	Secondary Education (Grades 6-12)	MAT	36^P
	Special Education	MEd	36^C
Electrical & Computer Engineering	Electrical Engineering	MSEE	30^T, 36^C
Electrical & Computer Engineering	Electrical Engineering	PhD	54^D*
Engineering (Interdisciplinary)	Engineering Science	MSES	30^T, 36^P
Engineering (Interdisciplinary)	Engineering Science	PhD	54^D*
English	Creative Writing	MFA	48^T
	English	MA	30^T, 30^C
	English	PhD	54^D*
Entomology	Entomology	MS	30^T*
Entomology	Entomology	PhD	54^D*
Environmental Sciences	Environmental Sciences	MS	36^T, 36^P
Environmental Sciences	Environmental Sciences	PhD	60^D
Experimental Statistics	Applied Statistics	MApSt	37^T, 38^P
Finance	Finance	MS	36^T, 36^C
Food Science	Food Science	MS	30^T
Food Science	Food Science	PhD	60^D
Foreign Languages & Literatures	Hispanic Studies	MA	30^T, 36^C
French Studies	French	MA	36^T, 36^P
French Studies	French	PhD	54^D*
Geography & Anthropology	Anthropology	MA	30^T*
	Geography	MS	30^T*
	Geography	PhD	54^D*
Geology & Geophysics	Geology	MS	30^T
Geology & Geophysics	Geology	PhD	60^D
History	History	MA	30^T, 36^C
History	History	PhD	60^D
Human Ecology	Human Ecology	MS	30^T, 36^P
Human Ecology	Human Ecology	PhD	80^D
Human Resource Education	Human Resource Education	MS	30^T, 36^C
Human Resource Education	Human Resource Education	PhD	90^D
Industrial Engineering	Industrial Engineering	MSIE	30^T, 36^P
Information Systems & Decision Sciences	Analytics	MS	36^T, 36^P
Kinesiology	Kinesiology	MS	30^T, 36^C
Kinesiology	Kinesiology	PhD	75^D
Landscape Architecture	Landscape Architecture	MLA	36^P
Liberal Arts	Liberal Arts	MALA	30^T, 36^C
Library & Information Science	Library & Information Science	MLIS	40^T, 40^C
Mass Communication	Mass Communication	MMC	34^T, 34^P, 34^C
Mass Communication	Mass Communication & Public Affairs	PhD	88^D
Mathematics	Mathematics	MS	30^T, 36^C
Mathematics	Mathematics	PhD	54^D*
Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering	MSME	30^T, 36^P
Mechanical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering	PhD	54^D*
Music	Music	MM	30^T, 30^C
	Music	DMA	60^D
	Music	PhD	78^D
Natural Sciences	Natural Sciences	MNS	30^T, 36^C
Oceanography & Coastal Sciences	Oceanography & Coastal Sciences	MS	30^T, 36^C
Oceanography & Coastal Sciences	Oceanography & Coastal Sciences	PhD	57^D
Petroleum Engineering	Petroleum Engineering	MSPE	30^T, 36^P
Petroleum Engineering	Petroleum Engineering	PhD	54^D
Philosophy & Religious Studies	Philosophy	MA	30^T, 36^C
Physics & Astronomy	Medical Physics & Health Physics	MS	39T
	Physics	MS	30T, 36C
	Physics	PhD	54^D*
Plant, Environmental, & Soil Sciences	Plant, Environmental Management and Soil Sciences	MS	30^T, 36^P
Plant, Environmental, & Soil Sciences	Plant, Environmental Management and Soil Sciences	PhD	60^D
Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology	Plant Health	MS	30^T, 36^C
Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology	Plant Health	PhD	55^D
Political Science	Political Science	MA	34^T, 34^C
Political Science	Political Science	PhD	64^D
Psychology	Psychology	MA	36^T
Psychology	Psychology	PhD	54^D*
Public Administration	Public Administration	MPA	42^P
Renewable Natural Resources	Renewable Natural Resources	MS	30^T
Renewable Natural Resources	Renewable Natural Resources	PhD	57^D
Social Work	Social Work	MSW	60^T, 60^P
Social Work	Social Work	PhD	54^D*
Sociology	Sociology	MA	36^T, 36^P
Sociology	Sociology	PhD	54^D
Theatre	Theatre	MFA	73^T
Theatre	Theatre	PhD	90^D
Veterinary Medicine	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Comparative Biomedical Sciences	MS	30^T
	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Comparative Biomedical Sciences	PhD	60^D
	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Pathobiological Sciences	MS	30^T
	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Pathobiological Sciences	PhD	54^D
	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Veterinary Clinical Sciences	MS	36^T
	Veterinary Medical Sciences-Veterinary Clinical Sciences	PhD	54^D*
	Veterinary Medicine	DVM	54^D*
All degrees require a written and/or oral final examination. For a practicum, thesis, or dissertation, the examination is usually limited to a defense of the student’s work. T – Thesis required. D – Dissertation required. P – Practicum required. C – Comprehensive examination required. * – Graduate School minimum of 54 hours for the doctorate and 30 hours for the master’s

Review of Degree Program Length

The length of degree programs are reviewed and re-evaluated by a variety groups, including the following:

The LSU Board of Supervisors, which passed in March 2010 a resolution to “develop and implement a review process for each bachelor’s degree program with the goal of standardizing the number of credits at 120 hours without compromising accreditation and certification requirements” [12]; the result of this resolution was that most of the baccalaureate degree programs at LSU were standardized at 120 credit hours, except where warranted by external accreditation agencies and certification demands;

External accreditation agencies, which require that specific bodies of knowledge and/or skills are achieved by the student, commonly requiring an expanded range of courses and/or learning experiences; consequently, the credit hours in these accredited degree programs commonly exceed the minimum credit-hour requirements of the LSU Board of Supervisors and SACSCOC (Table 1); twenty-four external accreditation agencies have accredited 80 degree programs at the baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate level at LSU (Table 3); Comprehensive Standard 3.13.1 details the specific review process through which the external accrediting agencies deal with accredited programs at LSU;

The Faculty Senate Courses and Curricula Committee, which is charged with ensuring that the content, quality, and effectiveness of the curricula are consistent with standards appropriate to higher education and to the university’s mission and considers the issue of program length in their deliberations; a degree program initiated at LSU must satisfy the LSU Board of Supervisors’ credit-hour mandate;

The process through which each academic department formally assesses student learning outcomes; as noted in Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.1, degree program student learning outcomes are annually reviewed in each of the academic units; the credit hours for individual courses within the program-length framework of LSU may be modified on the basis of data generated in this process;
The Louisiana Board of Regents, which will “periodically review and evaluate program quality and productivity at all levels of higher education” [13]; this review is primarily designed to assess the viability of degree programs rather than program length per se.

For a complete listing of externally accredited degree programs at LSU see Table 3.

NOTE: A full list of attachments is available in the first half of the narrative.

Author: Stephenie Franks
Last modified: 7/1/2015 8:33 AM (EDT)

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Louisiana State University and A&M College

2.7.1 Program Length (Continued)