Master of Arts (M.A.) in
Transformative Leadership
EARN AN M.A. IN TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP THAT EQUIPS STUDENTS TO USHER IN SOCIAL CHANGE WITH WISDOM AND RESILIENCE THROUGH OUR INNER TRANSFORMATION AND COLLECTIVE STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY.
PROGRAMS / TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Grounded and kenotic leadership that cultivates wisdom and resilience for social change.
St. Stephen's University offers a thoughtful and grounded M.A. in Transformative Leadership that equips students for a life of leadership from below that seeks to subvert oppressive structures and usher in social change with wisdom, resilience, our inner transformation, and our collective strength in community. This M.A. program includes online/distance courses, a short in-person collegium, a local practicum placement, and an optional study abroad trip that allows students to complete their program without needing to uproot their lives or take them away from their local vocational settings where they are needed most.
Our leadership philosophy is simple yet multi-layered: Kenotic (self-giving and self-emptying) leadership from below that seeks to subvert harmful systems and structures of dominance and oppression, heal the fractures in our polarized societies, and usher in social change with wisdom, humility, courage, resilience, through inner transformation and strength in community.
Learn more about the MATL be exploring its curriculum, courses, tracks, instructors, pedagogy, and philosophy below.
Course Sequencing
The successful completion of the Master of Arts in Transformative Leadership requires a total of 39 credit hours, with Year One usually consisting of 9 credit hours in the Fall (Sep. – Dec.) and 9 credit hours in the Spring (Jan. – Apr.), and Year Two including the one-week travel-study experience and collegium in the Greater Toronto Area in August, 9 credit hours of stream courses, and either a thesis or capstone project.
All students must complete LEAD 5000: The ARC of Leadership: Foundations & Conversations (3 c/h) and LEAD 5090: Leadership Practicum Placement, but electives are possible depending on the student's vocational aspirations and program pacing (see below for more details).
Year One | Fall Semester
9 CREDIT HOURS
LEAD 5000
LEAD 5820
LEAD 5222
The ARC of Leadership (3 c/h) *
TEAM TAUGHT BY SSU'S BOARD / DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
Leadership & Justice in a Fractured World (3 c/h)
ANU GEORGE CANJANATHOPPIL
Kenotic & Decolonized Leadership (3 c/h)
REV. JOASH THOMAS
Year One | Spring Semester
9 CREDIT HOURS
LEAD 5652
LEAD 5242
LEAD 5090
Story & Power Dynamics in Leadership (3 c/h)
RENÉ AUGUST
Inner Formation & Contemplative Leadership (3 c/h)
OSHETA MOORE
Leadership Practicum Placement (3 c/h) *
DR. ANDREW PHILLIP KLAGER
* Note: LEAD 5000 and 5090 are offered in both the fall and spring semesters to accommodate students who begin the program in either September or January.
Most students will progress through the MATL with the course sequencing described above. All courses are offered online, except for the Leadership Practicum Placement, which students complete either locally or in an appropriate organizational context in another location that's agreeable to the student. If a student starts in the spring semester, LEAD 5000 and LEAD 5090 are interchangeable.
However, a limited number of students can replace two electives with the following travel-study experience:
LEAD 5811
Global Immersion Leadership Cohort (6 c/h)
DR. JER SWIGART
This is option includes an immersive trip for ten days in N.Ireland (click here to learn more), but space is limited for SSU students on a first come, first served basis. If a student is not able to participate in this immersive trip due to limited space, online courses are available as enriching alternatives, or the student may wish to wait until the following year to participate in this travel opportunity while completing the other components of the Certificate.
Further, students for whom community organizing for peacebuilding and activism is a leadership goal can take the course below:
PJST 5584
Faith-Rooted Community-Based Peacebuilding (3 c/h)
LISA SHARON HARPER
Students who choose this option must be prepared to make a case for replacing one LEAD course with PJST 5584 by submitting a rationale.
