A. Master of Business Administration Degree - Overview   

The Guilford College MBA helps prepare graduate students for long-term success. It is designed for recent college graduates, as well as experienced professionals ready to get to the next level in their career. While classes are live on campus, the program’s HyFlex design — a combination of scheduled, in-person and remote— also allows for online participation. The Guilford College MBA is a 12-month program with classes in the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters.  The MBA program does not require student participation in the Spring 3-week session.

The MBA is a broad degree that applies to virtually any organizational setting. While numerous MBA opportunities exist, the features of the Guilford program make it stand apart in the market. 

Distinctive Features

• Ethics-focused MBA
• ​HyFlex design supports in-person and online, remote attendance.
• Guilford College graduate students can complete the MBA program in just 12 months (Fall, Spring Summer). 
• No pre-requisite business courses required.
• Applied capstone project aligns with individual student interests.

Guilford's five academic principles are reflected in the MBA design.

Quaker tradition calls for each program within the College to address how the Five Academic Principles apply to the curriculum.  Below is an explanation of how the Five Academic Principles apply to the MBA.

1. Innovative, Student-Centered Learning: The program's blending of asynchronous content and HyFlex events promotes connection with individual students while allowing for remote completion.
2. ​Challenge to engage in creative and critical thinking: Frequently in the social sciences, there is no single correct answer. Students must engage in creative and critical thinking to reach solutions. 
3. Cultural and Global Perspectives: Global influences on organizations is the primary topic of one of the program courses and embedded in all of the program’s content courses. 
4. Values and Ethical Dimension of Knowledge: All courses incorporate discussions concerning ethics. Ethical reasoning is one of the program learning outcomes, and ethical awareness is a targeted program competency.
5. ​Focus on Practical Application: A feature of the MBA is that it will direct students to apply their learnings to current organizational problems. 

B. Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice - Overview

This program focuses on connecting criminal justice theory to criminal justice practices, by offering courses that reflect an analysis of present practices and courses that reflect upon forward-looking theories. In addition, this program gives the student an opportunity to participate in an in-service problem-solving exercise in his or her respective community or organization.  The overall program design will allow students to make a meaningful contribution to the public safety and security, as well as promote justice standards.

The program’s interdisciplinary curriculum includes analysis of current practices in the field and critical reflection on the problems that face criminal justice institutions, practitioners, policy, law, and practices. The goal is to equip graduate students with explicit problem-solving skills that they can bring to or take back to the criminal justice institutions that they work in.

The Justice and Policy Studies (JPS) Department has offered a Criminal Justice undergraduate program for more than forty years.  The Criminal Justice program faculty includes scholar-practitioners with academic and practical expertise in diverse areas of criminal justice.  In addition to the expertise of Criminal Justice core faculty, the master’s program draws on colleagues in other related fields of study and disciplines, including Forensic Biology, Forensic Accounting, and Cyber Security. JPS is uniquely situated to provide an educational opportunity that will appeal to experienced criminal justice professionals wishing to advance career opportunities and students seeking to advance their comprehension of criminal justice practice and policy.

In the last thirty years, the field of criminal justice has grown from an educational program focused on practices implemented to provide effective criminal justice, to an educational process focusing on the underlying theories of criminal justice practices and the development of theories providing purposeful policy. Changing the focus from how criminal justice bureaucracies function to what effective policies and practices are, has been possible through research revealing the reliance on ineffective practices and questioning the basis upon which these practices were established. Continuing in this direction, this program provides a research component challenging students to identify, analyze, critique, and solve problems that are present in criminal justice institutions.

In addition to providing quality core courses, the Criminal Justice Master of Science program recognizes the need to offer an array of courses reflecting recent advances in knowledge affecting criminal justice, including cybercrime, criminological theory, legal theory, white-collar crime, environmental crime, police-community relations, and more.  By offering this degree, Guilford College enhances the criminal justice profession while committing to continuing to improve community life.  

Distinctive Features

• Only Criminal Justice master’s program in the Triad
• Convenient evening classes
• Finish the program in three semesters. The MCJ program does not require student participation in the Spring 3 week Session. 
• Faculty members have practical experience in law enforcement, courts, and corrections.
• All full time criminal justice employees receive a 10 percent discount on tuition.

Guilford's five academic principles are reflected in the Criminal Justice Master's Program design:

Quaker tradition calls for each program within the College to address how the Five Academic Principles apply to the curriculum.  Below is an explanation of how the Five Academic Principles apply to the Master’s Program in Criminal Justice.

