M.S. Cultural Foundations of Education (CFE)

A Flexible MS Program for Working Adults

Examine the social forces that affect urban schools and communities. Look deeply at the challenges facing urban areas in the 21st Century and explore creative solutions.

• Complete Degree Fully Online or Face-to Face or Combining Both Options
• Daytime, Evening, and Weekend Classes
• No GRE Required
• Rolling Admissions for All Programs—Join any Semester
• 30 Credit Program

Many of our students are looking for a degree that will help them change direction in their professional lives. Our students and faculty are extremely diverse, and come from and have moved into a diverse range of careers, including:

• Teachers in Public, Private, and Alternative Schools
• Community Based Organization Administrators
• Youth Work Supervisors
• Community Organizers and Social Activists
• Service Learning Program Directors
• Social Service Program Managers
• Educational Policy Analysts
• Community Developers
• Police Officers
• Child Care Center Administrators
• Further Doctoral Work

CFE Concentrations

Alternative Education

Community Organizing with AUSM

Community Engagement & Partnerships

Service Learning & Partnerships

Community Power & Participation

Educational Policy

Gender & Education

Race Relations

Urban Communities and Education
The Urban Communities and Education option represents the most flexible approach to the Cultural Foundations (CFE) Masters Program. Students take the four required courses, and then choose themselves from electives in the Department and across the University. Many students choose the Urban Communities and Education option so they can fit the CFE Masters program to their own unique interests, needs, and scheduling restrictions. This is the "default" option for students who do not choose a specific concentration in the program.

Youth Work

Special Note Concerning Concentrations
*GRE scores are not required for entrance into the CFE program Students do not need to formally "declare" a concentration. However, students must notify the Graduate Chair of the Department that they have completed the required courses for a concentration in the semester they graduate to ensure it is recorded on their record. Additional Student-Developed Concentrations are allowed.

How to Apply

Admissions for graduate students are handled by the Graduate School in room 261 Mitchell Hall on the UWM campus. *Note for interested Graduate Students: individual faculty advisors are assigned after you are admitted.

For application instructions information through the University of Wisconsin System, click here. Get started: start the UW Admission Application

Our Faculty

Our faculty is one of the most diverse in the entire Wisconsin system, and our professors are engaged in a range of cutting-edge research projects, including:

New approaches to urban community organizing and social action, cross-national education programs for immigrant Latino students, approaches to community development in Milwaukee, innovative practices for improving pedagogy in alternative schools, methods for anti-racist education, strategies for engaging inner-city youth in social action, international approaches to holistic education, critiques of current visions of democratic education, the history of African Americans in Milwaukee, and explorations of the relationship between social class and social action. Learn more about our faculty.

Core Courses & Electives

ED POL 705: Sociology of Education and Community Engagement
ED POL 710: Research Methods in Education and Community Engagement
ED POL 740: Philosophy of Education and Community
ED POL 750: History of Education in American Communities

Electives
Students can choose from a range of electives within and outside of our Department. In-Department electives include:
ED POL 401: Foundations of Community Based Organizations
ED POL 500: Sociology and Policy of Urban Communities and Schools
ED POL 533: Educating Black Males
ED POL 535: Educating At-Risk Students
ED POL 560: Education and Hispanics
ED POL 580: Overview of Child/Youth Care
ED POL 584: Early Childhood Programs and the External Environment
ED POL 610: Reproduction of Minority Communities
ED POL 612: Community Participation and Power
ED POL 625: Race Relations in Education
ED POL 711: Community Organizing and Social Change
ED POL 822: Global Educational Studies

Contact the Department

Enderis Hall Room 557
2400 E. Hartford Ave.
Milwaukee WI 53211

Mailing Address:
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Department of Educational Policy & Community Studies
School of Education
P.O. Box 413
Milwaukee WI 53201

Office Hours:
Monday-Friday 8:00 A.M.- 4:30 P.M.
Office Telephone Number: (414) 229-4323
Fax Number: (414) 229-3700
epcs@uwm.edu