Master of Arts in Community and Teacher Leaders

at Northeastern Illinois University USA

The Department of Africana Studies offers a vibrant and highly competitive graduate program. The department’s Master of Arts degree is designed to provide students with a rigorous interdisciplinary training in the scholarly investigation of people of African descent. The faculty and the courses of the graduate program are drawn from the department and other academic units throughout the university.

The Master of Arts degree in Africana Studies offers two areas of concentrations: the Community Empowerment track and the Culture and Aesthetics track. The Community Empowerment concentration focuses on the historical and contemporary strategies to empower people of African descent. This track exposes the student to the political, economic, and policy responses to the impediments of African and African-descendant community development. The Culture and Aesthetics concentration focuses on the understandings and the interpretations of the philosophical, literary, and artistic contributions of people of African descent.

Students are prepared to pursue a doctorate in Africana Studies or other related disciplines in the social-sciences or the humanities. The M.A. degree in Africana Studies also enhances a career in government, education, the professional fields, and the non-profit sector.

The Elementary Education Program provides students with knowledge of philosophical and psychological elements of  teaching and learning, general and specific methods of instruction, and clinical intern experiences of at least 200 hours in local schools prior to the full-day student teaching experience.  Students who complete this program qualify for elementary education licensure. Upon licensure, they are eligible to teach elementary school (grades 1-6).
Program Outcomes:

Students completing the Elementary Education major will:

• Develop highly reflective, creative, and critical teaching skills and demonstrate the knowledge to connect theory to practice.
• Show evidence of a wide repertoire of teaching strategies across the curriculum, and an understanding of inquiry and project-based teaching.
• Demonstrate deep content knowledge across the curriculum.
• Demonstrate knowledge of skills and practices in literacy instruction for diverse learners across the curriculum.
• Develop the skills and habits of mind to critique knowledge, curriculum, and standards, and analyze the political and moral dimensions of schooling and teaching.
• Develop the skills and knowledge to implement culturally relevant pedagogy that considers all forms of diversity; and show evidence of the ability to integrate this content into their classroom curriculum.
• Demonstrate their ability to use and integrate technology and media in their teaching and across the curriculum.
• Demonstrate their ability to use a variety of assessment approaches for instructional decision-making.
• Have an understanding of educational research and demonstrate the skills to locate and critique scholarly and relevant studies.
• Demonstrate excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrate the ability to create a classroom community that is safe, creative, caring, inclusive, and motivating for learning.
• Understand the principles of social justice, the role of schooling in a democracy, and the ability to teach for active citizenship and critical literacy.
• Demonstrate the ability to integrate critical thinking and problem solving in their teaching.
• Show evidence of professionalism, responsibility, integrity, and the ability to work collaboratively for the success of all students.
• Assume responsibility for their own on-going professional development, and understand the role of teachers as school and social change agents

The B.A. in English at Northeastern offers students a foundation in critical and creative methods along with advanced study in literature, literary history and criticism, cultural studies, critical and cultural theory, rhetoric, creative writing, and composition. Courses develop students’ engagement with texts and their cultural and aesthetic contexts while advancing their abilities in creative and critical thinking, reading, and writing. The rigorous study of critical analysis and the craft of effective writing prepares students to engage in society and to compete in degree programs and fields as diverse as professional and technical writing, public relations, web content management and writing, teaching, research, publishing, marketing, library science, law, medicine, and many others.

The General Business Administration program trains business generalists. While General Business majors learn about different functional areas of business, including Management, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, they do not specialize in any particular area. This program is most suitable for those students who may not have strong interest in any particular area of business, and who may wish to start or work in a small or medium-sized enterprise where employees and managers will be required to exhibit a broad range of business competencies. Students can qualify for a variety of jobs in many sectors of business because of their broad based preparation in general business. This preparation is especially suitable for those who want to become entrepreneurs and interested in starting or managing small to medium-sized businesses. The General Business Administration major has two options.

The Community Health (HSCI) program prepares students to work in a variety of settings that include: city, county, and state health departments, hospitals, worksite wellness, college campuses, parks and recreation departments, non-profit organizations (American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club), and more.  Example programs community health majors work with include: nutrition and exercise, alcohol and other drugs, sexual transmitted infections and contraception awareness, social and emotional health, environmental awareness, disease prevention, health disparities, immunization awareness, and many more. Graduates use their knowledge and skills to focus on how best to reach vulnerable community members and to better allocate resources to under-served populations. They may initiate wellness programs, write policies, implement educational and primary prevention activities, or create resources to promote healthy living.

