鈥淭he MAOL is a great blend of business and personal skill development,鈥� says Gabb, operations and business manager at in Timberville, Va. 鈥淭he program can build you up, but more importantly, it reveals to you and others who you really are.鈥�

Learning who he 鈥渞eally鈥� is as a leader has helped Gabb improve relationships and efficiencies in his unique role, a position which he describes as 鈥渁 mixture of human resources, production and administration.鈥�

Based in several hundred acres of Shenandoah Valley orchards, the business sells its apples throughout the United States and internationally through wholesalers, distributors and retail chains. They also grow peaches, nectarines and cherries for seasonal sales at two area farm stands, local farmers鈥� markets and local retailers.

Through MAOL coursework, Gabb says his leadership skills have expanded to better awareness of his strengths and weaknesses, stronger listening skills, the capability to view multiple perspectives, and a versatile and more flexible leadership style.

鈥淚 highly recommend the program to anyone who thinks they are a leader or need to become a leader,鈥� said Gabb, who also completed his bachelor’s degree in 2006 through EMU’s .

The MAOL program is just one of several graduate and certificate programs at EMU with the common curricular goal of developing leadership for the common good. Additionally, the highly successful degree completion program, which started in 1995, has a similar emphasis; students with at least 60 credit hours of undergraduate work can work towards a bachelor鈥檚 degree in leadership and organizational management.

Students bring their skills, life and professional experiences into the classroom, where they explore leadership and organizational skills, as well as conflict management, strategic planning, decision-making processes and financial management.

“The School of Graduate and Professional Studies at EMU is a remarkable place to be,鈥� says , director of admissions and marketing. 鈥淚n many ways, it is an incubator for new ideas and new approaches to higher education at EMU. These programs banding together is just one example of the synergy and collaborative spirit here. The school is also quite nimble, which allows us to quickly respond to听evolving challenges and opportunities in our community and beyond.” 听

MA in Organizational Leadership enrolling the fourth cohort

The graduated its second cohort in April and will enroll its fourth cohort this fall.

Professors and have been added to the faculty. Stauffer, who teaches in the undergraduate Applied Social Sciences Department and with the MA in Biomedicine program, will teach an introductory course in leadership studies. Kioko, who is completing her doctorate at James Madison University, will teach project development.

A cross-cultural component has also been added. 鈥淓MU has long led the way in promoting the benefits of a cross-cultural learning experience and we want our graduate students to have this opportunity as well,鈥� says Professor , the new director of the MAOL program.

MAOL students beginning this fall will have two options at the end of their coursework: an organizational sustainability course that includes travel to Costa Rica (a for several years), or a domestic cross-cultural course designed with 2-3 weekend excursions to areas of cultural diversity in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Brubaker has added oversight of the MAOL program to a portfolio that also includes administration of the MBA program. He has taught in the MAOL and MBA programs, and for many years, taught in the .

He takes over from Dr. , who will become interim graduate dean.

鈥淒ave brings significant real-world experience to his teaching and administration, gleaned from many years as an organizational change consultant,鈥� Cockley says.

Humanitarian Action Leadership program offers practical skills

This summer and fall, local and international students alike will benefit from a series of online courses offered by EMU’s Humanitarian Action Leadership (HAL) program.

鈥淭he HAL program is a response to the growing challenges and complexities of our global society, offering a range of courses delivered by experienced practitioners to NGOs, aid agencies, government organizations, businesses, and individuals working to address natural and human-made disasters,鈥� says Dr. , who came to teaching from a multifaceted career in family and community health, including many years in Central America.

Coursework draws on EMU鈥檚 niche programs: sustainable and compassionate leadership, peacemaking and peacebuilding, and trauma awareness and resilience.

The program explores topics related to disaster response and humanitarian action through the lenses of climate change, peacebuilding, justice, sustainable development, capacity building, resiliency and personal formation from a values and faith base. These courses are available in multiple formats. Students can choose to pursue a graduate certificate (18 credits), a MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (36 credits), or an undergraduate minor.

HAL will also work with individual organizations to develop and deliver custom training sessions or workshops to address specific needs.

MS in Nursing Program enters eighth year

The听听(MSN) program started its eighth year of operation with an orientation session in May 2017 for the Leadership and School Nursing concentration and with the upcoming orientation in July for the Leadership and Management concentration.

鈥淪tudents and faculty continue to explore new ways to integrate the EMU nursing philosophy of sacred covenant with servant leadership in the diverse practice roles and settings of nursing,鈥� says program director Dr. .

With students from Nepal to southern Africa, the MSN has increased in geographic, professional and organizational diversity.

