Organizational Leadership, M.A.

Program Chair: Katrina Hutchins, Ph.D

The M.A. in Organizational Leadership is a 30 hour graduate degree program most appealing to the working professional who desires to further his or her professional abilities through graduate study. The M.A. is an applied degree for students who want to lead people and systems in the 21st Century as talent managers, trainers, consultants, facilitators, organizational development specialists, workforce developers or functional leaders.

Program Options

The Organizational Leadership Graduate Program provides two delivery formats:

• Through the Non-Program status option, students may take individual courses for personal or professional development. Students who select this format have flexibility in their course choice but are not degree-status students and would not qualify for financial aid.
• A student accepted into the M.A. in Organizational Leadership option commits to a 30 semester-hour program. The student is a degree-status student who may apply for federally supported financial aid resources.

Students may move from one format to another with full credit for courses taken in the program.

Diversity

The Organizational Leadership Program wishes to attract as diverse a student body as possible in order to maximize the educational experience of all participants in the program, and to provide to the field a wide array of competent professionals. To this end, we welcome applicants of different race, gender, national origin, religion, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, age, abilities, and disabilities.

Policy on Writing and Research Standards

Columbia College takes seriously its commitments to academic integrity and to academic excellence. The Graduate School expects its students to demonstrate high standards of scholarship and possess accurate and articulate communication skills. To this end, the Organizational Leadership program maintains the following policy on research and writing standards:

1. A significant writing component shall be present in every course for which graduate credit is earned.
2. A research component shall be present in every course.
3. Instructors will inform the program director of any serious deficiencies they note in a student’s performance of the writing and research components.
4. The program director and instructors will assist students in developing a plan to address any serious deficiencies. The plan may include remedial writing or undergraduate research courses in their home communities for which students would not be given graduate credit.
5. If a student is unable to address serious deficiencies, the program director and instructors may recommend that she/he withdraw from the program. If serious deficiencies persist, and the student refuses to withdraw, the program director may recommend to the Provost that the student be dismissed. The student may choose to challenge such a decision to the Graduate Council.