By News-Register staff • 

Linfield expands master's programs

Master’s degrees in business and sports science/analytics will be offered both online and on the McMinnville campus, as will a special education generalist endorsement.

All will take an interdisciplinary, liberal arts approach, according to President Miles Davis.

The courses join graduate programs such as a master’s in nursing in leadership in health care ecosystems and the combined bachelor/master degree program in wine studies.

They are part of Linfield’s evolution from a college to a university, Davis said.

“We didn’t want just any graduate programs,” he said. “We wanted them to be distinctively Linfield, and to represent the interdisciplinary history and culture of this 163-year-old institution.”

The new degrees were proposed by faculty and approved by the Linfield University Board of Trustees at the board’s Feb. 13 meeting.

In its transition to a university, Linfield added the Master of Science in Nursing course last year. The response was “overwhelmingly positive,” according to Susan Agre-Kippenhan, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “We’re looking to build on that momentum and create additional strong, distinctive graduate programs this year and in the years to come.”

The one-year master’s degree in business will be available to those who have any undergraduate degree, not just business, according to Jennifer Madden, dean of Linfield’s School of business.

Classes focus on innovation, design thinking, high-performing teams, critical thinking and emotional and cultural intelligence, all skills that can be used in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, she said. To cap off their program, she said, students will work with a global client before presenting a final consulting report.

“The program sharpens students’ capacity to be solution finders instead of problem identifiers,” Madden said.

The master’s program in sports science and analytics combines a traditional exercise science program with data science, said Joe Wilferth, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Through classes and experiential learning, students will be prepared to work as biostatisticians or exercise science professionals.

“This is where data analytics and biostatistics meet athletic performance, strength and conditioning,” he said.

The master’s program for the Special Education Generalist Endorsement will give current and future teachers more access points for getting their education licenses. Special education teachers are always in high demand, Wilferth said.

For more information on these programs, go to linfield.edu.

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