Lincoln University Graduate Center
MASTER
OF SCIENCE IN ADMINISTRATION
Oswald H. Richards, Ph.D.,
MBA, MS
Director & Associate Professor
Public and
private corporations require human, financial and economic assets
to be effective, efficient and productive. Lincoln University’s
Master of Science in Administration (MSA) program equips graduate
students with the academic and experiential knowledge to contribute
to and influence the strategic and operational direction of organizations
in an innovative economy. In a highly competitive, dynamic transnational,
21st century global environment, the diversified MSA curriculum
challenges students to expand and transform the boundaries of
knowledge in the workplace.
The MSA program
offers students the option of specializing in Finance and/or Human
Resources Management. The finance concentration exposes students
to a rigorous, multidisciplinary portfolio of theoretical and
applied courses in economics, finance, banking, investment, management
and statistics. The human resources management concentration focuses
on the strategic management of human capital assets that influence
the financial, operational and competitive direction of the organization.
Both concentrations provide students with an integrated body of
knowledge for career advancement as leaders, managers and executives
in private and public sector enterprises and entrepreneurial ventures.
MSA prepares students to develop critical problem-solving, decision-making
and strategic management skills that are indispensable in the
highly competitive global business environment of the 21st century.
The MSA program is an important human capital investment for practitioners
in private and public enterprises and for those who wish to pursue
advanced graduate degrees and/or professional certifications beyond
the master’s degree.
Vision/Mission
MSA’s management envisions a program that delivers competitive,
rigorous theoretical, empirical, experiential, and applications-oriented
bodies of knowledge in an offline and online environment to a
diverse public and private sector business and non-business student
population. Students who successfully complete the program appropriate
to their discipline will acquire competencies in the following
areas:
- Proficiency
in domestic and international management and leadership.
- Exposure to a multidisciplinary portfolio of applied
courses in public and private sector enterprise management.
- Development of knowledge, skills and abilities to promote
and influence organizational strategic initiatives.
- Optimization of theoretical, analytical and research
skills to discover, construct and reconstruct knowledge.
- Research capability to integrate course concepts and
theory with career, occupational and post-graduate interests.
- Contemporary and futuristic approaches and solutions
to issues in global finance and human resources management.
- Practice, promotion and integration of organizational
ethics in institutional infrastructure.
- Entrepreneurial skills for idea creation and application
in personal, for-profit and nonprofit enterprises.
Target
Population
The graduate master’s of science in administration program
targets a diverse student population possessing undergraduate
degrees in a variety of business and nonbusiness disciplines.
The potential graduate student applicant profile is as follows:
- Students
whose undergraduate degrees are not in any of the business disciplines.
- Students who may not have taken any business courses
that would qualify them for formal entry into one or both of the
MSA concentrations.
- Students whose undergraduate transcripts show a deficiency
in the core subjects of accounting, economics, statistics, finance,
management and mathematics (as measured by the concomitant grades
in each subject).
- Students who may require course remediation due to the
elapsed time between acquisition of the undergraduate degree and
application and admittance into the MSA program.
- Students who may not have taken one or more of the MSA
foundation courses in their undergraduate program.
- Students who
are deficient in any of the academic areas identified above must
take foundation courses before they can gain formal entrance into
the MSA Finance and/or Human Resources Management concentrations.
A student who meets all of the foundation course prerequisites
can be fast-tracked directly into their chosen and approved MSA
program concentration.
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General
Information on Admissions
To be considered for admission to the Master of Science in Administration
Finance and/or Human Resources Management concentrations, a matriculating
student must hold a bachelor’s degree, in any discipline,
from an accredited four-year undergraduate college or university
and have a previous record of academic and professional accomplishments
that clearly demonstrate the ability to complete a graduate degree.
Successful admission is determined on the basis of a careful evaluation
of the applicant’s letters of recommendation, statement
of professional goals, undergraduate/graduate transcripts, grade
point average (GPA) and a personal interview.
A cumulative
undergraduate grade point average of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale or 3.0
for completed graduate-level course work in the major concentration
(Finance and/or Human Resources Management) is required. An applicant
with an undergraduate GPA that is less than 2.7 may be provisionally
accepted if the candidate can demonstrate strong evidence of his/her
ability to complete the designated program with a GPA of 3.0 or
better. A provisionally accepted candidate will be regularly monitored
to ensure he/she maintains a 3.0 GPA.
Although the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and/or Miller Analogies Test
(MAT) are not routine requirements, Lincoln University reserves
the right to require either or both of these tests if they are
considered essential to the admission decision-making process.
A non-matriculating
student must submit a copy of a bachelor’s or a master’s
degree from an accredited, four-year institution and an official
academic undergraduate or graduate transcript. A non-matriculating
student may then take a total of nine (9) credits. To continue
beyond this point, the student must apply for formal admission
and acceptance into the graduate program as a Finance and/or Human
Resources Management major.
