From Cabrini College to Cabrini University, the campus has undergone a number of changes in the last few months.
With academics among the best, Cabrini’s opportunities for education continues to grow. Going beyond Cabrini’s plethora of undergraduate programs, there are five graduate programs and two doctoral programs for individuals to explore.
Dr. Stephanie Gibbs, Ed. D, the director of graduate admissions, said, “Once we split into the four schools, every college pretty much said, ‘We are going to focus more on our current student process.’ Now, a lot of our faculty advisers are working directly with our current students.”
Three of Cabrini’s most unique programs for a higher-education include the Master of Science in Leadership (MSL) and the two doctoral programs – EdD in Educational Leadership and PhD or DBA in Organizational Development.
The MSL provides working individuals with an opportunity to grow their skills and leadership capabilities.
“The focus there is really building leadership capacity to do social good, which fits with our mission on campus about social justice and ethical leadership in particular,” Dr. Todd Matthews, an associate professor and chair of the department of leadership and organizational development at Cabrini University, said.
As the graduate catalog says for the MSL, “Students working in all kinds of organizations will gain the knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to become ethical leaders in their careers. The program is perfect for working adults in a range of career fields who aspire to positions of greater leadership.”
“MSL mainly focuses on leadership skills. Its building leaders at the end of the day. Its looking at ethics its looking at business as a whole. Its looking at just how a company is moving forward,” Gibbs said.
Cabrini’s MBA allows the students to pursue a higher-education, while maintaining their day job. Up to 50 percent of the coursework can be completed online. The MSL program can be completed in a minimum of two years and a maximum of six years, giving the students flexibility.
“Our leadership programs are based on a social change model. So, the focus there is really building leadership capacity to do social good, which fits with our mission on campus about social justice and ethical leadership in particular,” Matthews said.
New to Cabrini University this past summer, the Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership provides post-master’s students the chance to become trained leaders in their preferred field.
The EdD in Educational Leadership is a three-year program that applies theory to the real-life situations the students will face in their fields. The courses are offered as hybrid or fully online classes.
“The goal of the doctoral program is to develop scholarly leaders in the field of education who lead for the common good and whose decisions reflect sound research-based inquiry and whose actions promote social justice to transform education both locally and globally,” the graduate catalog said.
Cabrini’s doctoral program in Organization Development reinforces ethics and social justice for its enrolled students when they enter their field of work.
Within this program, students can receive a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) or DBA (Doctor of Business Administration). Following its 70-credit layout, the program is to be finished in three years.
“It is amazing what they get out of their program. They finish in three years, and they have that residency experience and that bonding experience,” Gibbs said.
“A lot of focus in our OD program is focused on those socially responsible activities in organizations. Be they companies, for-profit companies, non-profits, government,whatever type of organization it may be, but it’s really focused on trying to understand an organization as a system and figuring out ways to improve it so it’s more effective,” Matthews said.
According to the graduate catalog, “The Doctorate in Organizational Development is designed for mid- and senior-level executives from all sectors of the workplace who are interested in studying and advancing theory, research and practice in the disciplines of organizational development, change management and leadership.”
“The doctoral program, especially ones that are PhD or EdD are very much focused on building research capacity, building scholars. But our program is a little bit different in that its building scholar practitioners,” Matthews said.
“Leadership skills are important. I know people say leaders are born but honestly we are molding our students,” Gibbs said.
