MASTER OF SCIENCE IN STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP (M.S.S.L.)
School of Leadership and Professional Development
Offered on all campuses, at educational sites throughout West Virginia, and online

A truly useful advanced degree in leadership should go beyond spreadsheets and day-to-day management. It should concentrate on building the skills and knowledge that executives require to work with the people, organizational systems, and complex information on which their success—and their company’s—depends.

Mountain State University’s Master of Science in Strategic Leadership (M.S.S.L.) will help you attain those skills. An outstanding faculty and an emphasis on real-world leadership make it one of the soundest career investments you can make, and a format that accommodates the needs of adult learners puts it within reach even if you’re already juggling job, family, and personal responsibilities. Designed to build practical and useful leadership skills, the M.S.S.L. program encourages you to build a “leadership skill set” that will serve you throughout your career, no matter where you go or what type of organization you support. Exposure to a wide variety of real-world, real-time leadership issues helps you learn how to develop not only strategies for problem solving but also solutions.

The educational concept is simple: Break the challenge of leadership into blocks that have real organizational meaning; discuss the latest in conceptual solutions to those challenges; use experienced mentors to help the participants apply these conceptual frameworks to real-world, real-time organizational problem sets; and give participants constant feedback on their use of these problem-solving skills. As a result, participants develop the individualized and practical problem-solving strategies they and their organizations need to succeed.

Whether they are preparing an analysis and making solution-based recommendations or preparing a position paper to address a business problem, participants are constantly working to expand and effectively use their skills. They acquire such tools as advanced proficiency in analytical and inductive reasoning, expertise in strategic thinking and organizational development, and proficiency in the effective utilization of human resources. They bring back to their organizations dexterity in creative problem solving, quality management, contingency thinking, and the effective use of teams, as well as the development, use, and integration of performance assessments that help organizations maintain a competitive advantage.

PROGRAM EXPECTATIONS
The program is structured for study in an accelerated cohort format. Over a 60-week period, participants

• Gain a strategic perspective on the role of leadership in the effective management of essential organizational resources.
• Develop their skill in organizational analysis, organizational psychology and development, human resource development, and quality management within an organizational context.
• Apply concepts of open systems theory to diagnose organizational problems in the workplace.
• Use skills derived from their study of strategic human resource management and organizational development to solve problems and resolve situations that commonly develop within the internal or external spheres of the organization.
• Understand and apply principles of adult learning and development to the management and development of human resources in such areas as career development, teamwork, and self-directed learning.
• Produce an organizational analysis that integrates the skills they have acquired over the course of the program.
  

APPLICATION AND ADMISSION
To be eligible for admission to the M.S.S.L. program, you must have a bachelor’s degree in any field from a regionally accredited college or university. Application to the program requires that you submit a graduate application along with transcripts and a $25 program application fee. Students whose native language is not English must also submit TOEFL scores.

Applicants to the M.S.S.L. program are not required to have a minimum undergraduate grade-point average and do not have to submit GRE or GMAT scores.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
The M.S.S.L. is offered through an accelerated cohort program, which means that you begin and complete the entire program with the same group. As a result, the sequence and timing of courses are set in advance for the entire program. Because many participants must schedule their studies around demanding jobs and other responsibilities, program policies are designed to be as flexible as possible while maintaining the required sequence of courses.

To complete the program, you must

Obtain candidacy in the School of Leadership and Professional Development.

Complete all required coursework.

Submit an approved program project report.

Meet the University’s performance requirements for graduate students.

You must complete all degree requirements within five years of your initial admission into the MSSL program.

GANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS
RESEARCH PROJECT
During the course of your studies, you will be required to complete an organizational analysis and submit a project report based on that analysis. You will present your project report to program and course facilitators, students, and, whenever possible, the leadership of the organization you have studied. A professional presentation and approved report are required for completion of the research project.

SEQUENCE OF STUDY
The program is structured in three 20-week semesters. Each semester consists of a series of four five-week courses taken one
at a time.

First Semester (20 weeks)
GSL 510 Art & Science of Leadership 3 GSL 512 The Leadership Challenge 3
GSL 504 Organization, Group, & Team
Leadership 3
GSL 507 Reframing Leadership 3
Total 12

Second Semester (20 weeks)
GSL 506 Human Side of Organizations 3
GSL 601 Organizational Theory 3
GSL 603 Organizational Effectiveness:
Understanding Performance 3
GSL 606 Quality Systems and
Organizational Performance 3
Total 12

Third Semester (20 weeks)
GSL 610 Strategic Thinking 3
GSL 620 Business Research Methods 3 GSL 625 Project Research
Application and Methods 3
GSL 630 Program Research Project
and Presentation 3
Total 12

Program total 36 hours