THE MATL AT A GLANCE
DURATION — 2 YEARS (FULL TIME)
CREDIT HOURS — 39
DELIVERY MODE — ONLINE COURSES, OPTIONAL
10-DAY IMMERSION INTO NORTHERN IRELAND, PRACTICUM, IN-PERSON COLLEGIUM (TORONTO), THESIS OR CAPSTONE PROJECT
EMPHASES — DECOLONIZING LEADERSHIP, INNER FORMATION OF A LEADER, POWER AND STORY IN LEADERSHIP, NARRATIVE LEADERSHIP, JUSTICE-SEEKING & PEACEMAKING, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING, KENOTIC LEADERSHIP
Anu George Canjanathoppil
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in
TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
here are plenty of leadership programs that teach scale, influence, and strategy. Very few teach transformation without amputating the soul in the process. What’s emerging here feels different. Thoughtful. Grounded. Brave enough to hold theology, justice, leadership, development, and human
T
dignity in the same room without flattening any of them into slogans.
And the timing matters deeply. So many people are exhausted by performative leadership and hungry for something more integrated, ethical, and spiritually coherent. A program like this does not merely produce graduates. It can form translators between worlds: faith and policy, activism and humility, systems and people.
The phrase that kept coming to mind while looking at this program was: 'formation for the long obedience.' Not leadership as charisma, but leadership sturdy enough to remain human while carrying complexity.
BOTH ONLINE/DISTANCE AND IMMERSIVE TRAVEL OPTIONS AVAILABLE
Year Two | Transformative Leadership Streams
LEADERSHIP FROM BELOW THAT CULTIVATES SOCIAL CHANGE BOTH LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY
Year Two of the Master of Arts in Transformative Leadership begins with a travel-study experience and collegium in Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada's most populous region with 7.1 million residents. With ample opportunities to engage with leaders who are mission aligned with SSU's values of justice, beauty, and compassion in various settings and diverse sectors, including faith-based nonprofits and NGOs, social movements, churches & ministries, and governmental & corporate, the GTA is an ideal location to gain firsthand insight into how kenotic, grounded, resilient, and transformative models of leadership can make an impact locally and globally, which benefitting from this region's rich academic and practical resources.
The format of this travel-study experience and collegium includes readings and preparation in the three months before, the one-week experience in Toronto and the surrounding region, and assignments and reflection once the student returns home.
CLICK ON A STREAM BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF EACH AND WHAT MAKES THEM UNIQUE.
The Faith-Based Nonprofit stream of the Master of Arts in Transformative Leadership equips students for leading organizations with humility, wisdom, and determination by addressing the many challenges in our fractured world through creative leadership that's thoughtful, grounded, and courageous.
Students in this stream will have opportunities to connect a curriculum with a focus on the formation of a leader (who a leader is rather than simply what a leader does), power dynamics from a posture of kenosis and humility without losing its resolve, the meaning we find in our interconnected stories and narratives, and how to hold complexity well in a polarized and divided world.
Courses
Students must complete 9 c/h of Theology & Culture courses in the following configuration:
REQUIRED COURSES | 3 credit hours
CUL 5170
CUL 5270
CUL 5372
Beyond Spectrum Ideology & Culture Wars (1 c/h)
DR. LAURENS VAN ESCH
In Quest of ‘the Good’: Charles Taylor & Hannah Arendt (1 c/h)
DR. LAURENS VAN ESCH
Listening as a Spiritual and Political Discipline (1 c/h)
DR. LAURENS VAN ESCH
BIB 5120
BIB 5221
BIB 5320
Advanced Hermeneutics (3 c/h)
DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
Paul's Epistles in Patristic Theology (3 c/h)
DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
Gospel Christology (3 c/h)
DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
CHOOSE ONE COURSE BELOW | 3 credit hours
HIST 5141
HIST 5241
HIST 5341
Ancient Insights for Today I (3 c/h)
DR. PETER FITCH
Ancient Insights for Today II (3 c/h)
DR. PETER FITCH
Ancient Insights for Today III (3 c/h)
DR. PETER FITCH
CHOOSE ONE COURSE BELOW | 3 credit hours
CUL 5172
COUN 5330
MIN 5790
Justice for All: Race and Gender Issues Today (3 c/h)
LA HENRY, LISA SHARON HARPER, DR. DAVID MOORE, STEL RAVEN
'Healing through Symbol and Story (3 c/h)
DR. WALTER THIESSEN
Multifaith Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care (3 c/h)
DR. PETER FITCH / DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
Thesis / Capstone Project
The Master of Arts in Transformative Leadership culminates in either a written thesis of 13–15,000 words or a capstone project that includes a theoretical defence.
