Western Illinois University

The College Student Personnel: Higher Education Leadership track serves the educational and logistical needs of professionals like you who are currently engaged in student affairs (or closely related) work in a professional capacity. The Higher Education Leadership track beginning its inaugural year in Fall 2015, and enrolls new students bi-annually (Fall 2015, Fall 2017, Fall 2019, and so on).  A theory-to-practice model means that the application of classroom concepts to real-world student affairs work is a critical part of your classroom discussions and course assignments.  In a small cohort of professionals, you and your colleagues will learn and support each other as students and student affair professionals.  CSP: Higher Education Leadership courses are offered in a low-residency, weekend model that blends in-person and on-line learning environments based on the WIU-Quad Cities campus. The Higher Education Leadership track consists of 42 semester hours of credit including a specialization core of 36 hours, six hours of application through hands-on student affairs work, a thesis or a mixture of one of these experiences with electives from the behavioral sciences, counseling, and other related areas are selected in consultation with your advisor.  Core courses are offered in a sequential fashion (six credit hours per semester and nine credit hours for the summer session), and have a low-residency approach – typically three in-person weekend course meetings per semester with the remaining coursework facilitated through WesternOnline.