Created in 1968 by the Texas Legislature with help from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, a CONSORTION was begun to leverage limited teaching resources across three universities—Texas Woman’s University (TWU), the University of North Texas (UNT), and Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMU-C).
Still today, graduate students are provided access to the combined academic resources of all three universities, including CROSS-REGISTRATION at member universities and options to SELECT PROFESSORS and THESIS or DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS from among Federation Schools.
This allows master and doctoral-level students to take approved courses at any of the partner schools without completing applications or paying application fees. Rather, they pay tuitions and fees for selected courses to their “home” institutions.
Dr. Jennifer Schroeder, Dean of the A&M-Commerce Graduate School, notes that one special advantage of all this is that “when a student is in a ‘crunch’ to meet degree requirements and needs a credit-hour or two, it can be beneficial to take the class at a ‘partner institution.’ We (A&M-Commerce) welcome our visiting students and appreciate the benefits of ‘cross-institutional learning.’”
According to reports, spring of 2021 found approximately 50 graduate students from TWU and UNT enrolled in graduate classes in Commerce.
The Federation also hosts an annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, during which Federation University Students can “connect” and present their research in a lowpressure environment.
Heather Rodriguez did research that will be included in the Handbook of Texas Women (Texas State Historical Association) and was able to share the story of a woman (Elizabeth Patton Crockett), who helped to shape Texas history, and Rodriguez hopes to encourage continued research.
Subroto Singha presented a research study that proposed a methodology to detect drones in real time as a way to protect against improper and illegal drone use. He emphasized that he was given an opportunity to showcase his work and that the judges’ constructive comments will help him to improve future research methodology.
Dr. Andrea Graham, Associate Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at A&M-Commerce, emphasizes that research forums like this symposium are critical to exploring and testing new theories that may lead to many improvements, facilitate learning, and help students to “grow.”
For more information about the Federation and/or cross-registration guidelines, please contact Dr. Schroeder at Jennifer.Schroeder@tamuc.edu or 903/886-5159.
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