Why Penn State
Leadership is all about change—change in leaders, followers, teams, organizations, nations, the world, and workstyles. That’s why we designed our Master of Leadership Development degree to be adaptable by combining the best of in-person and online education. Flexible, seven-week courses let you balance your busy schedule while still reaping the benefits of once-per-week face-to-face classes, like networking, developing interpersonal skills, and fostering leadership potential in yourself and classmates.
Our AACSB-accredited degree explores leadership across the lifespan, from early career through retirement, including leadership in the corporate and not-for-profit realms, as well as parenting and community service. We employ a multidisciplinary approach stressing social responsibility and ethics, creativity and innovation, diversity and global mindset, dynamic communication and visioning, and the value of the individual.
You can expect to complete the program in under two years if enrolled part-time.
Program Highlights
- Learn from premier faculty who combine their research with business experience
- Apply coursework to the workplace immediately
- Personalize your program through elective courses and based on results of a pre-program exercise with input from faculty
- Develop actionable personal leadership development plans that incorporate strengths, weaknesses, and feedback from others
- Collaborate with faculty and students on projects
Curriculum
Our goal is to put students on the path to the C-suite by delving into a variety of concepts, like self-awareness and emotional intelligence, influence tactics and negotiation strategies, team and diversity leadership, and more. The cornerstones of the program focus on self and authentic leadership, transformational and transactional leadership, and critical thinking and data analysis.
Through experiential exercises, collaborative group work, cutting-edge simulations and intellectually stimulating discussions, our program will sharpen your leadership acumen, social influence prowess, and impression management and presentation skills. Our multidisciplinary approach broadens your worldview and elevates your moral development as a leader, so by the time you graduate, you’ll be able to lead with character, articulate a vision, promote innovation, motivate colleagues, and navigate change in the workplace.
Benefits to Students
Cutting-edge, evidence-based information is shared in an interactive, collaborative learning environment. Skill sets targeted for development in your professional and personal lives include:
- Character strengths and virtues, using the tools of the Gallup Organization
- Ethical and moral reasoning
- Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
- Strategic thinking and argumentation
- Inspirational communication
- Innovation, creativity, and change
- Team building and diversity leadership, consistent with the Diversity Leadership Academy
- Coaching and mentoring
- Global mindset
- Organizational power and politics
- Critical thinking and data analysis
Benefits to Organizations
Our program provides the organizations employing our students with the benefits of transformational leadership by cultivating adaptability and responsiveness to changes in markets necessary for productivity and profitability, broadening collective skill sets for generating more creative solutions to problems, and challenging and developing people to be both professionally and personally fulfilled.
