Paying for college:
Kathy Cassity/Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences/88226/cassityk@wou.edu
The Master of Arts (MA) in Organizational Leadership (OL) provides opportunities for students to develop leadership skills that can be applied to business, government, nonprofit, or educational settings. The program includes instruction in organizational planning, leadership principles, communication, creativity and innovation, team building, conflict resolution and mediation, communication and other critical management skills and competencies. Students will not only grow as professionals through action-based learning, but they also make a positive impact on their communities and workplaces through a practical application of cumulative skills. The MA in OL is scheduled to receive the final approval from the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) in April 2019. Approval from NWCCU is the last step in approval process for a new Masters degree program. Once approved in April of 2019, the MA in OL program will begin a marketing and recruitment campaign designed to attract new students to Western Oregon University. The MA in OL program will be officially offered starting in the fall term of 2019. The MA in OL program will require a budget to: 1. Ccompensate faculty for teaching in the program, including both the Masters degree program as well as First Year Seminars in the General Education program 2. Pay for services and supplies related to program management 3. Support continuing faculty development 4. Compensate a half-time program assistant 5. Compensate the program coordinator 6. Support the development of new online and hybrid courses Failure to receive adequate funding will result in WOU being unable to offer the program.
WOU’s mission is to “create lasting opportunities for student success through transformative education and personalized support.” WOU is distinguished by its student-centeredness, personalized approach to a strong liberal arts education, and the high value it places on its role as an access institution in Oregon. WOU’s strategic plan calls for the university to:
• Promote academic array that provides distinctive, high-quality programs (2.4.1).
• Promote high-quality, diverse and innovative models of program delivery that enhance both undergraduate and graduate student access and achievement (2.4.3)
• Promote interdisciplinary courses and degree programs that support collaborative and multidimensional educational experiences and pathways (2.4.4)
• Support growth of academic programs to include new and innovative degrees and certificates (5.1.3)
The Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program supports the University’s mission and strategic initiatives in four ways:
(1) expands the array of high-quality graduate programs provided by the university;
(2) provides an innovative model of program delivery by both offering courses online and in person;
(3) promotes a collaborative and multidimensional education experience by having courses taught by faculty from a wide array of disciplines; and
(4) increases access to higher education by offering both degree and certificate options at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The goal of this program is to generate a new stream of students for WOU; specifically, working adults based in and around the Salem area. Courses will be offered primarily online with a blended online/classroom format in selected courses based on the course learning objectives. Any courses offered in the blended online/classroom modality will be scheduled in early weekday evenings or Saturday morning to meet the availability of working adults. Otherwise, all online classes will be scheduled to allow for either synchronous or asynchronous activities as the content dictates, in time periods appropriate for, and communicated to, the targeted enrollees before and during registration.
The MA in OL is an interdisciplinary program utilizing faculty from a variety of disciplines including:
• Business
• Communication Studies
• Economics
• Politics, Policy and Administration
• Psychological Sciences
• Staff Offices (e.g., Academic Affairs)
These identified units will be affected by having reduced faculty availability when members of their units are teaching in the OL program. The OL budget will be used, in part, to provide affected units with funding for the hiring of replacement faculty when necessary to offset the potential reduction in course offerings due to a faculty member (or members) teaching in the OL program during a given term. In cases where staff members are teaching a course in addition to their regular duties, the OL budget will be used to compensate them for these efforts.
A primary goal of the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program is to recruit and retain a new stream of students for WOU; specifically, working adults based in and around the Salem area. Consequently, the financial success of this program will be judged based on enrollment in the program relative to the actual program costs. Based on the projected costs associated with the program (see attached budget sheet), we need only average eight students per course per term for the OL program to begin to show a profit. At the end of each fiscal year, we will review program expenditures relative to the tuition revenue generated by the program to determine its fiscal viability.
