New Graduate Program Prepares Future College Leaders
Dann Truitt ’14, ’19 MA couldn’t have chosen a more challenging time to start a new job in higher education. In mid-March, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was closing college campuses, he began a new position at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, helping with COVID-19-related communications and budget implications.
It was a role he was prepared to step into as a graduate of Montclair State’s Educational Leadership program, which is cultivating a new generation of leaders for the increasingly complex issues in education.
This fall, the University launched the Master of Arts in Higher Education, which changes an existing concentration within Educational Leadership to full degree status.
Graduates of the concentration have gone on to careers throughout higher ed, from the Ivy League to community colleges. And while they hold a wide range of positions, including roles in student affairs, academic affairs and general university administration, they also carry with them a focus on social justice, which is among the hallmarks of the program.
Students learn about law and legal issues, supervision and management, leadership theories and social justice in higher education. “Our hope is to ensure that students feel they can go from residential life on a college campus to higher education policy at the state level, in both positions as critically minded and equitability-minded leaders,” says Blanca Elizabeth Vega, assistant professor of Educational Leadership.
Learn more at montclair.edu/graduate.