Since 1852, Antioch has seen education as in service to a higher purpose. Today, it continues to prepare students to lead, manage, and serve with the introduction of three new online management degrees: a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management, and a Master of Human Services Administration. Additionally, the University is further expanding its leadership offerings with an immersive, low-residency Master in Leadership Practice (MLP) degree.
The new MLP is offered by Antioch’s Graduate School in Leadership and Change to students who want to strengthen their leadership capability. The sixteen-month MLP includes online work and two onsite residencies, allowing students to live and work anywhere in the world. (Due to the COVID-19 virus, all classes will be online for the next year.) The MLP helps students develop the specialized skills needed to lead organizational change and develop well-designed and bold strategies to address challenging problems and achieve goals.
“The entire sixteen months focus around a student’s action project that leads positive change to improve organizations, support communities, and help heal our nation and world,” says Dr. Laurien Alexandre, Provost of Antioch’s Graduate School of Leadership & Change.
Meanwhile, the MBA, MA in Nonprofit Management, and Master of Human Services Administration (MHSA) programs promise to train effective team managers, champion ethical business pracices, and develop the next generation of business leaders. These three degrees will each be offered entirely online.
“We developed a suite of online graduate management programs that focus on justice and equity, no matter if you work in the for-profit or nonprofit sector,” says Dr. Mary Ann Short, Director of Online Graduate Management Programs. “We structured classes to enable all the online management programs to take some classes together.”
“The work of nonprofit management itself is consistent with the University’s mission. Among the functions that the nonprofit sector fulfills in the US is questioning the social status quo and testing social innovation.”
Dr. David Norgard
Director of MA in Nonprofit Management
The MBA degree stresses a “triple bottom line” way of thinking about business: profit, people, and the planet. It’s a holistic, bigger-picture approach where the measure of a business’s success is beyond the first bottom line of profit. With a focus on the triple bottom line, Antioch’s MBA program stresses the importance of people and environmental impact when measuring a business’s success.
“The core idea is to move beyond solely looking at a business’s profit to determine a company’s worth,” says Dr. Kenneth Baker, Chair of the Master in Business Administration program. “Because this ignores all the other potential areas of impact.”
Baker points out that there are hundreds of management programs out there, but the focus of a “run-of-the-mill management program” is the application of business practices. Antioch’s management degrees integrate social justice and environmental responsibility, centering management around big-picture-thinking.
The other two management degrees are also about empowering students to have a more profound impact and influence in their communities. The MA in Nonprofit Management is the perfect example. The program equips students to build a career path while emphasizing bringing positive change.
“The work of nonprofit management itself is consistent with the University’s mission,” Dr. David Norgard, Director of MA in Nonprofit Management program, explains. “Among the functions that the nonprofit sector fulfills in the US is questioning the social status quo and testing social innovation.”
Norgard notes the goal of the online format for Antioch’s management degrees is to expand the program’s reach to people all over the country, so that wherever someone is, they can make an impact while still making a living.
Together with faculty and staff, Antioch designed its online programs with an asynchronous format to fit busy lives. In the MHSA, students take one course at a time—it’s a perfect degree path for people who want to learn how to effectively lead and manage, while also prioritizing a balance between work, family, and school. “Our students find online learning fits their need for flexibility while also offering a supportive and engaging community of learners,” says Short.
Online formats come with their own challenges, but for Antioch students online doesn’t mean isolation. Antioch has designed each course with the student’s experience center stage. In addition to video, audio, and guest speakers, students work closely with each other as well as with faculty.
Antioch’s new leadership and management degrees offer a fully immersive experience, so students don’t just leave with a professional network, they leave with a community.
