Organizational Development and Leadership (MS)

Division of Business, Communications, and Sport

Dean: Steven R. McClung, Ph.D.

Department Chair: Gerald Seals, M.S., M,Div., D.Div., Ph.D.

Organizational Development and Leadership Faculty:

Timothy DuPont, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Organizational Development and Leadership

The mission of the Master of Science in Organizational Development and Leadership is to prepare ethical business leaders who will contribute to the optimization of contemporary organizations through organizational development and leadership knowledge, applied learning strategies, and action research application.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduate students in the Organizational Development and Leadership program will:

1. Demonstrate advanced competency in interpreting organizational development and leadership discourse.
   1. Students will perform with advanced competency in interpreting the content of complex organizational development and leadership discourse.
   2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of strategic management, organizational leadership, team dynamics, coaching, and consulting within their specialized content areas.
2. Analyze, conduct, and consult on the effective and efficient provision of organizational development and leadership models in real-world environments.
   1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how organizational theories and models are developed and transformed into practice.
   2. Students will exhibit critical thinking and structural skills needed to facilitate effective organizational and leadership frameworks to provide pathways of success within their specialized fields of study.
3. Integrate knowledge of ODL to build on a body of knowledge in the field.
   1. Students will integrate their learning in a final research project or paper that is significant to real-world case scenarios within their specialized curriculum field.
   2. Students will use appropriate research or project design and implementation methods to plan and describe a research project/paper that includes a research question or problem.

Course Load and Degree Progression

• Graduate classes are offered on a fixed schedule for the academic year. Each term (Fall, Spring, and Summer) there are two 7.5-week sub-terms.
• Admitted graduate students may take up to 2 courses per sub-term or 4 courses per term. Alternatively, graduate students may take a minimum of 1 course.
• Completion of the master’s degree may occur in as little as 1-year (taking 4 courses in Fall and Spring, and 2 courses in Summer).
• Students must complete the master’s degree coursework within five years of enrolling in the first graduate class. The fixed class offerings schedule will facilitate students’ degree progression and sequence.
• Admitted graduate students remain active and in good standing for a maximum of five years of enrolling in their first graduate class if their cumulative GPA is a 3.0 or higher and have not been placed on academic probation or suspended.
• It is the graduate student’s responsibility to communicate directly with the graduate program coordinator regarding their planned academic schedule to complete the master’s degree (including number of courses per sub-term or term; preferred degree completion timeline).