Community Health students complete an internship. The internship is comprised of a semester-long fieldwork experience and a weekly seminar with assignments. Community Health students complete 200 clock hours of work (typically unpaid) in a community health related agency. Community Health students must be admitted to the Goodwin College of Education to start the internship.  Moreover, it is highly recommended that Community Health students gain admission to the Goodwin College of Education early in the program, as some courses require admittance to the Goodwin College of Education.

The Accounting MS Program prepares students for the changing accounting profession of the new millennium. The Accounting MS Program provides students with a balanced, rigorous, and in-depth core-course exposure that covers financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing, income taxation, and research methodology. The Accounting MS program also exposes students to non-accounting fields so that graduates from the program can make decisions in multi-disciplinary business environments. In addition, the program enables students to meet the 150 credit hours requirement for the CPA exam in the states which have enacted this legislation. The program consists of curricular studies of 30 credit hours in the Accounting Core and Elective Curriculum.

Northeastern Illinois University offers a two-phase Master of Science in Accounting program.

• The first phase consists of a set of foundation courses, some or all of which may be waived depending on your prior academic preparation. If your bachelor's degree is not in accounting, you will also need to show proficiency in six undergraduate prerequisite courses: Cost Accounting, Auditing Theory and Problems, Federal Income Tax (Individual), Intermediate Financial Accounting I, Intermediate Financial Accounting II and Business Calculus. You may demonstrate proficiency either through competent coursework or by passing a proficiency examination. Please note that these six courses are program prerequisites. They are not part of the M.S. in Accounting program and cannot be applied to the degree requirements.
• The second phase is made up of 30 hours of advanced core courses and is required of all students in the program. Among these advanced courses are six hours of accounting elective classes and nine hours of non-accounting elective classes.

Environmental science integrates a wide range of scientific disciplines necessary to understand the environment and the many interactions among its components.  These interactions include the impact of human activities on the environment and the impact of the environment on humans.

The Environmental Science program promotes the development of problem-solving skills, a broad and solid scientific knowledge base, and it teaches effective team collaboration, because the understanding of and solutions to environmental issues often involve expertise in many scientific areas such as geology, hydrology, biology, chemistry, physics, as well as environmental policy. Team skills, including leadership abilities, are vital to the environmental scientist and are an integral part of the new Environmental Science major. The program will produce graduates who are committed to civic engagement and are qualified for employment with industry, governmental regulatory agencies, environmental consulting firms, and graduate study in Environmental Science or related fields.

NEIU offers a Master of Arts degree for those individuals seeking an advanced degree in Community and Teacher Leaders. The program is designed to develop knowledge, dispositions, and skills to foster reflective, collaborative and transformative leaders in both community and school settings. Specifically, students will learn to harness the collective knowledge of community members and educators to have a positive impact on community and school success in both traditional and non-traditional settings; promote collaborative governance and leadership in communities and schools with a consistent focus on improved outcomes; model excellence in community leadership and teaching with a strong foundation in transforming the climate; and provide coaching, mentoring, and support to educators and community members to promote and influence change.  Instructional strategies include research, inquiry, analysis, and evaluation as well digital literacy and technology skills.  

Students may select one of two concentrations: community leadership or school-based teacher leadership. While both the Community and Teacher Leaders concentration lead to a Master of Arts degree, the Teacher Leader concentration also leads to a Teacher Leader Endorsement as recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education. Teachers who already have a Master's degree and an Illinois teaching license may take a subset of these courses to earn only the Teacher Leader endorsement. This school-based teacher leader concentration provides knowledge and skills related to leadership and mentoring, professional development, promoting school culture that focuses on student learning, using data to improve educational outcomes, and building collaborative relationships with stakeholders. The community-based leader concentration provides knowledge and skills that foster leadership in ethical and culturally sensitive public engagement, acknowledgement and consideration of the complexities of local and global communities, and leverages community assets to promote social justice.

Northeastern Illinois University’s Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Justice Studies program gives students the opportunity to examine the social and historical roots of justice, crime, and the law. Students seek to discover how these roots have shaped public policies, including those of the criminal justice system, and study systematic explanations for the failure—or triumph—of justice in society and explore the potential for transformative justice.

Through critical inquiry, social science investigation, and experiential learning, Justice Studies students develop an understanding of social and economic justice issues and critical criminology. For instance, criminology examines the structural roots of crime and takes up the legal and social concerns of diverse, urban, low-income, and disenfranchised communities, whose members are often heavily targeted by the criminal justice system.

To declare a major in Computer Science, a student must fill out the “Declaration of Major Form” available in the Department Office. A student must complete the major requirements in effect when the declaration of major is accepted by the Department. Students should obtain a Computer Science Major handbook in order to be aware of any changes in requirements.