In the early 1980s, about the same time as Weekend College was getting underway, Augsburg faculty and administrators were beginning to realize how the College's educational mission in the city could address other pressing community needs.

At that time, business and corporate leaders were reporting that many of their employees could not advance in their careers because they lacked skills in communication, critical thinking, visioning, and problem solving—all inherent parts of Augsburg's liberal arts curriculum.

In 1985, with WEC's initial success and experience in serving adult students, the College began to explore options for a non-traditional graduate program. While other schools offered graduate programs to develop managers, Augsburg created a program to develop leaders, largely designed by Augsburg's Tom Morgan and Rick Thoni. They worked with then-academic dean Ryan LaHurd on a task force to develop the distinctive Master of Arts in Leadership (MAL) degree and the learning model that drives the program.

The MAL program was launched in 1987. The MAL program is defined as a cross-disciplinary program of liberal arts that—like Augsburg's undergraduate program—builds skills in communication, in problem-solving and critical thinking, as well as increases students' self-confidence and risk-taking. For companies, this means employees with vision, with ability to work across company divisions, and to make thoughtful decisions.

Terry Cook ’98 MAL, director of continuing studies and former coordinator for the MAL program, wrote in her MAL thesis, "The program brings together people with a multitude of backgrounds and experience levels in the work world. The field or major you received your undergraduate degree in is less important as preparation for the MAL program than how it impacted your career, your life expectations, and your experiences."

A shared teaching and learning

Inherent in the appeal of the MAL program to senior Augsburg faculty was the opportunity to stretch out of their normal classroom discipline to engage in an educational journey alongside their students, guiding and learning from them simultaneously. Rick Thoni, in recalling conceptual thinking about the program, says that faculty needed to be willing to orchestrate and not control.

An MAL course is more like a laboratory than a class, and not merely a place for information exchange. Teaching through use of case studies, group presentations, role modeling, and discussion helps students build skills they need for working with and leading others.

Jacqueline Kniefel Lind, a 1969 Augsburg graduate, 1994 MAL graduate, and president of the Augsburg Alumni Association, defines these skills as "a relevant, practical, core set of competencies that are most needed in today's workplace: working well with others; understanding group dynamics and processes; thinking and communicating effectively; and creating and sustaining hope through vision, action, and persuasion."

The goal of the program is not only the study of leadership, but development of leaders, which usually ends up transforming the individual during the process.

Students enter the MAL program for many of the same reasons adult students enter other graduate programs—enhancement of current job or career skills, improved opportunities for promotion, change of careers, or personal growth. What students experience in the program is often much less tangible—increased self-confidence, greater willingness to take risk, desire to make an impact in their organization or community, and ability to communicate more easily in the workplace.

Barry Vornbrock, a 1996 MAL grad, says, "I've become a more balanced thinker (my undergraduate degree is in electrical engineering) with a personal style of leadership nurtured and tempered to a degree that would easily have taken eight to 10 more years of life experience."

Transforming careers and lives

For many, the MAL experience has led to changes in their professional and personal lives.

Lisa Zeller, president of The Phaedrus Group and a 1981 Augsburg graduate, was among the first 34 students in the MAL program and finished in 1989. "Having an advanced degree in leadership helped get my foot in the door to the field and company I was interested in," she says. "From there, I was able to start my own business in 1994."

Vornbrock, who shifted from one industry to another and is now with HealthPartners, Inc., says the MAL program helped him find talent as a synthesizer, which he feels allows him to "seize opportunities from a different perspective and use unique, stronger plans to achieve goals."

Lind, with the Division of Ecological Services of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, says that her thesis work has led to over 60 requests for presentations and seminars.

MAL—a timeless relevancy

As distance learning and "click" courses become more prevalent in graduate education, the human interactivity of Augsburg's MAL classes continues to provide dimensions of learning that equip people for multiple careers and changing workforces.

Jim Kline, vice president of manufacturing for SICO America Inc., who finished his MAL degree last May, enrolled at Augsburg because he felt the liberal arts approach helps develop a more well-rounded person.

"To be effective one must be able to deal with all forms of diversity and change (continuous improvement) in today's manufacturing workforce," says Kline.

"The ability to think creatively and to respond to new situations, which we hope is enhanced by the curriculum in the MAL program, will help our alumni meet the ever-changing challenges of the workplace in the 21st century," according to Professor Norma Noonan, director of the program and of the Center for Leadership Studies.