Caroline Hall

Colleges and Schools

Master of Science in Higher Education Administration has been discontinued and is no longer accepting new students.

Master of Higher Education Administration

Program Requirements

The master of higher education administration (MHEA) degree is designed for administrators, faculty, policy makers, and leaders in higher education interested in enhancing their leadership and management capabilities.

The MHEA is a 36-semester-hour degree, requiring 13 core courses and five electives. Each graduate course is two semester hours. You can complete the degree in just 21 months, but, on average, our students finish this program in two-and-a-half years.

Electives

Elective courses for all graduate business and nonprofit degrees can be chosen from the wide range of courses available in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management. The core courses listed below cannot count as electives. You may be able to complete a graduate business or nonprofit certificate through your elective credit.

View all graduate business and nonprofit courses.

Master of Higher Education Administration Core Courses

Click on a course name below to read a description of the class.

This course develops an understanding of human behavior in changing organizations and the managerial awareness, tools and methods that increase effectiveness. The course explores principles and theories about individuals and groups at work, motivation and interactive drives and processes for satisfying needs, organization strategies for effectively utilizing people and creating the environment to achieve goals of people and companies. The course also examines ethical issues and the rational integration of ethical thinking and decision-making in competitive organizations. New models of teams, organization structure and organizational development practices are studied as the product of today's transforming organizations.


This course examines the importance of ethical leadership and decision-making to the success of high performance organizations. Ethical issues are examined from a variety of perspectives, analyzed utilizing multiple ethical issue typologies, and possible outcomes determined through the application of a number of decision-making formats. Frameworks for ethics and leadership are assessed and interpreted in light of the leadership behaviors in a number of ethically challenging situations. Finally, students will assess their own ethical leadership views and generate leadership development plans.


This course provides both basic and advanced financial planning and management skills necessary in today's nonprofit organization. Successful financial planning and business development strategies will be combined to create a financial plan which achieves the goals of the organization. Included are basic principles of managerial accounting. Fund accounting, budgeting, cash flow analysis, expenditure control, long-range financial planning, audits, and grants and contracts are studied, as applied to nonprofit organizations.


This course focuses on developing a working knowledge of marketing as it applies to nonprofit organizations. Emphasis will be placed on developing a customer orientation, marketing planning and organization, and developing and organizing resources.


This course explores the historical and contemporary forces that have shaped and impact higher education administration practice, including the roles and relationships among primary actors within the organization (faculty, staff, students, board members), government policy, legal decisions, economic issues, and trends within culture and society.


Provides an overview of the organizational characteristics and processes of colleges and universities with an emphasis upon the governance structure, i.e., the process for making major policy decisions. Additionally, students will be introduced to the sources of power and influence typically found in academic organizations, along with the primary issues related to organization and governance of higher education.


The course explores characteristics of contemporary college students, the major theories of college student cognitive development and behavior, and their implications on cmapus environments, student retention, services, and professional practice. The course also examines the role of student affairs functions and leadership within the larger university.


Provides a comprehensive understanding of curricula found in higher education. The course will briefly examine the historical and philosophical foundations from which current curricular models developed. Also included will be coverage of current practices in curriculum development in colleges and universities. Specific attention will be given to the role and impact of assessment and accreditation as related to curriculum development.


This course is designed to assist students in becoming knowledgeable about the fundamentals of American law that directly and indirectly impinge on the teaching, learning, and administrative environments of higher education institutions in the both the public as well as the private sectors. There are diverse sources of law that impact American higher education in numerous ways and this course is designed to enhance student understanding and appreciation for this complexity as well as for the ethical issues which surround the application of law in the university or college setting. This course will consider legal issues within the historical context of higher education and the forces which shaped it. Specific attention will be given to the broader political, social, cultural, and economic context within which higher education was established and continues to develop today.


This course examines the role of enrollment management from multiple perspectives in an institutional context, taking a holistic approach from student inquiry through engaged alum. Using a strategic enrollment planning approach as a model, the course explores admissions policies and practice, including issues of access, diversity, and legal considerations, pricing and financial aid models and trends, data management for informed decision making, and application of best practices for student retention. The course also explores how enrollment leaders can establish a culture of student enrollment on campuses.


This course covers the fundamentals of effective resource development as they pertain to nonprofit organizations. Principles and best practices of fundraising are studied, including the fundraising process (i.e., organizational readiness, case development, donor pyramid, strategic planning, management and research). The principles that undergird effective fundraising practices will also be reviewed, including the historical, organizational, legal, ethical, and theoretical contexts of fundraising.


This course examines the assessment of effectiveness against service delivery objectives. The course uses the logic model and other theoretical models to better understand the outcomes and assessment process. Case studies will highlight evaluation issues for improved organizational performance. Prerequisite: Any SBNM course. This may not be the first course in the SBNM academic program.

This course is the capstone for the MNPA and MHEA degrees. The primary objective of the course is the development of a perspective of the executive leader's job and responsibilities from a conceptual as well as operating standpoint. Within this context, elements to be studied include: governance structure and issues, establishing and reinforcing the nonprofit organization's mission and values, delineating an effective strategy, developing and using information flows to provide management control and performance and effectiveness evaluation, structuring the organization, and allocating human and financial resources. Ethical issues will be discussed throughout the course as pertaining to the nonprofit environment.