Program Overview

The Master’s in Higher Education (HIED) is a two (2) year hybrid graduate program that equips current and future college and university leaders with relevant knowledge and practitioner-based skills to problem solve through an equity and social justice lens. The HIED program in the Department of Educational Leadership focuses on administration and leadership broadly and not solely on student services. The program also emphasizes an organizational and social science level approach, and is organized around administrative and programmatic issues and interventions.

The HIED faculty are committed to building on students’ prior knowledge of higher education; provide a solid background of higher education theories and practices to expand their knowledge; and teach students how to apply theories to their practice. By applying theory to practice, higher education and student affairs professionals (HESA) may contribute to the needs of postsecondary institutions and advancement of society. The HIED program is intended for students wishing to engage in a curriculum that will provide them with the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to take on leadership and administrative positions within higher education organizations, including four year colleges and universities, community colleges, and technical schools.

The content of the program is based on professional competencies and program standards and guidelines developed by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), American College Personnel Association (ACPA), and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). As such, issues of racial equity, justice, and organizational transformation are explicitly built into the curriculum. Additionally, our faculty recognize the importance of providing attention to issues of higher education globally to provide graduates with a background that will prepare them to enter institutions of higher education internationally. Utilizing recommendations from these professional organizations, the MA in HIED program commits to the following student outcomes:

• Graduates will enact administrative knowledge, skills and dispositions with explicit consideration of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in their practice.
• Graduates will gather and use data to support programmatic and individual goals with explicit consideration of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in their practice.
• Graduates will demonstrate foundational knowledge of the field of Higher Education with explicit consideration of issues of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.