Master of Liberal Arts Degree

Employers want to hire liberal arts graduates because they tend to be innovative and independent thinkers with strong communication and reasoning skills. As a graduate student in the liberal arts, you’ll build a valuable base of knowledge and experience to enhance your professional career and personal life.

Our Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) program requires both a core set of courses and the opportunity to specialize in field-specific coursework. Students seeking an MLA will build a foundation in the liberal arts with core courses like research methods, professional communication and digital humanities, and you will extend that foundation with elective coursework from across the graduate curriculum.

You’ll also declare a concentration from among interdisciplinary studies, data analytics or organizational leadership. Our concentrations emphasize relevant, marketable business skills within the framework of a liberal arts education focused on the human experience.

You’ll conclude your program of study with an integrative seminar that encourages you to draw together the threads of your core coursework, your elective coursework and your concentration coursework. The seminar requires critical reflection on the program of study for a project whose seeds will have been laid in the program’s initial research methods class.

As an MLA student and graduate, you’ll be well-rounded, knowledgeable in multiple subjects and able to draw from that knowledge and experience to answer questions, take sides in a debate or solve a problem. And you’ll acquire an appreciation for multiple perspectives, traditions, lifestyles and philosophies.

Concentrations

Concentration in Interdisciplinary Studies

Our interdisciplinary studies concentration provides the most flexibility for students. The concentration allows students to customize a program of study to best meet their learning and career goals with a chosen focus area, centering coursework and research throughout the program on that topic.

The curriculum is designed to help students:

• experience a more brand-based liberal arts experience by exploring intersections among multiple fields
• gain a broad, multidisciplinary perspective by maximizing their elective choices
• customize a program of study around a focus area
• maximize their experience with optional one-on-one directed research and internship experiences.

Recent college graduates as well as seasoned professionals will find value in developing their ability to research, write well, communicate effectively, work with groups, engage in problem solving, and think critically — timeless skills that are applicable to every part of life.

Concentration in Data Analytics

Students in the data analytics concentration will develop expertise and essential skills in this fast-growing field with an emphasis on the digital data-driven methods and tools used most frequently in professional environments and real-world contexts.

The curriculum is designed to help students:

• hone analytical skills in an effort to provide data-driven recommendations in a variety of professional settings
• use analytics tools to answer questions about what data means, to facilitate curiosity, to enable critical thinking, to demonstrate theses or to falsify refutations
• understand practical aspects of data and statistical analysis predictive modeling
• utilize data visualization, with emphasis upon applied projects and issues

The MLA with a data analytics concentration is designed for a variety of students. Recent college graduates can expect to expand their skills and knowledge and to better prepare for entry-level data analytics jobs. It’s also designed to help more seasoned workers prepare for a career change and to expand the skills of mid-career professionals to assume new data and business analytics roles and responsibilities.

Concentration in Organizational Leadership

Our organizational leadership concentration encourages you to explore intersections among the practices of leading an organization and human-centered approaches to being both a leader and a follower. The concentration blends leadership theory with practical application through real-world experiences across the required courses.

The curriculum is designed to help students:

• examine organizational leadership from multi-faceted academic and professional interdisciplinary perspectives
• develop different strategies and tactics to lead, motivate and encourage sports teams, employees, colleagues, clients and volunteers
• apply leadership theories to real-time scenarios developing the necessary skills to build successful teams in an ever-changing global world
• understand the historical, psychological, and behavioral models of leadership in elite organizations and environments

The MLA with an organizational leadership concentration is designed for students at various stages of their careers. Whether you’re a recent college graduate or a mid-career professional, you’ll fill in your organizational leadership skills gaps that will align with your professional learning needs and support your career growth.