WOU anticipates full implementation of the OL program in fall 2019. Currently, we have introduced a limited set of course sections in winter and spring of 2019 to primarily serve students already at WOU in undergraduate or graduate programs in Business, Criminal Justice, or Education Leadership programs. These courses also serve new students who are interested in the undergraduate Operational Leadership Certificate that was approved at WOU’s Board of Trustees meeting in July 2018.
If the initiative is not funded and there is no money for faculty salaries and ancillary program support, then we will not be able to offer classes within the program.
The only Oregon public university that offers a similar Masters degree is Oregon State University, which offers a Masters of Business Administration in Organizational Leadership degree. George Fox University offers an undergraduate degree in management and organizational leadership. The OL Masters program offers the first non-MBA Organizational Leadership degree in the state of Oregon. MBA degrees typically focus on the more analytic or science side of business management. For example, OSU’s MBA in Organizational Leadership offers courses such as Operations Management, Creating Value in Exchange, Markets and Valuation, and Financial and Cost Analysis. WOU’s OL program curriculum is devoted to the fundamental human processes of leadership and organizational change. While an MBA enables success in the business realm, WOU’s OL program will enable success in any professional setting. The OL Masters program includes instruction in organizational planning, dynamics of leadership, communication, creativity and innovation, team building, conflict resolution and mediation, and other widely applicable leadership skills.
This program will require the development and delivery of nineteen new courses. Additionally, these courses will be offered in hybrid and online formats which will necessitate training for OL faculty members in the areas of Moodle use and instructional design. Currently, the university is in the process of hiring an outside consulting agency to provide this training to OL and other faculty on campus. When existing faculty teach in this program, their ability to serve their current programs will be reduced. This reduction in faculty FTE in currently existing programs may require supplementary faculty FTE. The home departments for the faculty will proactively plan course schedules for academic terms in which an instructor may teach in this program. For example, some sections of a course at WOU’s main campus may be small enough to be combined under another instructor, thus freeing up the core faculty member. Departments also have options to increase the workload of an instructor in its existing pool of professional part-time instructors to accommodate release of usual instructional workload for one of the core faculty. Admissions will be facilitated by the existing staff of the Graduate Office. The staff of the Graduate Office will facilitate the admissions process for students. Additionally, the Strategic Communications and Marketing Office will provide support for student recruitment. Consequently, both of these areas may be impacted with higher workloads. Additionally, students in the program will have access to WOU’s electronic library resources that may be accessed through the onsite computer lab, as well as from students’ homes. Students may also request print titles through the library’s online site. Consequently, Library staff may experience a small increase in workload.
Unclassified staff pay reflects the replacement costs back to the originating department for OL faculty when they are teaching a course in the program (there are no full-time faculty in the OL program. All faculty teaching in the program will be "borrowed" from other departments). The average cost of an NTT replacement for faculty is $4,500 (per Hilary Holman-Kidd in the Provost's office). The OL program will offer 14 courses during the 2019-2020 academic year (this includes summer). The unclassified staff pay also reflects a stipend for the program coordinator in lieu of two course releases for program management. This stipend has been approved by the dean of CLAS. Classified staff pay reflects the cost of a .5 FTE program assistant. This person would be responsible for: assisting students, faculty, and staff; managing Banner and the Financial Information System; interfacing with prospective students; maintaining all records for the department; travel arrangements and reimbursements; submitting and tracking FTE for all professors; budget monitoring and reporting; ordering supplies; and other duties as required. General office supplies will cover expenses such as copier expenses, notepads, pencils/pens, batteries, post-it notes, white-out, letterhead, tape, paper clips, staplers/staples, highlighters, file folders, hanging folders, sharpies, clip binders, notecards, and clickers. Faculty development will cover expenses of various faculty attending teaching and research focused leadership conferences and workshops. External program reviewers emphasized that, although each faculty member has expertise in their content area, they may not have much experience teaching in a Leadership program. The reviewers strongly suggested that the OL program support the professional development of participating faculty by encouraging attendance at leadership-focused conferences such as Association of Leadership Educators and the International Leadership Association.
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