CHOOSE EITHER THESIS OR CAPSTONE PROJECT OPTION | 6 credit hours
LEAD 6300
LEAD 6600
Leadership Guided Thesis Research (3 c/h)
DR. ANDREW PHILLIP KLAGER
Leadership Thesis Write-Up (3 c/h)
VARIOUS SUPERVISORS
LEAD 6200
LEAD 6700
Capstone Design (3 c/h)
DR. ANDREW PHILLIP KLAGER
Applied Capstone Project (3 c/h)
VARIOUS SUPERVISORS
Faculty in Transformative Leadership
Rev. René August
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Anglican priest, anti-apartheid activist serving under and mentored by Arch. Desmond Tutu, co-director of The Justice Conference South Africa.
For more on René's experience and expertise, click here.
Lisa Sharon Harper, PhD (ABD)
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in
PEACE & JUSTICE
Founding president of freedomroad.us, author, named one of 50 powerful women religious leaders by Huffington Post (2015).
For more on Lisa's experience and expertise, click here.
Osheta Moore
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Spiritual director, author, Community Life Pastor at Roots Moravian Church, Program Specialist at Global Immersion.
For more on Osheta's experience and expertise, click here.
Felicia Murrell
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Author, speaker, certified master life coach, former ordained pastor with over twenty years of church leadership experience.
For more on Felicia's experience and expertise, click here.
Fr. Joash Thomas
INSTRUCTOR in PUBLIC THEOLOGY, PEACE & JUSTICE
Ordained Priest in the Diocese of St. Anthony, author, speaker, Director of Fundraising & Advancement at SSU, M.A. in Christian Leadership.
For more on Joash's experience and expertise, click here.
Anu George Canjanathoppil
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Former CEO of International Justice Mission Canada, previous Head of the University of Aberdeen School of Law (Indian Campus), B.A., B.L., M.B.A., and M.A. in Organizational Leadership.
For more on Anu's experience and expertise, click here.
Derek Holser, J.D.
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Attorney, SSU Board member, author, Professor at Seapointe College, VA.
For more on Derek's experience and expertise, click here.
Steven E. Harris, Ed.D.
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Owner & Principal of Harris Consulting, SSU Board member, author, former Adjunct Instructor at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
For more on Steven's experience and expertise, click here.
Bradley Jersak, Ph.D.
PRINCIPAL of SSU
Author, theologian, Professor of Theology & Religious Studies, Dean of Theology & Culture
For more on Bradley's experience and expertise, click here.
Judith Moses
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
President & CEO of Judith Moses Consulting, 35 years in federal government advising successive Prime Ministers of Canada, Chair of SSU Board of Governors.
For more on Judith's experience and expertise, click here.
Doug Murrell
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Operations Administrator at Mayo Clinic, former Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Action and Contemplation, Master of Public Administration.
For more on Doug's experience and expertise, click here.
Jer Swigart, DLd
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
Co-Founding Executive Director of The Global Immersion Project, author, Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives from George Fox University.
For more on Jer's experience and expertise, click here.
Ernie Tai
AFFILIATE FACAULTY in TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP
President & CEO of LW Scientific, Inc., author, public speaker, mentor, SSU Board member.
For more on Ernie's experience and expertise, click here.
The scholar-practitioners who make up SSU's Leadership faculty provide a breadth of knowledge and real-world living experience that's deeply rooted in contexts of struggle where there is a genuine need for social change and healing.
They each bring their own unique leadership philosophies that speak from and into SSU's mission to "prepare people, through academic, personal, and spiritual development, for a life of justice, beauty, and compassion, enabling a humble, creative engagement with their world," thus giving our program an unrivalled texture and richness for equipping our students to lead with hope with our eyes wide open.
As one of our Affiliate Faculty, Anu George Canjanathoppil, remarked, "These are not just lecturers. These are people who have scars, field notes, and living convictions.”
In this way, our faculty model leadership that's rooted in humility, courage, compassion, and resilience through SSU's shared vision to "engage and reconcile communities through a relational, contemplative, and transformative university education.”
