Master of Science in Leadership

Thrive in a Changing Business World

You will learn leadership skills that are critical to harnessing and directing the talents of a diverse workforce — critical skills such as adaptive decision-making, designing and leading complex change, and leveraging business data — plus soft skills that help influence decisions, build emotional intelligence, and bring out the best performance in employees.

Overview

Gain Cutting-Edge Leadership Skills

Golden Gate University’s breakthrough leadership programs are based on extensive input from corporate partners, industry groups, leading scholars, and leverage the university’s decades-long successes in developing high achieving leaders in the innovative crucible of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Learn From Instructors Who Teach What They Do

Courses are taught by instructors who also work in some of the Bay Area’s largest and most successful organizations. They bring cutting-edge knowledge from the field to the classroom, teaching skills that are immediately applicable to the real world.

Future-Proof Your Career

The pace of change across industries is quickening. New technologies are disrupting established businesses at an accelerated rate. We are operating in an ever interconnected global world. Jobs once performed by professionals will soon be automated or outsourced. What was certain today well may be uncertain tomorrow. Are you prepared for how management and leadership will evolve as a result?

Curriculum

Total Units — 30

Core Courses — 18 units It is strongly recommended that students take the courses below in the following sequence:

• Management and Leadership

• Personal Leadership

• Teamwork in Organizations

• Leading Complex Change

• Adaptive Decision Making

• Integrated Leadership Mastery

Declaring Program Concentrations

Students may declare up to two concentrations in a given degree program. Students seeking to declare more than two concentrations will be required to appeal to the dean for approval. Students’ diplomas will list the concentrations that they had successfully completed at the time their degrees were conferred. Students may not declare additional concentrations after their degrees have been conferred.

Students may select from the following concentrations:

• Business Analytics

• Finance

• Human Resource Management

• Individualized

• Influence and Conflict Management

• Information Technology Management

• Marketing

• Organizational Behavior and Development

Concentrations

Business Analytics Concentration

This concentration is designed for the student who must be able to apply data analytics tools and techniques to information that the organization can use for strategic decision-making. Students taking this concentration will be introduced to specialized analytics tools and technologies.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Finance Concentration

This concentration is designed to prepare students for a finance specialty. Whatever goal students have in the world of business, from corporate management to consulting and entrepreneurship, the study of finance gives them the grounding in decision-making techniques that will help ensure the financial health of their enterprise in the competitive global market. Students learn capital budgeting, capital structure, investment management, and short-term capital management. Our unique method combines theoretical knowledge of finance with extensive hands-on learning that uses real-life case studies and our state-of-the-art computer labs to give students the ability to be an effective and competent manager in any organization.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Human Management Resource Concentration

In the competitive global marketplace, effective management of human resources is necessary for success. Students learn to understand the human resource issues brought about by technology and the international business environment, and how to apply their knowledge as a human-resources professionals in organizations. Students will choose among courses to learn how to hire, train, develop, retain, compensate, and ethically manage a workforce.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Individualized Concentration

Whatever the student’s goal in the field of leadership, the individualized concentration allows the student to tailor their MS Leadership program to their individual needs.

Note:

• Graduates must contact the program director to have their individualized concentration titles added as footnotes to their transcripts.

• Graduates’ individualized concentration titles will not appear on their diplomas.

Influence and Conflict Management Concentration

This concentration is designed for students who would like to further develop knowledge and skills in influencing and conflict management. Research suggests that the ability to manage conflict differentiates leaders who are most effective from those who are not.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Information Technology Management Concentration

This concentration is designed to prepare students to work with or within the IT field. Students are introduced to the capabilities made possible by IT and to the challenges associated with being an IT manager. Students learn about selecting and planning IT initiatives, applying data analytics to business problems, and addressing issues of security and privacy within the business environment. Upon completion, students will also understand how to align IT with business needs and how IT enables business value.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Marketing Concentration

Often considered the central discipline of business, the challenges and practices of marketing are evolving along with the changes in the contemporary business environment. This concentration prepares students to succeed in the marketing function inside a wide variety of organizations. Fundamental and advanced marketing principles, strategies, and tactics in an increasingly digital world are covered.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Organizational Behavior And Development Concentration

This concentration is designed for students with a keen interest in delving deeper into the fields of human and organizational behavior and development.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Project Management Concentration

This concentration gives students grounding in multiple skills including budgeting, conflict resolution, communication, project scope, developing and using resources, leadership, and team building. Students gain knowledge from faculty who are certificated by PMI®. The content of courses is integrated with the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®, Guide), Project Management Institute, Inc. As students progress through their courses, they are preparing themselves for the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) or the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification exam. The PM concentration provides an opportunity for those who wish to build on their MS Leadership degree work by obtaining project management skills. The certificate is for those who may be working and intend to apply project management skills in their present and future professional endeavors. PMP®, CAPM®, PMBOK®, and PMI® have registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Any concentration course substitutions must be approved by the MS Leadership Program Director or appropriate academic Program Director.

