(SHRE)
Change is the new normal for all types of organizations. For-profit Fortune 500 companies, state and national government organizations, non-profit community organizations, and civil society organizations are all increasingly challenged to respond to changes in social values and adapt to dynamic social, ecological, economic, technological factors. As a result, there is a large and growing demand for professionals who can facilitate and lead positive change.
Our program leading to an M.S. degree in Human Resource and Leadership Development is an applied program designed to develop in students the leadership, planning, analytical, problem solving, and change management capabilities that today’s globalized organizations need to be successful. The knowledge and skills graduates acquire enable them to:
- Develop and leverage an organization’s human capital resources
- Collaborate with leaders, managers, and employees to identify and analyze performance issues
- Develop and implement strategies to address high priority performance issues
- Create enabling environments to maximize the potential for change
- Monitor and evaluate the outcomes of strategies and interventions
- Use cutting-edge evidence-based practice to foster change
- Help organizations realize their strategic goals and objectives
These capabilities are highly transferable and can be applied in a wide range of positions and settings. For example, our M.S. graduates are employed as Organization Development specialists, Chief Learning Officers, Human Resource Directors, International consultants, Training Directors, Human Resource Development consultants, and others. They work in a wide range of organizations and apply their leadership, change and development skills in the health sector, education, manufacturing and business, IT, community development and other non-profit organizations, and hospitality and tourism.
Our M.S. degree is designed for:
- Human resource, organization development, training and development, and performance improvement professionals who increasingly deal with internal change initiatives
- Organizational leaders, including government and non-profit professionals, who want to be more effective at supporting change in their organizations
- HR professionals transitioning to new roles, who want to advance, or who want to move into the exciting field of organization change and development
- Consultants looking to expand their skills and credentials
- Individuals interested in building the knowledge and skills to enable them to move into consulting
Our courses are designed and taught by a diverse, multidisciplinary, and award-winning faculty who are members of a world-class university. They bring a breadth of research interests and a wealth of applied experience to the classroom. Their goal is to make the learning experience both challenging and provocative and to prepare our students to be the leaders of positive change.
We offer two routes to the MS: A 100% Online MS program and an On-Campus MS program. Both share our 36 hour (12 courses) cutting-edge curriculum. The Online MS program is designed for individuals who want a high quality degree from a leading U.S. university but also need the flexibility of an online form. The online courses are offered year-round in 7-week modules which makes it possible for students to complete the MS in one year with courses taken Spring, Summer, and Fall.
The On-Campus MS program integrates the teaching and learning advantages of one-to-one, direct student-professor interaction with the efficiencies and flexibility of web-based learning. Courses integrate web-based learning activities with face-to-face coursework in ways that pedagogically compliment, reinforce, and elaborate on one another while maintaining a high level of in-person and individual interaction between student and professor. This program follows the more traditional university format of 15-week semesters with courses typically meeting one night per week.
Both the online and on-campus programs are open to students with undergraduate degrees in any field. We also have rolling admissions so students can enter either program at any time of the year.
The M.S. degree is available with non-thesis or thesis option. However, the thesis option is typically permitted in exceptional situations only. Areas of concentration include human resource and leadership development, and workforce development. The thesis option requires a minimum of 30 semester hours, including six hours of thesis research. At least half of the coursework must be in courses numbered 7000 and above, excluding thesis hours. The non-thesis option requires a minimum of 36 semester hours of coursework, at least half of which must be in courses numbered 7000 and above. A final examination is required for the thesis option only.
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