Master of Arts in International Development

at Clark University USA

Whether your goal is to bring positive change to your local community or to advance a cause you feel passionate about, our Master of Public Administration (MPA) program provides the essential leadership and analytical skills you’ll need to realize your vision. The graduate degree in public administration is specifically designed for professionals who want to boost their influence and effectiveness to drive change in the public sector and nonprofit arenas.

Through rigorous learning and real-world experiences, you will develop the skill to manage operational issues, craft policy positions, communicate your vision, navigate organizational challenges, and mediate politically sensitive situations.

Right now, people all over the world are facing social and economic injustices and escalating environmental threats to their health and wellbeing. From toxic pollution to habitat loss to climate change, our planet’s inhabitants and ecosystems are facing critical and highly time-sensitive challenges.

At Clark University, we aren’t daunted by these challenges. Our creativity and resolve are inspired by them. A signature program in our influential International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) Department, the M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy uses an integrative, collaborative approach for understanding and responding to complex issues. We work in partnership with communities, nonprofits, businesses, donors, and policymakers in the United States and internationally to promote safer, healthier, more sustainable relationships between humans and the natural environment. And we help develop knowledge that can be translated into action through changes to policies, practices, behaviors, attitudes, and technologies.

Our curriculum includes a required introduction to literary studies, as well as elective special-topics seminars in a range of geographical contexts and time periods. Working closely with your adviser, you will identify an area of focus for your thesis research and complete a project that builds on your unique scholarly interests.

Most students earn their degree in three or four semesters. Students must be in residence for at least one year (two years are required for recipients of a teaching assistantship award).

In addition, students must:

• Attend the Departmental Colloquia, a noncredit course in which faculty and students present work in progress, share thesis updates, and hear guest speakers. Successfully complete an oral defense of their thesis before two or more faculty readers.

Our students engage capacities and skills that have import within and beyond the study of literature. Such skills entail:

• Analyzing both written texts and broader cultural narratives that shape the political and social world. Crafting insightful and illuminating arguments. Conducting independent and in-depth research with a range of archival sources.

Written and verbal communication. Print, digital, and social media strategies. Marketing and public relations campaigns. Crisis communications. Forge your career in global and digital marketing and media relations by mastering all the core competencies necessary for success as a communication professional. Our M.S. in Communication prepares you to navigate the intricacies of marketing strategy and become a visionary leader in an integrated and highly cluttered media world.

The fact is, contemporary marketing campaigns have grown extraordinarily complex. They must integrate facets that speak to a vast range of demographics and personal consumer preferences. As a communication professional, you must be adept in every form of outreach—websites, social media platforms, email, news feeds, blogs, and more. And you must find a way to make your communications stand out among the deluge of messages bombarding consumers in a hypercompetitive marketplace.

With a graduate degree in communication, you will increase your ability to manage corporate communications, learn to create viral social media, perfect the art of public speaking, develop powerful communication platforms, lead influential public relations campaigns, and devise winning marketing strategies. You also will learn to conduct market research, analyze results, and leverage that knowledge to craft powerful multimedia communications.

Poverty and structural racism undermine the quality of life in urban areas in the United States, and the societal costs can last for generations. The complexity of these problems demands an approach that goes beyond social work or urban planning or design. We developed the M.A. in Community Development and Planning because we believe social and economic justice are possible through the practice of engaged and future-focused community development.

In Clark’s Community Development and Planning program, students learn about the relations between power and capital that produce inequity, and how to use this knowledge to build partnerships and capacity in people, places, organizations, and institutions in order to promote structural change. Our curriculum is strategic and future-oriented, informed by an understanding of historic political-economic trends and current affairs. The curriculum has depth in areas such as youth justice, economic development, food security, and managing neighborhood transformation through community engagement, planning, and non-profit leadership.

Our faculty are engaged scholars and practitioners who work with, and for, state and city governments as well as community development corporations and other non-profits on a range of initiatives aimed at addressing urban challenges. They bring their skills and experience into the classroom, working closely with students to chart career paths. As mentors, the faculty introduce students to internships and a broad professional network.

At Clark University, we’ve created an exceptional launchpad for advancing your career in accounting. Our M.S. in Accounting graduates consistently post first-time pass rates on the CPA exam that are among the highest in Massachusetts. You’ll also gain an edge in the professional marketplace by mastering the skills and critical thinking necessary to developing innovative solutions to complex financial challenges in the evolving global economy.

