Master of Professional Studies Online (MPS)

Program Overview
Admissions Requirements

Advance your career. Expand your opportunities.

In today’s competitive marketplace, advanced education can open doors to new roles, greater responsibilities and long-term career growth. Employment in master's-level occupations is projected to grow by almost 17% per bls.gov, the fastest of any education level. The Master of Professional Studies (MPS) at Lipscomb University is designed to help working professionals like you take the next step to stay competitive.

Offered fully online, courses are completed over a period of 8 weeks. The MPS is tailored to your professional and personal goals, allowing you to strengthen your leadership abilities, sharpen strategic thinking and meet the evolving demands of today’s workforce. You’ll work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to design a personalized plan of study, develop a research project and complete a capstone that integrates your learning across disciplines.

With the flexibility to combine two graduate certificate programs, you can build a degree that aligns with your interests and career path. Choose from the following certificate programs:

Business Leadership
Global Leadership
Performance Coaching
Conflict Management

Program Outcomes

Graduates will be able to apply their learning across various sectors, including business leadership, global strategy, coaching and conflict management. Students in this program will:

Develop advanced leadership skills to effectively guide teams, manage projects, and drive organizational success.
Strengthen strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities for complex, real-world challenges.
Apply global leadership principles to lead diverse teams and navigate cross-cultural environments.
Build professional coaching competencies, including active listening, goal-setting, and empowering others to achieve personal and organizational growth.
Manage and resolve conflicts through proven negotiation, mediation, and communication techniques.
Integrate leadership, coaching, and conflict management skills to foster positive organizational cultures and high-performing teams.

Admissions Requirements

All applicants to the Master of Professional Studies program must submit the following:

Application with $50 fee (contact for fee waiver)
Bachelor’s degree
Official college transcripts from all schools attended (minimum 2.5 GPA)
Two professional recommendations
Résumé

Contact Information

Organizational Leadership

Rick Holaway
Associate Professor
(615) 966-6133
rick.holaway@lipscomb.edu

Graduate and Adult Admissions, Admin

Chris Martin
Assistant Director of Graduate Enrollment
(615) 966-1116
chris.martin@lipscomb.edu

Program Highlights

Fully Customizable Curriculum

Students enrolled in this program make their own custom master's degree. Stack any two graduate certificates to design a degree aligned with your career goals. This amounts to a total of 30-36 credit hours toward their master's in expertise that suit your needs.

Flexible Learning

Coursework in this program is 100% online, asynchronous. This means you can complete the course on your own time in accordance with what is ideal for your schedule, maintaining optimal work/life balance.

Interdisciplinary Approach

This program’s curriculum combines leadership, coaching, conflict management and global leadership into one integrated degree. An interdisciplinary approach like this ensures coursework can be applied to diverse sectors and fields.

Our Faculty

Rick Holaway

Associate Professor

Rick Holaway serves as the Associate Provost for Graduate Enrollment and Support, and as an Assistant Professor in the College of Business, teaching marketing and management courses to undergraduate and...
Meet Rick Holaway
Carol Santiago-Stranahan

Faculty Fellow

Carol Santiago, born in the heart of Mexico City, Mexico. She went to school at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and got her BA in Communication Studies. Then in...
Meet Carol Santiago-Stranahan
Michael Cauley

Lead Faculty

Michael Cauley joined Lipscomb University in 2016 where he is Associate Professor of Professional Studies and Lead Faculty for the Performance and Leadership Coaching Programs. An executive-level consultant, executive coach,...
Meet Michael Cauley

Career Paths

Non-profit Executive Leader

Executive leadership in the nonprofit sector focuses on the holistic development of a business from the mission and financial health to stakeholder relationships.

Organizational Development Specialist

Organizational Development Specialists are responsible for detailed strategy management of an organization to maintain lucrative and efficient outcomes

Internal Organizational Coach

Internal Organizational Coaches work to improve an organization by focusing on individuals and how they perform their roles, excelling potential to meet goals.

Program Overview