鈥淲ith the fall 2017 entering class, we hope to welcome several students from South America and the Middle East,鈥� Tyson said. 鈥淭his diversity of students, partnered with faculty from the U.S. to Central America within an online environment while still maintaining a high level of relationship, illustrates the EMU values of community across cultures and practices.鈥�

The program added adjunct faculty members Carli Youndt, MSN 鈥�15, in the school nurse concentration, and Doug Alderfer, an assistant superintendent of schools with Rockingham County Public Schools, in the leadership and management track.

Ten students will complete their capstone projects in August, implementing evidence-based quality improvement initiatives in the following projects:

• improving the health of diabetic students in schools,
• preventing oxygenation loss events in patients transported within hospitals,
• creating a mental health screening of foster children in developing countries,
• implementing an innovative “grab and go” breakfast program for school children, and
• enhancing nursing education through learning how to capture patient narratives.

Adult degree program increases flexibility with hybrid classes

The newly revised features the BS in Leadership and Organizational Management. The progam will begin offering hybrid classes for fall 2017, according to , program director.

鈥淭his program is designed specifically for working adults who want to complete their bachelor’s degree while still maintaining work and family commitments,鈥� she says.

Students complete a 16-month program as a cohort, forming a learning community that provides academic and social support. 听A hybrid (or blended) format was chosen to address the need for flexibility without sacrificing a strong sense of community.

Courses are offered in a five-week format with asynchronous (on your own time) online sessions during the second and fourth weeks of the course. During the first, third and fifth weeks, students attend a single traditional class session on campus from 6-10 p.m.

The program, which began in 1995, offers a path for working adult students with at least 60 credit hours of undergraduate work to progress toward a bachelor鈥檚 degree. The management and organizational development major has been significantly revised and renamed “.”

鈥淭hose who were in the focus group sessions came to us and said, 鈥楲eadership is something we feel is important,鈥� while at the same time we were having internal conversations about how we incorporate leadership for the common good, which is kind of entrenched in our traditional Business Department undergraduate majors,鈥� says ADCP program representative , a graduate of the program鈥檚 52nd cohort. 鈥淪o it really seemed like synergy was there. All signs pointed that leadership was the way to go.鈥�

The changes come following extensive conversations with focus groups, local educational partners including Blue Ridge Community College, and other stakeholders. Much of the curriculum has been updated and revised, with topics such as leadership theory, leadership practice, global trends in economic justice, biblical perspectives, cross-cultural perspectives and team leadership. ADCP faculty members Bob Davis, Todd Lilley and Jason Good worked with Associate Dean and , program coordinator, to develop the new curriculum.

Structure and format appeal to working adults

Each cohort in the program runs for 15 months, meeting one evening a week, and provides 38 semester hours of credit. Nearly 1,000 students have enrolled over ADCP鈥檚 history, and about 90 percent of students who begin the program complete it.

New ADCP student Jason Burnett of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, started work on an undergraduate degree years ago and now hopes to finish it through the LOM program.

鈥淭he class structure of one night a week was very appealing, and the campus resources, in my mind, will allow me to stay focused as a student and working parent to achieve my academic goals,鈥� Burnett says. 鈥淎s a single father of two and a working adult, I feel this program at EMU, rather than a traditional student setting, gives me the best chances of completing my degree while being able to balance my family, employment and life.鈥�

Patricia Craft, from Massanutten, Virginia, similarly found the right fit with ADCP.

鈥淚 wanted a school that would not be considered a diploma mill, one that would allow me to transfer the most number of my earned college credits and also enable me to earn a degree in the shortest amount of time as a part-time student,鈥� Craft says. 鈥淢y personal preference was to be in an environment that fostered an active real-time discussion of ideas instead of an exchange of emails. I chose EMU鈥檚 ADCP because it met all of these factors.鈥�

Hybrid format coming

The cohort of 14 students, including Burnett and Craft, learn in a traditional, face-to-face format. A transition to some online components will occur this year, and by next fall, the program is expected to be offered in a fully hybrid format.

鈥淥ne of the things that Blue Ridge said to us was that they have students who live 10 minutes away from campus, and they want all online courses because their lives are so full and so busy between families and work that the idea of coming to campus is just a real struggle,鈥� says McIntire, also an ADCP alumna.

At the same time, she says that the cohort model used by ADCP is a core element of the program and one that provides an important support system, so staff want to find ways to preserve that.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really an educational community that they form,鈥� McIntire says. 鈥淪o we want to try to keep that, which is a little harder to conceive how to do it online. We might learn some things along the way to help us do that better.鈥�

For many years, ADCP also offered an major that was recently absorbed into EMU鈥檚 Nursing Department. Between that program and the larger business-focused major 鈥� both deeply grounded in Anabaptist values and perspectives 鈥� 90 cohorts have now graduated from ADCP.