Master of Arts in Community and Organizational Leadership (MACOL) Courses

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MACOL - Master of Arts in Community and Organizational Leadership (MACOL) Courses

MACOL-601: Found of Organizational & Social Change (Credits: 3)

This course explores concepts of community, leadership, and social change. Through course resources, class discussions, and research in the community, students will deepen their understanding of the root causes of contemporary crises, theoretical frameworks which assist in explaining these, and ways social movements are addressing root causes and bringing about social change.

MACOL-602: Discourse and Research Methods (Credits: 3)

Students will develop a comprehensive understanding of social change, social movement, and critical theoretical paradigms that frame their community-based research. Students will survey a variety of qualitative research methods and have the opportunity to put these methods into practice.

MACOL-603: Policy, Advocacy, & Community Organizing (Credits: 3)

This course builds students' understanding of how public policies are made and develops skills in working within communities. Students will study and develop skills to be effective in influencing policies through advocacy and develop a tool kit of community organizing strategies. Students will build on their knowledge of a specific issue and the relevant actors from previous courses to develop a plan to engage in advocacy and organizing around their issue.

MACOL-606: Envisioning Futures (Credits: 3)

Futures thinking skills enable people to envision possible futures, prepare for them, and develop creativity, hope, and resilience during rapidly changing times. This course explores a variety of ways people are imagining and creating new futures, such as equity-centered design thinking, prefigurative movements, and arts-based approaches. The course teaches future thinking skills including research into emerging trends and drivers, imagining futures, and developing future scenarios with action-planning components.

MACOL-608: Special Topics in Community Leadership (Credits: 1 to 3)

A changing topics course.

MACOL-610: Introduction to Development (Credit: 1)

Introduces students to the basics of fund-raising, including making a case for funding and asking for a gift; several types of funding including annual funds, capital campaigns, planned giving, and special events; and working with a Board of Directors in fund-raising.

MACOL-612: Corporate/Foundation Relations (Credit: 1)

This course will teach students how to find possible corporate and foundation funding sources, how to write grants, and how to work with a board of directors in seeking funding from corporations and foundations.

MACOL-614: Working with Volunteers (Credit: 1)

This course will focus on how to develop and set up a volunteer program and how to work with volunteers. This includes identifying the need for volunteers, finding, recruiting, screening, retaining, developing and organizing volunteers.

MACOL-616: Nonprofit Boards of Directors (Credit: 1)

This course helps students develop their skills and knowledge to work effectively with nonprofit boards of directors. A key focus is the delineation of roles of and relationships between board members, executive directors, and staff. The course will also explore board development, board accountability, board sustainability, and effective governance.

MACOL-618: Facilitating and Negotiating (Credit: 1)

Skilled facilitation and collaborative decision-making processes can ignite and guide a group's passion and ideas to places they may have never imagined. Whether you find yourself in a high-stakes business meeting or a community organizing space, this class will build your toolbox of facilitation skills, allow you to reflect on yourself as a facilitator, and bring equity to the center as we explore power dynamics that show up in collaborative spaces.

MACOL-620: Advanced Community Organizing (Credits: 3)

This course enables students to develop their skills in community organizing through study and practice with a community group. Students will assess their current skills and knowledge, develop a learning contract for the semester, participate in an organizing role with an existing community group, evaluate their effectiveness, and share their findings with classmates.

MACOL-622: Program Planning and Evaluation (Credits: 3)

This course teaches the processes of planning and evaluating development, social service, and educational programs. Students will develop their skills in the negotiation and design processes of planning, setting up data collection processes that enable data-driven decision making, and evaluating programs and using evaluation results for program improvement. The course helps students understand ethical and political issues in program planning and evaluation. Prerequisite: MACL 603.

MACOL-624: Leadership, Conflict & Change (Credits: 2)

This course introduces students to research and theorizing on processes of organizational change and development. Students will develop skills in leading such processes, along with developing skills for leading in situations of conflict. Students articulate their working philosophy of leadership and change.

MACOL-626: HR Equity & Compliance Practices (Credits: 2)

This course covers legal requirements for compliance in Human Resources practices relating to equity in the workplace. Topics covered will include state and federal regulations, key business practices to consider, responding to complaints, and strategies for ensuring compliance. Students will learn the importance of best practices for compliance in building an equitable and inclusive workplace.

MACOL-630: Community Leadership: International,Contexts (Credits: 2)

Students travel outside the U.S. to explore 1) the work of grassroots and nongovernmental organizations, 2) leadership and development models in other cultures, and 3) the connections between the U.S. and other countries on issues such as immigration and trade. Instructor permission required.

