New structure will enhance synergy among schools and increase degree offerings at regional campuses
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01/26/10
Fuller has launched a newly restructured offering of master’s degree programs. Part of a larger, seminary-wide effort, the new structure consolidates and simplifies degree offerings and academic services to better serve students, increase synergy among Fuller’s three schools, and make more efficient use of seminary resources.
“This restructuring capitalizes on Fuller’s faculty by allowing students to take courses from all three schools—theology, intercultural studies, and psychology—while maintaining the integrity of each school’s programs,” says Chap Clark, who, as Vice Provost for Master’s Programs, oversees all MDiv/MA degrees. “It will encourage knowledge sharing across disciplines.”
The seminary’s reconfigured masters-level program offers students new options. In addition to the MDiv and MA in Theology (MAT), a new degree, the MA in Theology and Ministry (MATM), is also available. This degree, along with the MA in Intercultural Studies (MAICS), MA in Family Studies (MAFS), and MA in Christian Leadership (MACL), includes a unified seminary core of seven courses.
Other degrees include the MA in Global Leadership (MAGL), which is offered primarily online and is designed for experienced leaders, and the MS in Marital and Family Therapy (MSMFT), a program providing professional training and clinical skills necessary for licensure or certification as a marital and family therapist.
Students can tailor degrees with electives, drawing on the resources of all three schools, to specialize in any one of several areas of emphasis: Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Literature; Biblical Studies and Theology; Children at Risk; Christian Ethics; International Development and Urban Studies; Islamic Studies; Leadership in the Multicultural Latino Community; Recovery Ministry; Worship, Theology, and the Arts; Theology and the Arts; Youth, Family and Culture; and others.
The new structure also increases options for students at Fuller’s six regional campuses, where each campus is already accredited to offer the MDiv (full or partial) and the full MAT and MACL degrees. The new plan will incrementally add the MATM, MAICS, and MAFS degrees at all campuses.
Other changes include a consolidated Academic Center offering student advising, field education, and academic program services for MDiv and MA programs across all three schools. Fuller’s Horner Center has been refocused as home for all “distributed learning”—with oversight and support for the master’s programs at regional campuses as well as all online and web-based courses and programs.
The changes in program offerings and administration resulted from a comprehensive analysis conducted in 2009. An academic restructuring team of faculty and staff from the three schools, chaired by Clark and School of Intercultural Studies Dean C. Douglas McConnell, carefully evaluated Fuller’s academic structure. “The new structure enables us to more fully and effectively make use of all of the seminary’s resources,” says Clark.