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on-campus master's degree of organizational leadership
Spring term classes start March.
Connect in person with faculty and peers.
Earn your degree on your schedule
$680 per credit hour.
36 total credit hours.
develop the skills to lead with purpose and vision.
The Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program at Bellevue University prepares professionals to lead effectively within complex organizations by strengthening decision making, problem solving, and strategic thinking skills. Emphasizing leadership as a collaborative and relational process, the program focuses on how teams build shared direction, alignment, and commitment to achieve results.
Through study of organizational strategy, ethical practice, communication, and mentoring, you will develop the ability to influence culture, foster engagement, and enable others to lead. Graduates are equipped to guide teams, drive change, and strengthen collective performance across diverse organizational settings.
Study six core areas of leadership excellence.
Your coursework integrates theory, research, and practical application across six key areas of leadership development: Organizational Leadership, Social Psychology of Leadership, Leadership Ethics, Strategic Leadership, Advanced Leadership Dynamics, and Creativity and Innovation. In each area, you’ll analyze real-world leadership challenges and apply your learning to projects you can showcase to employers—such as white papers, presentations, or professional portfolios. These experiences help you bridge academic knowledge with workplace impact, preparing you to lead teams, mentor others, and strengthen organizational performance.
Flexible, career-focused learning for working professionals.
You will register once at the start of the program and take one course at a time, with two-week breaks between courses and no classes during most major holidays—allowing you to balance your education with work and life commitments.
In addition to earning your degree, you can leverage the program’s applied project courses to prepare for professional leadership certifications. These real world projects allow you to demonstrate practical competencies and develop artifacts that support credentials such as the Key Leadership Skills Certificate (KLSC), Leadership Development Certification Program (LDCP), and Strategic Organizational Leadership Certification (SOLC), strengthening your professional credibility and career readiness.
In addition to earning your degree, students may choose to use the program’s applied project courses to explore and prepare for professional leadership certifications. While certifications are not completed as part of the coursework, these real world projects can provide time and practical experience to research requirements, build relevant competencies, and develop artifacts that support credentials such as the Key Leadership Skills Certificate (KLSC), Leadership Development Certification Program (LDCP), and Strategic Organizational Leadership Certification (SOLC). Pursuing certification is optional and the responsibility of the student.
what you'll learn.
In this program, you’ll build the strategic, ethical, and interpersonal skills to lead teams, drive organizational change, and foster cultures of innovation and collaboration.
upon graduation, students will be able to:
- Use leadership theory and research as a lens to analyze power, processes and culture in organizations.
- Discern how attributions, social perception, attitudes, personality and social behavior impact organizational leadership.
- Analyze the effects of individual and organizational variables on team processes and leadership effectiveness.
- Demonstrate ethical leadership by practicing moral awareness, moral behavior and socialized power.
- Apply principles of strategic leadership for effective organizational change, communication, alignment and performance.
- Recommend leadership practices to promote creativity and innovation in groups and organizations.
- Maximize executive leadership potential in organizations by leveraging social networks and establishing purposeful mentoring programs.
- Apply a leadership-as-practice approach to achieve collectively shared knowledge and process alignment in organizations.
- Critically analyze leadership research and theories to promote informed practices for effective leadership development and workplace democracy.
Awards
Bellevue Stories
Organizational Leadership degree courses
Current students please login to BRUIN and select “Academic Progress” for your curriculum requirements.
Requirements (36 credit hours)
In this course, students explore the field of leadership by examining the history of leadership studies and leadership research methods. Contemporary leadership theories of change, transformation, service, mentoring, and leadership development will be examined. Students will also consider how individual differences, power, influence tactics, and diversity impact leadership emergence, effectiveness, and organizational practices.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 645. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, or designing a custom project for your organization as agreed upon with the professor.
In this course, students examine several major social-psychological theories and experiments that have informed the study of leadership. Classic experiments on obedience, conformity, social influence, and impression management will be critiqued to analyze how situations influence leader and follower behavior. Students will also learn how perception, attitudes, conflict, culture, and social behavior affect leader-follower interactions, and training, in functional and dysfunctional groups.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 647. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, designing a custom project for your organization, as agreed upon with the professor.
In this course, students explore the ethical foundations of leadership and examine how ethics predicts long-term leadership effectiveness. This exploration includes a focus on the moral character of leaders and how character affects ethical behavior, especially in times of change. Key research topics such as personal character, organizational culture, moral engagement, ethical decision-making, and crisis management will be presented.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 649. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, designing a custom project for your organization, as agreed upon with the professor.
In this course, students will discover how leaders affect organizational missions, goals, and objectives. Students will also consider the roles leaders play in inspiring, empowering, planning, and communicating strategic initiatives. Key approaches to external monitoring, competitive strategy, strategic performance evaluation, and change will be applied to real life organizations.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 651. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, designing a custom project for your organization, as agreed upon with the professor.
In this course, students learn about leadership research, frameworks, and models used to help organizations evaluate leadership effectiveness, address leadership challenges, and promote leadership development for improved leadership dynamics. Critical leadership studies will be used as the foundation to critique power relationships and mentoring practices to understand how leadership development is resisted or accepted in organizations.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 653. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, designing a custom project for your organization, as agreed upon with the professor.
In this course, students learn how leaders can facilitate creativity, innovation, and effectiveness in groups and organizations. The course presents a dialog of disciplines by exploring leadership through the humanities to uncover the hidden traditions of art, history, music, and literature in in modern business. Additional topics include critical theory, discursive approaches to leadership, and leadership aesthetics.
You can customize the outcome of this course to your career goals and aspirations, based on one or more elements of MOL 655. Possible outcomes for this course include creating and writing a white paper, grant, training manual, conference presentation, designing a custom project for your organization, as agreed upon with the professor.
Major Requirements Credits
= 36 total credits*
University Accreditation
Bellevue University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission ( hlcommission.org ), a regional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Whether a college, university, or program is accredited is important to students receiving financial aid, employers who provide tuition assistance, donors, and the federal government.
This program is considered a non-licensure degree/certificate program and is not intended for those seeking licensure or the practice of licensed profession. This program may be relevant to multiple occupations that do not require licensure and was not designed to meet educational requirements for any specific professional license or certification.
*Consult with an admissions counselor to determine your eligible credits, as well as to verify minimum graduation requirements for this degree. Transfer credits must be from a regionally accredited college or university. Bellevue University makes no promises to prospective students regarding the acceptance of credit awarded by examination, credit for prior learning, or credit for transfer until an evaluation has been conducted.
learn, connect, and thrive on campus.
Vibrant campus life
Make the most of your time on campus with student organizations, athletic events, and a tight-knit community that makes learning even more rewarding.
A true classroom experience
Engage in face-to-face learning with live lectures, interactive discussions, and real-time feedback from professors who are invested in your success.
Support every step of the way
From academic advising to career services, you’ll have a network of support to help you thrive.
State-of-the-art facilities
Access modern classrooms, study spaces, and hands-on learning environments designed to prepare you for the real world.
Prefer to learn Online?
grow with faculty who’ve been where you are.