Health is a right, not a privilege, and The Henry J. and Erna D. Leir Master’s of Health Science (MHS) in Community and Global Health is guided by that core principle. The master’s degree program prepares you to improve access to health locally and globally. You will build the skills and knowledge to promote health around the world through new community-based approaches. You will perform in-depth research and uncover data that illuminates both challenges and solutions. And you will gain the knowledge and confidence to drive policy changes, determine community needs, address health disparities, and solve pressing health-related challenges.

Our state-of-the-art teaching methods and community-based strategies will prepare you for the realities facing disadvantaged populations and give you the tools to lift up those in need. You’ll integrate perspectives from social, economic, cultural, political, and environmental experts to develop robust strategies that address diverse health issues from the Zika virus and drinking water contamination to endemic challenges such as diabetes and mental health.

Clark’s master’s degree in GIS combines rigorous academics with widely varied, highly applied learning opportunities. Our two-year program offers ample opportunities to take what you learn in the classroom and put it to work in the wider world through creative engagements with communities, nonprofits, government, and the private sector. By working hands-on with partners, you gain valuable experience applying theories and implementing your creative solutions to complex problems.

In addition, we offer four concentrations within the GIS degree that enable you to focus your studies: GIS for Development and Environment, Conservation Applications, Global and Community Health Applications, and Remote Sensing. Each requires the completion of a set of concentration-specific courses, and each provides a valuable set of skills — and credentials — that will serve you well throughout your career.

Community and Global Health Applications - Concentration
The concentration in GIS for Community and Global Health Applications is intended for students interested in applications of geospatial technologies in areas of community and global health. The program is aimed at individuals who plan to work as GIS Analysts/Specialists in international health organizations (such as WHO, International Red Cross), federal, state and local government agencies (CDC, FEMA, state and municipal health departments), NGOs (Partners in Health, Planned Parenthood, etc.) or research organizations and Universities (Schools of Public Health, Health GIS Research Labs).

Putting information into a spatial context allows exploring the spatial relationships among health and behavior indicators, health outcomes, environmental risk factors, and demographic and cultural characteristics at a particular location. GIS and remote sensing allow visualizing and analyzing spatial patterns of disease distribution, accounting for spatial dependencies in the data, and investigating how health outcomes and processes that drive them differ from place to place. GIS maps may indicate connections and trends that would be otherwise not readily apparent, if the data were not integrated together via spatial overlays. Graduates with this concentration will have a solid understanding of health issues facing communities (both domestic and global), and of the policy environments affecting global and community health. They will also develop competency in a wide range of GIS analytical methods, with particular emphasis on techniques applicable to community and global health issues.

Faculty this concentration have developed strong partnerships with local and global organizations, including the City Worcester (Department of Public Health), Family Health Center of Worcester, Inc., Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Departments of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School/UMass Memorial Health Care, Partners in Health, and others. Several MS students have done summer internships in some of these organizations or worked as research assistants with faculty on health-related GIS projects, and co-published academic papers in peer-reviewed journals.

The required coursework includes two foundation courses that provide students with fundamental knowledge of accounting and business analytics, four accounting and three data analytics core courses to enhance students’ understanding of contemporary accounting issues as well as develop strong analytics skills, and three accounting analytics core courses to utilize the accounting knowledge and analytical skills to identify accounting problems, analyze the big data, and provide innovative and practical solutions.

You’ll use critical thinking skills to gather, evaluate, and interpret information, and enhance your leadership and management skills as you learn how to collaborate with diverse stakeholders within organizations.

Business leaders today must embrace a new type of leadership where ethics, corporate responsibility, sustainability, and social innovation are essential for success. So the Clark MBA does more than deliver core competencies in accounting, management, marketing, finance, and analytics. We prepare students to who can meet the demand for socially-conscious business practices.

Build confidence and your resume

Through classroom and experiential learning, you will learn by doing, and benefit from a broad range of perspectives and acquire leadership qualities that are in demand. And you will translate your academic insights into real-world practice through student projects and internships that build confidence as well as your resume.

Get credit for your work experience

We value your professional work experience. If you have spent three or more years in a managerial position, you may be eligible for a course waiver, allowing you to earn your Clark MBA faster.

MBA Concentrations

• Accounting
• Expanded Accounting (offers specified courses that prepare you for the CPA exam)
• Finance (STEM Program)
• Management
• Information Management and Business Analytics (STEM Program)
• Marketing
• Social Change and Sustainability