Students in the portfolio program will be required to take one course in each of the categories below. At least two courses must be offered by a graduate program other than the student’s primary degree program.
1) one communications course
2) one career development course
3) one community engagement course
4) (PhD students only) one three (3) credit hour internship course that complements an actual internship that occurs over a semester or summer.
A total of four (4) courses totaling twelve (12) credit hours for the graduate portfolio are required for PhD students and nine (9) credit hours are required for MS students. For all students, two (2) of these courses must be outside the student’s home department.
Course Categories
The communications and community relations courses could include but are not limited to:
• Verbal, Written, Group or Interpersonal Communications
• Team-based Projects
• Public Speaking
• Leadership Development
• Civic Engagement
• Community-Based Learning
• Negotiation Skills
• Advocacy
• Conflict Management
• Organizational/Management Skills
• Cultural Competency/Awareness
• Ethics/Bias Training
The career development courses may include an area of interest to the student or any additional training that would enhance the pathway to employment after graduation which could include courses in any of the following areas but not limited to:
• Economics/Finance
• Business
• Data Science
• Policy
• Law
• Programming/Coding
• GIS
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Supervised Teaching
• Entrepreneurship
• Nonprofit Management
• Management
Additional areas/courses may also be incorporated into the portfolio according to student needs – please inquire.
(PhD students only) To receive credit for an internship, please register for a 3-hour internship course. If your home department does not have a for-credit graduate internship course, you may enroll in CE 397: Special Studies in Civil Engineering. Please inquire.
Below are approved courses and/or courses previously taken by portfolio students.
Communications Courses
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| BME 385J | Inquiry- Based Instructional Design |
| CE 398T | Supervised Teaching in Civil Engineering |
| CMS 386P | Advocacy |
| CMS 389C | Conflict and Communication |
| CMS 392P | Communication Technology Use in Organizations |
| CRP 386 | Research Design |
| CRP 685-D | Planning Studio – Water Equity |
| CRP 685-D | Planning Studio – Water Equity |
| EDP 398T | College Teaching Methodology |
| MAN 390 | Seminar in Organizational Theory |
| ME 397 | Advanced Writing for Graduate Students |
| ME 397 | Engineering Writing for Graduate Students |
| ORI 397 | Emerging Topics in ORIE |
Career Development Courses
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ANT 380K | Social Resilience & Collapse |
| BGS 380 | Energy Development and Policy |
| BGS 380E | Global Political Economy |
| CE 398T or ME 398T | Teaching Engineering |
| CH 398T | Professional Development: Success in Graduate School and Beyond |
| CHE 384T | Energy Technology and Policy |
| CHE 384T | Entrepreneurship |
| CHE 398T | Supervised Teaching in CHE |
| CRP 387C | Water Resources Planning |
| ECO 386C | Microeconomics I |
| EE390V | Texas Venture Labs Practicum |
| EER 396 | Energy Finance |
| ELP 395K-5 | Equity & Diversity in Higher Ed |
| GEO 371T | Intro to Machine Learning |
| GEO 371T/391 | Python for Geoscience Research |
| LAW 379M | Energy Development and Policy |
| MAS 392 | Migratory Urbanism |
| ME 395 | The Enterprise of Technology |
| ME 397 | Teaching Engineering |
| ME 397/EE 390V | Texas Venture Labs Practicum |
| ME 398S | Curriculum Design and Assessment in Engineering |
| PA 388L | Fundraising for the Nonprofit and Public Sectors |
| PA 393K | Microeconomics |
| SDS 383C | Statistical Modeling |
| SDS 384-4 | Regression Analysis |
Community Engagement Courses
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CE 397 | Food-Energy-Water Systems Seminar |
| CMS 386L.3 | Communicating in Groups and Teams |
| PA 388K | Advanced Topics in Public Policy |
| PA 388K | Marica, Brazil: Opportunities for City Entrepreneurship |
| PA 388L | Advanced Topics in Management: Negotiation, Mediation and Dispute Resolution |
Internship Courses
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CHE 397M | Graduate Research Internship |
| CE 397 | Special Studies in Civil Engineering |
| CMS 380E | Conference Course in Communications Studies |
| EE 397M | Graduate Research Internship |
| ORI 397M | Graduate Research Internship |
| PA 396K | Internship in Public Policy |
Students have previously held internships at the following organiziations:
• Archer Fellowship Program
• Carollo Engineers
• Cockrell School of Engineering – Communications
• IIASA
• Los Alamos
• NREL
• Rowan University
• Sandia National Labs
• Tesla