1. Innovative, Student-Centered Learning: In the Master’s Program, students are led to discover for themselves the role of process in groups and their ability to influence it. The courses provide opportunities for students to discover and develop their personal approach to fundamentals in group processes such as problem solving and conflict resolution. Intense discussions, often initiated in small groups, develop oral and written expression in these matters. Students are required to participate in practical and creative exercises.
2. Challenge to engage in creative and critical thinking: Courses focus discussion on theoretical concepts as well as practice in the application of the concepts to issues regularly faced in the public and organizational spheres. Students are introduced to situations that challenge them to develop systematic and critical thinking processes. Each course is to some degree interdisciplinary in employing concepts from practitioners who write reflectively from the disciplines of social science, communications, management, jurisprudence, history, and conflict resolution. A strong focus is placed upon creative and critical problem-solving in criminal justice.
3. Cultural and Global Perspectives: While these courses generally do not focus on global perspectives, they are rich in discussion of cultural diversity issues. Moreover, diversity of viewpoints and analysis are encouraged. Students are invited to add to course materials from their own life experiences and outlooks. Students have the opportunity to learn basic concepts about systems and systems thinking that are applicable across cultures.
4. Values and Ethical Dimension of Knowledge: Strategies for enabling individuals, organizations, and institutions to live together in peace and to address what is both right and moral issues of justice are key elements of the Criminal Justice master’s program. As such, the program is profoundly focused in problem identification and problem-solving schools. The Quaker ethos is incorporated as major elements in these courses. Criminal Justice, as taught at Guilford College, is an ethical enterprise. Gender, race, ethnicity, religion and social class are studied as important components.
5. Focus on Practical Application: The Justice and Policy Studies department is highly committed to answering the call for teaching “things civil and useful.”  Specifically, the Criminal Justice program takes the issue of public service very seriously. A core concern of the department is teaching students to understand the nature of law required in a democratic society and the importance of making ethical decisions in a manner that emphasizes to the public the recognition of the entrusted power the Criminal Justice system has in our society.

C. Master of Science Degree in International Sport Management (MISM) - Overview

Guilford's MISM is designed for students who are ready to be leaders in the fast-paced sport industry — and those who are passionate about working in international sport. The program appeals to experienced sport-management professionals, as well as undergraduates who want to advance their comprehension of sport-management practices as they begin their careers. It prepares students for effective, impactful careers in the sport industry both domestically and internationally. 

In collaboration with the Guilford College Office of Global and Off-Campus Initiatives a primary difference for the MISM is an international focus that culminates in a study-abroad experience. The study-abroad component will link in-class work that students undertake in their first two semesters with their final capstone project. This experience will provide students with a diverse and unique field opportunity, and it will give them the chance to work side by side with classmates following their previous 10 months of coursework.   

MISM students will be required to complete an immersive capstone experience with a sport-management organization. By the time students complete Guilford's Master of International Sport Management program, they will have a deep and holistic understanding of how international and domestic sport organizations function. They will also know how to address such critical operational challenges as efficiency in internal and external operations, leadership philosophy, societal considerations, international perspectives, and strategic planning.

Distinctive Features

• Innovative learning design supports degree completion in one year.
• Curriculum includes an applied capstone project and an international study-abroad component.
• Students are required to participate in an international study abroad trip/course which takes place during either the three-week Spring term or the Summer term. 

Guilford's five academic principles are reflected in the International Sport Management Master's Program design:

Quaker tradition calls for each program within the College to address how the Five Academic Principles apply to the curriculum.  Below is an explanation of how the Five Academic Principles apply to the Master’s Program in International Sport Management.

• Innovative, Student -Centered Learning: The MISM program will provide students with both flexible asynchronous and in-person learning experiences. This approach will give students the freedom to work at their own pace, while also providing opportunities for face-to-face learning experiences that are distinctly Guilfordian in nature. 
• Challenge to engage in creative and critical thinking: A core objective of the MISM curriculum will be to encourage students to develop ideas that can provide new and innovative approaches to the challenges faced by the sport industry – both domestically and internationally.
• Cultural and Global Perspectives: Unique in comparison to programs both at Guilford and at other institutions, the MISM’s study-abroad component takes students into the field and gives them real-world, international experiences. This opportunity to network with sport professionals worldwide gives students a distinct perspective on the career paths that are available in the global sport industry.
• Values and Ethical Dimension of Knowledge: Through classes in sociology, leadership and strategic planning, students will be presented with topics that will require them to face the difficult situations, decisions and topics that face sport practitioners. They will be asked to view and approach these challenges through the prism of ethical and value-centered leadership.
• Focus on Practical Application: The MISM will culminate in a capstone project that partners students with real-world clients to identify, develop, design and complete a practical deliverable for their assigned sport industry partner. While this project is completed in their final course, students will have been working continuously from the outset of the program on this project, with additional coursework designed to give students insight into the practical elements of the sport industry. Along with this final project, students will also complete a 12-month leadership journal, an on-line job-placement workshop, and a final digital portfolio which are all designed to give them tools that can be leveraged when moving on to a professional career.