Master of Science in Leadership, Concentration in Liberal Studies

The Leader in Leadership Education
The Master of Arts in Leadership and Liberal Studies (MLLS) is designed to enhance your leadership capabilities and your understanding of the world in which today's leaders must function.  The knowledge and skills that you will attain through the study of leadership in the context of the liberal arts and social sciences can help you advance in your career.  Through the MLLS program you will:

• gain goal-oriented teaming skills
• enhance coaching skills for improving performance in others
• learn to embrace change in a rapidly changing organization and external environment
• bring solutions, not just problems, to the forefront
• develop a broader perspective of the social, economic, and political issues that impact organizations
• gain the ability to communicate with all levels in an organization
• adapt new and creative perspectives on organizational issues
• embrace individual responsibility as the key to your success

Program Structure
This 36-credit master's degree can be completed in two years.  The degree is available entirely online and some courses are also offered on campus in Pittsburgh.

The academic year is structured with three semesters per year: two 15-week terms in fall and spring and one 8-week term in summer. During the 15-week terms, campus courses are offered on eight alternating Saturdays and online courses run continuously. During the accelerated summer semester, campus classes meet for eight consecutive Saturdays and online courses are also held for eight weeks.

The core courses will examine classic works on leadership, and seek to understand how the profound insights of the past and the ideas of current scholars can help the modern leader to function.

Become Part of a Learning Community
As you share knowledge with a peer-learning network you’ll learn decision-making from leadership, ethical and analytical perspectives. The MLLS emphasizes the importance of integrity and social responsibility in leaders. This approach to leadership education focuses on the dimensions of human behavior and human nature as illuminated by some of the great thinkers of the past and present.

While cultivating the ability to lead is the focus of the program, you will also develop and refine your critical thinking and problem solving abilities, your skills to motivate and empower others and your ability to communicate effectively and persuasively.  You will also expand your intellectual horizons through the study of how the great thinkers of the past have understood and explained leadership and how contemporary thinkers react to their ideas.  Finally, in the electives, you will have the opportunity to explore in depth some of the most important forces that shape today's world.  The knowledge and skills you will master in this program will help you to become a productive and ethical leader.  When you complete your degree, you will have developed a vision of leadership, the values to guide your decisions, and the skills and knowledge to translate your vision into reality.

Please submit your name and mailing address to request a graduate degree brochure.

Brochure (pdf)