Addressing some of today’s most complex and layered societal issues often requires a deeper skill set and more thorough knowledge base to drive decision-making and execute thoughtful plans. The MA in Public Service Leadership at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) arms students to be justice-oriented agents of change in their respective communities as well as competent, capable, and ethical leaders who can push communities forward in enduring ways.  

Through assignments, exercises, and discussions with your fellow students and expert faculty, you will consider different ideas and realities. You will discern your unique and particular gifts and find ways to put those attributes into the service of others. You will think thoughtfully and critically about your “reason for being,” reflection that will help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

While MA in Public Service Leadership students choose one of the two track options to pursue–either Disaster Management & Emergency Preparedness or Global Social & Sustainable Development—our program broadens the concept of public service and laces specific emphasis on leadership in public service through governmental, non-profit, and human service organizations. Moving between the disparate but overlapping health/social sectors, students gain values and skills adaptable to a variety of organizations, including public-private partnerships.

Curriculum

The MA in Public Service Leadership comprises of 30 credit hours, 10 courses. Courses are offered in an 8-week session format with online, evening options.

Program Courses

Foundation Courses

(18 credits)

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
PSLD 400	Introduction to Public Service	3
PSLD 401	Ethical Leadership in Public Service	3
PSLD 402	Foundations of Global Strategic Communication	3
PSLD 403	Program Management and Development	3
PSLD 404	Data, Visualization and Evaluation	3
PSLD 405	Design Thinking in Mitigating Complex Social Problems	3
Total Hours		18

Track Courses (Choose One Track)

Disaster Management & Emergency Preparedness Track

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
PSLD 420	Disaster Operations and Management	3
PSLD 421	Emergency Planning and Implementation	3
PSLD 422	Disasters and Vulnerable Populations	3
PSLD 423	Integrated Social-Medical Issues in Emergency Management	3
Total Hours		12

Global Social & Sustainable Development Track

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
PSLD 430	Understanding and Mitigating Poverty	3
PSLD 431	Foundations of Social and Sustainable Development	3
PSLD 432	Gender Diversity & Sustainable Social Development	3
PSLD 433	Social Analysis Inequality Poverty and Development	3
Total Hours		12

Learning Outcomes

After completing the required courses in this Program, students will be able to: 

1. Describe components and levels of leadership across public sectors
2. Apply ethical reasoning to administrative design and decision-making in the current realm of public service leadership
3. Analyze how systems of power, privilege, and oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism) operate to create and maintain inequality as well as how resistance to these systems is enacted.
4. Describe the experiences of underrepresented, marginalized, or oppressed communities within various contexts, including inequality in outcomes and resistance to systems of oppression.
5. Collect and apply data in problem identification and problem solving
6. Differentiate between non-crisis leadership and leadership in emergencies among public, social and economic sectors
7. Apply fundamentals of communication appropriate to situation in both local and global situations.