APSU Offers New Graduate Degree

Clarksville, TN – This fall, Austin Peay State University will offer a new graduate degree that will bring together science and business skills to give students a greater competitive advantage in the workforce. The Professional Science Masters, or PSM, will enable students to pursue advanced training in science or mathematics while developing workplace skills.

The PSM at APSU will be a fully online degree program, allowing students to work on a degree while continuing to hold employment. Students can pursue one of two concentrations – data management and analysis or predictive analytics. Both concentrations are ideal for anyone with a bachelor’s degree, working in industry or military and having a desire to advance their career with a technical degree.

Intended as an alternative to research-focused doctoral programs, PSM programs normally consist of study in a designated science or mathematics discipline but also contain a professional component that provides a fundamental education in professional fields such as communication, policy, business or law.

In the U.S., the PSM initiative began in 1997 when a select number of research universities, with the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, developed programs integrating science and mathematics studies with knowledge and training in management, law or other professional arenas. In 2001, the national Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) began its promotion of the PSM by partnering with Sloan to extend this initiative to a number of master’s-focused institutions, and in January 2006, CGS assumed primary responsibility from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for supporting and promoting the PSM initiative.

“I have wanted APSU to develop a Professional Science Masters since the Sloan Foundation started the PSM initiative in 1997. The key was finding the right program to propose, but it has been worth the wait,” Dr. Jaime Taylor, dean of the APSU College of Science and Mathematics, said. “The concentrations in data management and analysis and predictive analytics could not be more timely.”

The APSU Department of Computer Science and Information Technology will manage the data management and analysis concentration, while the APSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics will oversee the second one.

More information about the PSM graduate degree is located at http://www.apsu.edu/cogs/programs. For questions about the PSM, send an email to gradpsm@apsu.edu.