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Program Highlights

• The Graduate Certificate program offers the same classes as the MA in Leadership Studies program.
• Serves as a stand-alone certificate for students not seeking the commitment of a full master’s degree.
• We offer both online and hybrid (face to face) courses. 
• Students can take their courses entirely online, or in class, or do a combination of both.
• Requires a total of 18 credit hours (6 courses) to complete the program.
• Students are required to take all 6 courses. No transfer credits are accepted.

Recommended Courses

1. MLS 5300: Contemporary Concepts of Leadership
   A review of fundamental principles and concepts of leadership, with analysis of classic literature and application to current issues.
2. MLS 5326: Leadership of Organizational Change
   Studies leadership behaviors that initiate, implement and sustain transformational organizational change as well as incremental innovations. Focus is on follower/audience analysis, context analysis, strategy development and implementation.
3. MLS 5315: Organizational Theory and Behavior
   Introduction to the major theories in organizational theory and administrative behavior and their uses in diagnosing organizational problems. Addresses key organizational functions and emphasizes organization-environment relationships.
4. MLS 5331: Leadership Communications
   Studies communication media/channels used in the process of exercising leadership, depending on audiences and contexts. Students develop and analyze messages used in the processes of leadership, including but not limited to motivation, inspiration, and decision-making.

Electives

Students must choose 2 courses:

1. MLS 5303: Applied Research Methods
   Focuses on methods of research used in leadership processes such as: interviewing, surveys, observational, and ethnographic research. Also discusses basic methodologies in research. E.g. developing research questions, determining research variables, and assessing feasibility of various research methods.
2. MLS 5351: Ethics and Leadership Capstone
   Requires students to study a leader or leadership situation in which the use, or absence, of ethical behaviors was critical and paramount. Course will include readings in ethics, in addition to materials used in previous courses, as preparation for completion of the capstone project.
3. MLS 5340: Team Based Leadership
   Studies leadership within team structures, and the exercise of leadership by teams, rather than individuals. Includes foci on collaborative leadership, connective leadership, cooperative leadership, and the effects of group dynamics on processes of leadership, such as decision-making.
4. MLS 5321: Leadership in Complex Organizations
   Studies leadership in complex operating environments, such as those with multiple contexts, constituencies, and functions. Topics will include but not be limited to: diversity and leadership, conflict management, leadership and changes in organizational structures, and leadership in times of downsizing.
   
   

Individual certificate plans will be created to meet the needs of individual in consultation with the program advisor.