Race, Religion, Gender, and Multidisciplinary Studies

Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences (MLAS)

Overview

Offered on the Macomb campus, the MLAS program has many distinctive features and opportunities for its students, including flexibility, individualized study options, and opportunities to bridge coursework and career.

Flexible Program Structure

For their exit option or capstone experience, students can write a thesis, work on an applied project, or pursue an internship. All of these options feature a close working relationship with a faculty director chosen from the graduate faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences. This kind of mentoring and development of real relationships with CAS faculty is one of the strongest features of the MLAS program.

Flexible Schedule

One of the key elements of the MLAS program is the flexibility of the course offerings. The graduate courses from which students may draw include a mix of in-person and online courses. Currently the core courses (LAS 501, 502, and 503) are all offered online. The program is designed to meet the needs of full- and part-time students as well as to accommodate students’ busy schedules and to deliver the degree in the most accessible manner possible. The MLAS director will meet regularly with students and be directly involved in providing real guidance and consultation in the student’s progression through the program.

Research and Scholarly Activities

There are many activities in which students in the MLAS degree program can participate such as annual departmental conferences; departmental, College, and University speaker events; various workshops; graduate organizations, clubs, and so on. This academic culture is one of great opportunities for the students in MLAS program and, indeed, one of the keys to the larger success of the program and the MLAS student.

View the specific degree requirements and course descriptions in the Graduate Catalog .

View or download the MLAS Brochure (pdf).

For information on the admission process, please contact the School of Graduate Studies.

Integrated Baccalaureate and Master’s Degree Program

An integrated degree program provides the opportunity for outstanding undergraduates to earn both degrees in five years. An integrated baccalaureate and master’s degree program is available for the:

Career Opportunities and Personal Development

Non-traditional programs that emphasize comparative, critical thinking skills are more applicable to the needs and demands of the majority of students employed in industry or service occupations where advanced specialty education is supplied on the job. The Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences degree is designed to meet these specific applications and needs by enhancing students' ability to work in an extraordinarily diverse variety of industry, occupational, and professional environments. Graduates of the MLAS program will be highly skilled in speaking, writing, critical reading, and critical thinking, and will be able to use the broadly based, advanced interdisciplinary education they receive in the degree program as a means of increasing their upward occupational mobility.

The MLAS degree also offers the opportunity for tremendous intellectual development by allowing students to explore the issues they are interested in exploring. This flexibility and exposure to a broad, diverse set of educational contexts and experiences enables students to translate their work directly into personal growth and development as well as attain the marketable credentials needed for future and current occupations.

Our alumni are working in career advising, customer service, data management, education, human resources, nonprofit administration, sales and marketing and social and human services.

Faculty Excellence and Expertise

Through participation in the MLAS program, students study with a highly qualified and diverse faculty who hold advanced degrees from prestigious institutions from around the world. Our goal is to create an environment where our students are able to develop and define their individual interests and emphases by working directly with faculty whose scholarly activities are on the cutting edge of those academic interests and emphases.