Enroll for Fall
Ready to Change the World?
"Change the Questions, Change the World."
This 36-credit Master of Arts program is to equip, educate and develop Christian Social Innovators who will order their lives around missionary purpose and believe they are responsible for fulfilling God’s redemptive work on earth.
The Capstone project may be customized to focus on areas such as:
- Social Advocacy — seeks to ensure that all people in society are able to have their voices heard.
- Social Services — relief, individual and community development, and transformative change.
- Social Entrepreneurship — to explore business opportunities that positively impact their communities, society, and the world.
Quick Facts
- Format: Online or On-Campus
- Term: Fall
- Length: 2-3 Years
Andrews University's MA Leadership in Social Innovation program offers students the unique opportunity to engage in socially impactful careers with collective impact-focused, mission-driven entities, including Benefit Corporations. Benefit Corporations, or B Corps, are businesses that often focus on people, the planet, and profits through developing public goods and services.
As Christian Social Innovators, the program is designed to educate and develop world changers to become faithful reflectors of God's love - self-giving love for people through the following opportunities: Social Entrepreneurship, Social Advocacy, and Social Services and Development.
Program Benefits
This Master of Arts (M.A.) Leadership in Social Innovation specialized leadership program is designed to equip participants with the latest insights in social innovation for academic excellence and alongside experiential and experimental learnings; it is to gain expertise in leading social innovation towards socially-focused organizations worldwide.
Social Innovation Project
Participants may apply for $10,000 matching seed grants to initiate their social innovation project to demonstrate the critical knowledge and the skills needed for being social innovators to affect change in their organizations, local communities, and across the globe. Participants will develop a social innovation project and create a case study to document its design, implementation, and evaluation of its collective impact through critical service learning.
Cohort Model
The program is designed to build upon social entrepreneurship and innovation skills, peer-to-peer learning, mentoring and coaching, and lifelong learning and relationships with colleagues.
Career Opportunities
Participants may explore many professional contexts, including private, nonprofits, benefit corporations, foundations, government, religion, and civic services. The program will equip participants to serve in development, corporate social responsibility, humanitarian services, social and environmental value, faith-based program administration, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation leadership in local, state, and national governments.
What's the Deal?
Why MA Leadership in Social Innovation?
Sharing | Connecting | Ministering | Discipleship
The participants will become community organizers, through developing a collective impact with community members, organizations, and institutions, participants will enhance the Kingdom of God on earth; in learning together, aligning, and integrating the community assets to achieve sustainable community and systems-level transformation.
Program Overview
18 CREDITS — Core courses will develop a leadership mindset and the complex skill-sets needed for leaders in communities and high-performance organizations engaged in today’s fast-changing contexts of change.
The overall goal of the MA Leadership program is to develop leaders with a strong sense of personal mission, the ability to work in teams, and experience in leading change that can provide better services and professional solutions in varied local, regional and global situations.
Concentration
18 CREDITS — Concentration courses will develop insights and understanding of social issues, and provide a world-class training in the development of social innovations to address fundamental societal problems in a range of different economic, political and geographic contexts. Participants will also develop managerial and leadership skills, to provide the foundation to launch and sustain socially-focused entrepreneurial ventures.
