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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear faculty and students,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This email is to let you know that the department will start offering an accelerated degree program in Physics with Teaching Emphasis starting in the fall, pending final approval by various state agencies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This program is designed for high-achieving students who wish to graduate in as few as five years with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Physics with Teaching Emphasis. Upon successful completion of the program, you will graduate with
a master’s degree and be certified to teach physics and other sciences at the high school level in Texas. If you are especially motivated, you can even complete the final year while employed as a teacher.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The accelerated program will work best for newly-entering students or for students currently in their first or second year; it is essential to get you onto a rigid course sequence in your third year if you wish to graduate in the minimum
5 year time frame. If you start the program and find it is not right for you, you can revert to the non-accelerated program at any time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Students, if you are interested, the A&M-Commerce Graduate School is holding an informational session about accelerated programs in general on May 8 at 2pm (see attached flyer); you can register at the link below. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://dms.tamuc.edu/Forms/AcceleratedPrograms">Accelerated Program Information Session (tamuc.edu)</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For more information, please contact me. As is always the case with new programs, we may need to tweak the program as we go along.<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:#00386C">Dr. Kurtis A. Williams (he/him/his)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#4F5352">Assoc. Professor and Department Head</span></i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#4F5352"><a href="https://www.tamuc.edu/physics"><span style="color:#0088CE">Department of Physics and Astronomy</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#4F5352;text-transform:uppercase">P: 903.886.5488</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#4F5352"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;color:#4F5352"><a href="https://www.tamuc.edu/"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:#0088CE">Texas A&M University-Commerce</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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