Lindsay Miller, MS in Leadership Studies student

Meet Lindsay Miller. She is a student currently enrolled in the Master of Science in Leadership Studies. Lindsay is working as an Academic Advising Specialist at the Allegany College of Maryland and has always hoped to complete her master's degree. Many of her co-workers pursued degrees through Geneva College, which led Lindsay to the MSLS program.

Initially she faced the question of choosing a specific discipline and decided that a degree in Leadership would be perfect because it is a skill that can be utilized (and is necessary) in every organization and every role. The second question she faced was whether or not she could return to school after being in the workforce for 10 years.

Lindsay was pleasantly surprised to find the MSLS a great program that offered student support at every turn. Having an academic success coach to offer individualized help eased the transition back into school. She was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Moodle, the learning platform on which MSLS holds its classes, is easy to navigate. Lindsay found the ability to take only one course at a time an ideal way to fit into her busy life full of family and work responsibilities.

While she still has more credits to complete her master's degree, she continually sees the education from MSLS strengthening her in her current occupation. She is growing her leadership skills to use not only now, but in any new opportunity that may arise in the future. And she's finding joy in the journey: "So far it has been a great experience!"

A Word from Dean Gallo

As I reflect on the lessons I have learned as a former student of Geneva's Master's in Organizational Leadership program (Cohort 11) and from my 24 years of professional working experience, I decided it would only be proper to share our "lessons on leadership" in this newsletter. I do this not because I feel these lessons are profound in any way. In fact, I am not taking these from a particular source. Rather, I feel these lessons I have learned inform who I am and where we, as an institution, are heading.

1. Leadership looks forward not backward. People will have a natural tendency to seek complacency and hang on to what were considered "tried and true" approaches. Leaders, on the other hand, are always looking ahead, never satisfied with the status quo, and never relishing in the past. The past is important to a leader because it provides the foundation and groundwork upon which the leader stands, but the past is never the focus of the leader—the future always is.
2. Leadership takes risks. Leaders do not always "play it safe." They innovate, change, challenge and are willing to do things differently, even at great personal cost. True leaders do this not for glory or riches or some sort of status or celebrity. Instead, they do this out of an insatiable drive to move the organization and its often unwilling participants to a better place. Much like Moses leading the people to the Promised Land, leaders should expect resistance, scorn, rebellion, and hostility along the way. But they know there is a "Promised Land," and they press on.
3. Good leaders see the destination but leave open the route to get there. Organizations are made up of people and people do wacky, unpredictable things at times. What works in one organization may not necessarily work in another because the people are different. So good leadership sees the destination but recognizes that every step in getting there may not go as planned. They adapt and modify along the way.
4. Good leaders tend to never be satisfied. I read recently that Steve Jobs often obsessed over something as trivial as the font style and color scheme used by Apple's OS so much that he spent countless hours in refining them with each iteration of the operating system. When good leaders reach that "Promised Land," they immediately begin to look for a new destination to move towards and tend to be meticulous in seeing the organization continually sharpen and hone itself.

I can't help but think of these principles I have learned throughout the years in relation to the changes that we are making in leadership studies at Geneva College. After increasing interest in online education, we made the decision to evolve the program into a fully online version to meet the changing demands of our student population and take leadership beyond the confines of Southwestern PA. Today, after just one year of existence, there are now over 25 students working online for their Master of Science in Leadership Studies degree.

However, we are not done.

We are aiming to expand our online Master of Science in Leadership Studies specializations from three to five and allow previous graduates and other professionals to earn a graduate certificate in those areas as they embrace life-long learning. Next year, we plan to launch a Master of Leadership Studies "Fast Track" option. This program will allow a student to earn a master's degree online in as little as 15 months by doubling up their classes. Next on the horizon is a five-year program with our traditional student population. Imagine starting at age 18 without a degree and five years later finishing with both a bachelor's degree and master's degree, and saving thousands of dollars in the process!

All of these things could not occur without the foundation and groundwork that was laid by our Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program. For over 20 years, that program established a strong passion for leadership studies at Geneva College that reached southwestern PA with a Christ-centered curriculum. Yes, we are changing and evolving, but we are paying homage to our past and facing our future in a way that hopefully parallels the principles you are learning in your leadership studies program! After all, an old saying goes: "The only constant is change!"

John Gallo
Dean of Graduate, Adult and Online Programs