Our Master of Arts in Leadership program equips you with adaptive leadership skills to foster collaboration, drive meaningful change, and respond effectively to the evolving challenges facing organizations today. These challenges increasingly arise from rapidly shifting social, technological, and economic landscapes in an interconnected and globalized world.
Designed for professionals seeking to lead with purpose and innovation, this pioneering program offers flexibility, practical skills, and personal growth opportunities. Engage in learning with a diverse network of peers from public, private, and non-profit sectors while exploring contemporary leadership theories and practices.
By developing a broad range of competencies - from systems thinking to relational intelligence - you’ll be prepared to lead with confidence and creativity in environments that are constantly evolving.
Program Structure
Total Units: 30 units
Modality: Hybrid (In-person executive weekends + online components)
Program Duration: 15 months
Modality
The MA in Leadership program is offered in a low-residency format designed for working professionals and adult learners seeking a flexible, engaging, and community-oriented graduate experience. Each course includes two weekend in-person sessions held on the Saint Mary’s College campus, typically spaced 3-5 weeks apart. Between residencies, students engage in online learning, including readings, discussions, team projects, and faculty-guided reflections. This hybrid approach allows students to balance full-time work and life commitments while progressing through a transformative 15-month leadership journey in a cohort-based model that fosters deep connection, collaboration, and real-world application.
Program Director
Dr. Alfonso Montero, Interim Program Director
Program Learning Outcomes
- Leadership: Critically evaluate and apply traditional and emerging paradigms of leadership to develop a values-based, context-responsive leadership practice.
- Scholarship: Demonstrate the ability to integrate lived experience with leadership theory through clear, compelling communication and applied research methods.
- Personal Dimension: Engage in critical self-reflection and cultivate multiple intelligences to support ethical awareness, self-development, and leadership alignment with personal values.
- Social Dimension: Practice inclusive communication and collaboration by engaging diverse cultural perspectives and promoting equity, belonging, and justice in leadership settings.
- Applied/Integrative: Integrate leadership identity, scholarship, and personal and social awareness into applied, systems-informed leadership practices that advance meaningful change.
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