Learning Outcomes

Students who graduate from the Master of Science in the Leadership program will demonstrate the ability to:

• Identify, understand, and differentiate between management and leadership.

• Build and lead high performing teams.

• Facilitate effective collaboration in the selection and application of appropriate business methods and tools.

• Exercise emotional intelligence and implement adaptive leadership capabilities in dealing with diverse audiences and rapidly changing complex, and chaotic organizational situations.

• Identify ethical dilemmas and evaluate appropriate options using moral reasoning.

• Identify and defend which decision-making methods to use in a variety of common scenarios.

• Generate a thoughtful and rigorous self-assessment of their team, organizational leadership strengths, and areas of development.

• Formulate a three- to five-year personal leadership/career / whole-life goal.

• Integrate leadership and management knowledge, skills, and mindsets into an individualized leadership philosophy and toolkit.

• Articulate benefits of their individualized specialization in a way that adds value to current and future employees.

International Scholarships

Golden Gate University welcomes students from all over the world and offers a scholarship for all qualified international students who enroll in a master's degree program in our School of Business, School of Accounting, or Braden School of Tax. Admitted students that have not previously attended Golden Gate University and satisfy the admissions criteria will be automatically considered for an International Student Scholarship or Grant through the admission process. For the 2020-2021 academic year, a limited number of scholarships will be awarded in each of the following categories:

International President's Scholars -- $15,000

Admitted students who earned a bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and who demonstrate English language proficiency as evidenced by a minimum TOEFL a score of 90, Duolingo score of 120, PTE of 65, or IELTS composite of 7.5 with no sub-score of less than 6.5 will be considered. Students who have earned a master's degree after earning a bachelor's degree will be considered using the cumulative grade point average and English language proficiency as noted above. An International President's Scholar is eligible to receive up to $15,000 to complete their degree, $5,000 per term for up to 3 consecutive terms.

International Dean's Scholars -- $12,000

Admitted students who earned a bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.3 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and who demonstrate English language proficiency as evidenced by a minimum TOEFL score of 85, Duolingo score of 115, PTE of 62 or IELTS composite of 7.0 with no sub-score of less than 6.0 will be considered. Students who have earned a master's degree after earning a Bachelor's degree will be considered using the cumulative grade point average and English language proficiency as noted above. An International Dean's Scholar is eligible to receive up to $12,000 to complete their degree, $4,000 per term for up to 3 consecutive terms.

Welcome Grant -- $3,000

Admitted students who earned a bachelor's degree with a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and who demonstrate English language proficiency as evidenced by a minimum TOEFL score of 79, Duolingo score of 100, PTE of 57 or IELTS composite of 6.5 will be considered. Students who have earned a master's degree after earning a bachelor's degree will be considered using the cumulative grade point average and English language proficiency as noted above. Our Welcome grant is a one-time award of $3,000 applied to tuition in the first term of enrollment.

To be considered for any of the scholarships listed above:

• Students must have their applications complete and ready for review by June 15 for fall 2020 and October 1 for spring 2021 admission.
• The student must be an international student who entered the United State using an F Visa or studying in their home country. Students studying on a J visa are not eligible for these scholarships or grants.
• President's and Dean's scholarship recipients must be continuously enrolled in 9 or more units and maintain satisfactory academic progress as evidenced by achieving and maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher in each term of enrollment. These scholarships are renewable for a maximum of three consecutive (3) terms.
• Students may only receive one scholarship or grant. Specifically, President's and Dean's, scholarship recipients are not eligible for the Welcome Grant or the Alumni Referral Grant.

A $1,000 US tuition deposit is required of all admitted students prior to the issuance of visa eligibility documents (commonly known as form I-20). The deposit is credited toward the first term's tuition and is non-refundable. Tuition deposits must be paid by the following dates or students will forfeit the scholarships:

• Priority application for fall 2020 scholarships was June 15, 2020 but GGU is still accepting applications.
• Spring 2021admission - tuition deposit must be paid by October 31st.

Deferring your enrollment may impact your scholarship eligibility. Please speak with your enrollment counselor for further details.

For more information, please see our brochure here.

For more than 100 years, non-profit Golden Gate University (GGU) has been helping adults achieve their professional goals by providing undergraduate and graduate education in Accounting, Law, Taxation, Business and related areas.

GGU is one of California's oldest private universities, enrolling thousands of students and representing more than 68,000 alumni. The university's main campus is located in San Francisco with additional teaching sites in Seattle and Silicon Valley. In addition to evening and weekend classes, most courses and degrees are offered entirely online.