Admissions
Procedures
An applicant requests and receives an MSA graduate packet from
the Office of the Director of Graduate Admissions (ODGA), which
he/she completes and returns to ODGA. A committee of three (Director
of Graduate Admissions, Director of the MSA program and a faculty
member from the Center of Excellence in Business and Entrepreneurial Studies)
formally reviews and approves or rejects the application according
to the established admissions criteria.
A candidate
who has been granted formal or provisional acceptance into the
MSA program will receive an approval letter from ODGA with instructions
to arrange for a scheduled advising and counseling session with
the Director of the MSA program (DMSA). During the conference,
the DMSA will reassess and reevaluate the applicant’s portfolio
of academic and experiential accomplishments to determine his/her
appropriate placement in either the MSA Foundation course preparation
or directly into the Finance or Human Resources Management concentration.
The DMSA will also discuss the MSA academic and organizational
structure, outline a program of study, register the student for
courses and direct him/her to ODGA for further discussion and
resolution of admissions, financing and other issues that are
beyond the scope and authority of the DMSA. The student will be
assigned an academic advisor from the MSA program and/or the Center of Excellence in Business and Entrepreneurial Studies.
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Transfer
Credits
The MSA program will accept 6 graduate transfer credit hours from
accredited colleges and universities, provided the courses are
commensurate in depth and breadth with, and equivalent to, the
courses offered in the MSA programs. Credit is not granted for
correspondence courses. All acceptable courses for transfer credit
must be completed with a B average or better.
Counseling
Prospective students who do not meet all of the qualifications
for acceptance into the MSA program may receive counsel about
special preparation for the Finance and Human Resources Management
concentrations, remedial steps that can be taken where problems
exist, and procedures in obtaining loans for tuition. The DMSA,
ODGA and other qualified graduate program staff are available
to discuss all admissions, financing, academic and curricular
issues with prospective students.
Summary
of Admission Requirements
- Copy of bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year
undergraduate institution.
- Résumé of work experience and professional
accomplishments.
- An optional Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and/or
Miller Analogies Test.
- A 500-word essay describing past academic/career achievements,
future career goals, and interest in the Finance and/or Human
Resources Management concentration.
- Three letters of recommendation from professional and
academic sources.
- An official academic undergraduate transcript.
- An official academic transcript of previously taken and
successfully completed graduate courses with a GPA of 3.0 or better.
- Interview with MSA Director and Admissions Officer.
MSA
Program Content
The current MSA program has both two- and three-year tracks for
students who will be specializing in the Finance and Human Resources
Management concentrations. The two-year track is typically assigned
to students with undergraduate business degrees without MSA foundation
course deficiencies. If a student without a business undergraduate
degree has successfully completed the MSA foundation or equivalent
courses in their undergraduate program, he/she may be permitted
entrance into the two-year track.
The three-year
track is assigned to students who need course remediation, and
whose non-business or business undergraduate degrees reflect deficiencies
in the core and foundation MSA subjects. These students must successfully
complete the MSA foundation courses prior to formal admittance
into the three-year, nontraditional Finance and Human Resources
Management concentrations.
The MSA curriculum
is administered at Lincoln’s 3020 Market Street, Philadelphia,
Graduate Center. Classes are held on Saturdays from 8:30 AM to
6:30 PM and during the week (M - F) from 5:00 PM – 8:00
PM. Each academic semester is 15 weeks in duration in the fall
and spring semesters. The university currently offers a 6 weeks
summer session during the months of May and June. While a student
can enter the MSA program in the spring or summer semesters, students
are encouraged to register in the fall semester to take advantage
of the orderly, sequential course progression to successful completion
and ultimate graduation.
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Summary
of Graduate Program Requirements
- 39 – 43 credit hours to complete the MSA degree
for a student with an undergraduate business degree that includes
the foundation courses.
- 39 – 61 credit hours for a student whose transcripts
show a deficiency in the completion of several of the required
foundation courses. A student who has completed the undergraduate
foundation course(s) with a B- or below may be asked to repeat
the course at the MSA graduate foundation level.
- 57 – 61 credit hours to complete the MSA degree
for a student who does not have an undergraduate business degree
and whose transcript shows a deficiency in all of the required
foundation courses.
- The MSA degree must be completed within 5 years from
the semester the first course is taken for the traditional/regular
2-year program and 6 years for the 3-year, nontraditional program.
- A student who has completed all of the course requirements,
except the capstone research project, will have an “I”
recorded on his/her transcript. A student must successfully complete
the research project within the 5- or 6-year period; otherwise
an “F” will be recorded on his/her transcript when
the 5/6-year period elapses.
- A student whose GPA falls below 3.0 in any semester will
be placed on academic probation the following semester. A student
who consistently fails to maintain a 3.0 GPA may be dismissed
from the program.
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Lincoln
University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
1570 Baltimore Pike, P.O. Box 179, Lincoln University, PA 19352
(484) 365-8000