MACOL-636: Arts, Culture, and Communities (Credits: 2)

This course explores the vitality in communities and the unique role that culture plays. The course examines the dynamic relationships between artists, cultural organizations, and communities and ways that culture can be a catalyst, convener and/or forum for economic, social, environmental, civic and cultural development. Students will develop an understanding of how professionals, organizations, individuals, etc. are incorporating innovative culturally-based processes in diverse settings that can help inform their community work.

MACOL-639: Neuroscience of Trauma (Credits: 3)

This class will serve as an introductory course in the biological bases of human behavior with a specific focus on developmental childhood trauma and PTSD. Topics will include an overview of central nervous system structure, brain function and development, and include an introduction to emotional and cognitive processing in the brain.

MACOL-640: Trauma-Responsive Organizations (Credits: 2)

This course will teach principles of trauma-responsive practices. Students will investigate traditional practices, policies, and structures found within a variety of organizations and critically analyze how they impact the success of youth and adults who have experienced individual and collective trauma. Students will learn strategies that organizations can use to reduce activating trauma-reactions among constituents and employees and ways organizations can be proactive in creating internal and outward practices that foster inclusion and equity.

MACOL-642: Foundations of Restorative Justice (Credits: 3)

This course will examine current practices in policing, adjudication, incarceration, and conflict resolution both nationally and locally, and explore the efficacy of restorative justice practices as an alternative to punitive discipline, community exclusion, and incarceration. Through site visits, interviews with individuals working within the legal system, the examination of case studies, and participating in restorative justice circles, students will examine the impact that these practices can have on individuals and communities and make suggestions for real-world change.

MACOL-643: High Performing Organizational Cultures (Credits: 2)

Every organization has a culture. This culture can either enable or hinder organizational success. In this course, we will work with a number of tools that will help you understand what you do and perhaps do not know about your organization's culture; assess your organization's culture and identify areas for improvement; think strategically about the possibilities of organizational culture change; and identify specific action steps you can and should take to move your organization along the journey of being a high-performing organizational culture.

MACOL-654: Organizational & Leadershp Communication (Credits: 3)

Provides a broad survey of communication-based perspectives on organizational topics with an emphasis on leadership communication practices. Within the context of an organizational setting, students explore situations in which to apply specific leadership styles with regard to various topics (for example, ethics, power, persuasion, crisis, and teamwork).

MACOL-655: Intercultural and Global Communication (Credits: 3)

Develops an understanding of strategies that facilitate effective communication with diverse cultures in various contexts through the exploration of theories and frameworks of intercultural, cross-cultural, and co-cultural communication.

MACOL-656: Integrated Marketing Communication (Credits: 3)

Analyzes target audiences, types of messages, segmentation strategies, evaluation plans, and associated collateral material to determine how to most effectively distribute messages to target markets. The focus is on integration (or synthesis) of marketing communication with strategic marketing.

MACOL-658: Managing Issues in Crisis (Credit: 1)

Focuses on raising awareness of how the management of public information impacts the origination and outcome of issues and crises. Students become acquainted with the nature of issues and crises, are introduced to some of the tools that can be used in managing information intended to advocate for or defend positions, and become more discerning observers/participants in the news.

MACOL-662: Social Media Marketing (Credit: 1)

Provides students with the fundamentals of using social media in marketing. The class covers strategies for creating campaigns, measuring performance, gathering and engaging fans/followers, and creating media content for social media and blogs.

MACOL-665: Internship (Credits: 1 to 4)

An internship enables students to develop skills and expertise in an area of interest and to explore possible career or job paths. Students arrange an internship with an organization or agency, complete the application process through the Career Center, and complete regular reflection assignments. This course may be used to fulfill Curricular Practical Training requirements. This course is repeatable for credit.

MACOL-668: Directed Studies (Credits: 1 to 3)

Consent of instructor required to pursue a special topic of interest. Prior to registration, a plan of study must be submitted for approval by the director of the program. This course is repeatable for credit.

MACOL-670: Research Extension (Credit: 1)

This course extends the MACL Capstone Project sequence coursework, enabling students to deepen their research projects and further develop their skills in conducting academic research. Projects in the course may include finding and evaluating academic literature, academic writing, synthesizing and analyzing data, learning additional data collection methods, and preparing manuscripts for publication. Course meets on-line in a directed study format and may be repeated.

MACOL-679: Capstone Project Development (Credits: 3)

Students will design a final research project, creative project, or internship which integrates the knowledge and skills learned throughout the program and which benefits a community organization or effort. Students will plan the project in consultation with a faculty member and an outside professional.

MACOL-680: Capstone Project (Credits: 3)

Students complete the capstone project designed in MACL 679 and present final results. Completion of program portfolio required.