5. College of Education and Human Development

Who is the College of Education and Human Development (COEHD)?

We are a diverse community of scholars, engaging and preparing educators, community leaders, scholars, practitioners, researchers, clinicians, and community activists, from dual credit high school students to undergraduate and graduate, and through lifelong, continuous professional development.

We transform lives and address grand challenges of the future related to education and human development, through our unique interdisciplinary approach, including through our research, teaching, and service.

We embrace and foster social justice through the COEHD Conceptual Framework, in diverse local, national, and global communities. Pursuant to our role as a Hispanic Serving Institution, we engage, advocate, and lead with the diverse communities we serve.

We are committed to the UTSA destinations of becoming a Model for Student Success, a Great Public Research University, and an Exemplar for Strategic Growth and Innovative Excellence.

COEHD Destination 1: Model for Student Success

Vision

All COEHD students feel a sense of belonging in the college, in their professional communities, and in their program or department. To advance student success, we robustly engage a diverse and vibrant community of students in research, teaching, and community and global impact through education and human development.

Goals

Foster a sense of belonging for students, through continuously seeking student feedback, providing wraparound student support, and community building. Leverage technology and transformative pedagogical techniques to meet the needs of all learners, across in-person, hybrid, and online modalities. Build impactful experiential learning opportuni6es across the degree to augment career readiness.

COEHD Destination 2: Great Public Research University

Vision

COEHD is a dynamic hub of bold, impactful, collaborative research with local, national, and global significance. COEHD is committed to maximizing its resources to support faculty and students in achieving scholarly excellence in their research, and proactively showcasing their work.

Goals

Elevate the research profile of COEHD, including the visibility of COEHD research.

Promote and enable multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary research collaboration at local, national, and global levels.

COEHD Destination 3: Strategic Growth and Innovative Excellence

Vision

COEHD is intentional about creating a community in which students, faculty and staff thrive. To achieve strategic growth and innovative excellence, COEHD maximizes student access intentionally through academic programming, increased student recruitment and retention efforts, and meeting infrastructure needs.

Goals

Foster a sense of community in COEHD.

Increase educational access in San Antonio and South Texas.

Create infrastructures that support a growing and thriving academic community.

General Information

The College of Education and Human Development is made up of six departments: Bicultural-Bilingual Studies; Counseling; Educational Leadership and Policy Studies; Educational Psychology; Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching; and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Four undergraduate degrees are offered within the College: the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Equity and Education; the B.A. in African American Studies; the B.A. in Mexican American Studies; and the B.A. in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Minors are offered in African American Studies, Bicultural Studies, English as a Second Language, Mexican American Studies, and Women’s Studies. For more information related to the College, visit the webpage at http://education.utsa.edu.

Advising and Certification Center

Academic Advising

Academic advising services are provided for students admitted to or currently enrolled at UTSA based on their academic pathways.

Mexican American Studies majors are advised in the Downtown Advising Center.

Interdisciplinary Studies, Equity and Education, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies majors are advised by the Interdisciplinary Education team in the Academic Advising Student Success Center.

African American Studies majors are advised in the Downtown Advising Center and by the Interdisciplinary Education team.

Advising services are also provided for students seeking a teaching certificate for those Secondary and All-Level content areas. This includes students pursuing Secondary and All-Level certification, students with earned baccalaureate degrees who would like to become certified as teachers, and teachers wishing to add additional certificates to their credentials.

Certification

The University of Texas at San Antonio is approved by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) to offer teacher certificate programs for Texas certification as elementary, middle school, and high school classroom teachers.

Students interested in pursuing elementary, middle school, or special education teacher certification will major in Equity and Education for Early Childhood through sixth grade (EC-6); Equity and Education for fourth through eighth grade (4-8); or Equity and Education for special education (EC-12) and follow the appropriate certification program for the desired level of the certificate. Students who would like to become high school teachers will major (English Language Arts Reading, History, Social Studies, Speech) in the academic area in which certification is desired and add the Minor in Secondary Education following the secondary certification program for this teaching field. For students seeking Mathematics or Science certification, please see UTeachSA program. Students planning to teach Art, Kinesiology (PE), Music, or Spanish will major in the academic areas and follow specialized All-Level certification programs.

Additional information about UTSA certification programs and teacher certification guidelines is available in the Teacher Certification section of this catalog and in the Academic Advising Student Success Center.

Criminal History Policy and Acknowledgement

The College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) prepares educators and professionals for fields which require fieldwork, internship, practicum, service-learning, and/or clinical teaching. Placements occur in educational, clinical, and health care facilities; hospitals; and/or medical settings that require a criminal background check. The University of Texas at San Antonio is required to inform students of the requirements set forth by the Texas Occupation Code, Chapter 53, Sections 53.001 through 53.105.

All COEHD prospective students in a licensure or certification program are required to acknowledge that they have been made aware of these requirements and that they have read the COEHD Criminal History Policy. For more information and for completing the acknowledgement form, please visit the Office of Professional Preparation, Assessment, and Accreditation in the College of Education and Human Development.