Concentration Topics
- Introduction to Social Innovation
- Creating Collective Impact
- Leading Social Innovation
- Diversity, Culture, and Leadership
- Ministry of Reconciliation through Social Innovation
- Budgeting, Fundraising & Grantsmanship
- Strategic Markeitng Management
- Creativity Innovation Workshop
- Creative Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
| Program Levels (focus areas) | SAMPLE-Course Plan for MA in Leadership in Social Innovation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Year 1 — Summer | 5 | Year 1 — Fall Semester | 8 | Year 1 — Spring Semester | 10 | 23 |
| LEAD 630 Intro to Leadership | 2 | LEAD 545 Personal Narrative | 1 | LEAD 636 Issues in Leadshp. Found. | 2 | ||
| LEAD 635 Lead & Learn Plan-LLP | 2 | LEAD 535 Princ. of Acad. Writing | 1 | LEAD 628 Creating Collective Impact | 3 | ||
| LEAD 540 Creativity and Innov Wrkshp | 1 | LEAD 5** Intro to Social Innovation | 3 | LEAD 634 Cultural Intelligence in Diversity, Cultural Intelligence and Leadership | 3 | ||
| Core Requirements & First Reflection Paper | LEAD6** Ministry of Reconciliation | 3 | CIDS 535 Grantmanship | 2 | |||
| LEAD 600 Annual Conference (0) | |||||||
| LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | |||||
| Year 2 | Year 2 — Summer | 3 | Year 2 — Fall Semester | 2 | Year 2 — Spring Semester | 8 | 13 |
| LEAD 641 Leading Social Innovation | 3 | LEAD 647 Creative Crit Thnk & Prb Slv | 2 | LEAD 638 Issues in Leadershp. Theory | 2 | ||
| EDRM 505 Research Methods (Dist) | 3 | ||||||
| Research, Compet. & | MKTG 680 Strategic Marketing | 3 | |||||
| Competency Growth | |||||||
| LEAD 600 Annual Conference (0) | |||||||
| LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | LEAD 605 Learning Group (0) | |||||
| Total | 36 | ||||||
Want to start this year? Here's a sample course plan.
Jump Start Your Social Innovation
Earn Up to $10,000 in Seed Funding
Graduating participants will have the opportunity to present their Social Innovation Project case study for possible grants to develop further and enhance their impactful project that responds to a social, economic, environmental or justice issue.
It will be a competitive process with students from Andrews University and qualified judges will provide feedback and earn up to $10,000 in seed funding to expand their Social Innovation Project.
Take the Next Step
Ready to Change the World?
Reach out to learn more about Andrews University M.A. Leadership in Social Innovation.
Get In Touch
Fill out the Request Information form to learn more and get in contact with our Enrollment Representative.
Start Your Application
Submit the application form early to meet enrollment deadlines. It takes less than 15 minutes.
For More Information
- A four-year baccalaureate degree from an accredited U.S. institution (or the international equivalent).
- A resume, college transcript, and a statement of purpose.
- A GRE score is not required.
Tuition and fees are a good place to start when considering a school, but they aren't the whole story. Some schools may look less expensive, but lower tuition costs can mean fewer scholarships, non-renewable scholarships, or more money upfront. Before choosing a school, we encourage you to look at the complete picture. We are happy to discuss what Andrews University can offer you. Learn more.
- C-Suite Executive
- Human Resources
- Advocates and Entrepreneurs
- Director of Marketing
- Administrative Director
- Director of Operations
- Non-Profit Benefit Corporations Founder
- Business Consultant
Students who are applying for admission to the MA Leadership in Social Innovation program are not required to take the GRE. For those students who are seeking the GRE scholarship, the GRE must be taken. The amount of a potential scholarship is related to the score achieved on the GRE as follows:
| GRE Score | Scholarship |
| 320 | 50% tuition reduction |
| 310 | 25% tuition reduction |
| 300 | 10% tuition reduction |
Check Out Our Certificate Programs
The Professional Certificate
For the Professional Certificate of Leadership Innovation with 1.2 CEU (90 minutes per topic):
- Introduction to Social Innovation
- Creating Collective Impact
- Leading Social Innovation
- Diversity, Culture, and Leadership
- Ministry of Reconciliation through Social Innovation
- Budgeting, Fundraising & Grantsmanship
- Strategic Marketing Management
- Creativity Innovation Workshop
- Creative Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
The Professional Certificate program is designed to offer two days / 12 hours of in-person workshops at camp meetings or any leadership development opportunities.
The Graduate Leadership Certificate
The Graduate Leadership Certificate provides an opportunity for professionals from different fields and disciplines to develop and demonstrate competency in the following areas: leadership and the self, leadership with others, leadership in organizations and leadership in the global environment.
Participants develop their own curriculum guided by a faculty advisor. The program requires 12 credits.
Find details about the Graduate Leadership Certificate in the 2022-2023 Bulletin here. If you have further questions please email us at leader@andrews.edu.
Want to Support?
Support the Program
Gifts to this fund support the work of the Masters of Arts (MA) in Leadership Program in Social Innovation, designed to equip Christian leaders to develop effective solutions to challenging problems in their communities. These donations will be used to support students, program operations, tuition assistance to worthy students, and matching seed grants to initiate their social innovation projects, etc.