Chad Pribyl | Assistant News Co-Editor

In spring 2015, Buena Vista University (BVU) went through a prioritization process, finding what would work best for the university as a whole. An idea that came forth through this process was to implement an Organizational Leadership Master’s Program.

Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Dr. Barbara Byrne, approached Professor of Speech Communication, Dr. Mary Gill about developing this program. She wanted to have the idea developed “sooner than later” according to Gill.

“That’s really how I became the person who wrote the program,” Gill said.

Gill spent the summer working on the program development and planning the curriculum. Because of the summer time frame and the desire to get the program developed quickly, Gill served as the primary author of the program but consulted with others as she worked.

According to Gill, the degree is a multi-purpose, interdisciplinary master’s, which means there are several ways the degree can be applied. Those currently employed in executive or mid-management positions could gain promotions through completing this degree program. For a recent college graduate, it could allow for the entrance into existing businesses and organizations at a higher management level than what could be attained with a bachelor’s degree only.

Gill said the degree can appeal across organizational types as well, from corporate to service-oriented.

“People who are interested in going into non-profits would be interested in it, and people who are interested in enhancing their skills because they may want to get into various leadership services such as school boards and city councils,” Gill said.

The proposal for the new degree is currently making its way through the BVU governance process and so has not been approved yet. So far the plan is to keep this program strictly online, but Gill said, if it goes well, it may be offered in other formats in the future.

“We are also looking at developing it as what we call a baccalaureate plus one, which means that a current undergraduate student with a certain GPA would be able to take the first couple of courses yet as a senior. And then in one more year complete the master’s,” Gill said.

The program would be 30 credit hours total, and the graduate students would have options for their final course experience. One would be a large research project. Another would be an executive internship in which the student would spend time shadowing an individual in a high leadership position.

“This would be much more of a mentorship role in which a student could engage in extended conversations about leadership,” Gill said.

Currently the proposal for the program is being assessed by various internal governance bodies and will eventually need to be approved by the university’s accrediting entity.

“We cannot say much until after our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, reviews it, and we hope, approves it. It could be several months before that happens,” Byrne said.

If all internal and external approvals go well, this program is expected to launch later in 2016.

Photo by Kayla Wilson