Bachelor of Arts in Leadership and Professional Studies online

Provide valuable leadership in a variety of roles with this highly versatile bachelor’s degree in professional studies. Develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities you need to achieve success when making complex decisions on behalf of any organization.

Apply by: 4/29/24
Start class: 5/20/24

Program Overview

Why our Leadership & Professional Studies BA online stands out

$360 Per Credit Hour
120* Credit Hours

Combine your work and life experiences with the leadership and professional studies bachelor’s online program from William Paterson University to prepare for a prominent professional role. Focus on your career goals while building competencies in communication, collaboration, negotiation, and emotional intelligence. WP Online utilizes insight from leaders to develop curriculum that helps you become a top-level candidate for various opportunities and promotions.

In conjunction with an emphasis on your professional growth, this affordable bachelor’s degree in leadership offers supportive resources such as mentors, a success counselor, and faculty advisors. You will also benefit from 100 percent online coursework and a capstone project in which you will showcase advancement toward your leadership goals.

Graduates of the BA - Leadership & Professional Studies program will:

  • Collaborate with colleagues and facilitate team building
  • Think critically and creatively to solve challenges
  • Hone written and oral communication skills
  • Apply emotional intelligence, listening, and empathy in leadership situations
  • Explore professional ethics
  • Become familiar with negotiation strategies
  • Develop a quantitative understanding of budgeting
  • Complete cultural competency and unconscious bias training
  • Collaborate with colleagues and facilitate team building
  • Think critically and creatively to solve challenges
  • Hone written and oral communication skills
  • Apply emotional intelligence, listening, and empathy in leadership situations
  • Explore professional ethics
  • Become familiar with negotiation strategies
  • Develop a quantitative understanding of budgeting
  • Complete cultural competency and unconscious bias training

Also available:

William Paterson University offers a variety of specialized bachelor's degrees. Check out all of our online undergraduate programs. In addition, we have minors available to help you meet your undergraduate credit requirements by integrating coursework that enriches your educational experience.

$360 Per Credit Hour
120* Credit Hours
Apply Now
Need More Information?

Call 833-960-0139

Call 833-960-0139

Add a minor to help meet your credit hour requirement and enrich your educational experience.

Tuition

You’ll find value in the WP online BA in Leadership & Professional Studies

Undergraduate online programs from William Paterson University offer affordable, pay-by-the-course tuition. All fees are included in the total tuition.

Tuition breakdown:

$360 Per Credit Hour

Tuition breakdown:

$360 Per Credit Hour

Calendar

View our application deadlines and course schedules

William Paterson University online programs are delivered in an accelerated format ideal for working professionals, conveniently featuring multiple start dates each year.

Now enrolling:

4/29/24 Apply Date
5/20/24 Class Starts
AllProgram Start DateApplication DeadlineDocument DeadlineRegistration DeadlinePayment DueLast Class DayTerm LengthEnrollment Deadline
Spring II3/25/243/3/243/6/243/15/243/20/245/12/247 weeks
Summer I5/20/244/29/245/1/245/10/245/15/247/7/247 weeks
Summer II7/15/246/23/246/26/247/5/247/10/249/1/247 weeks
Fall I9/9/248/18/248/21/248/30/249/4/2410/27/247 weeks
Fall II11/4/2410/14/2410/16/2410/25/2410/30/2412/22/247 weeks

Now enrolling:

4/29/24 Apply Date
5/20/24 Class Starts

Have questions or need more information about our online programs? 

Ready to take the rewarding path toward earning your degree online?

Admissions

Review requirements to be admitted to our online BA in Leadership & Professional Studies program

At William Paterson University, we've streamlined the admission process to help you get started quickly and easily. Please read the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Leadership and Professional Studies online, including what additional materials you need and where you should send them.

The requirements include:

  • Online application
  • Transcripts from all colleges and universities previously attended
  • Minimum 2.0 GPA
  • Must be at least four years post high school

You must meet the following requirements for admission to this BA online program:

  • Cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale
  • Students must be 4 years post-high school or 2 years post-high school and have earned 60 or more college credits.
  • Official transcripts from each college attended or high school transcript if no prior college experience
    o Applicants must be at least 2 years post high school to enroll in our WP Online accelerated programs.
  • Complete online application and submit $50 application fee

Official transcripts, test scores, and other documents should be sent from the granting institutions to:

Email address: [email protected]

Mail address:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Services
Morrison Hall 102
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, NJ 07470

Courses

Discover what you will learn in our online BA in Leadership & Professional Studies courses

For the BA in Leadership & Professional Studies online, you must complete 21 credit hours of Foundational Competency Requirements, six credit hours of Professional Competency Requirements, and nine credit hours of Applied and Capstone Requirements. The program is designed to permit a flexible application of prior learning, professional experience, and transfer credits toward meeting these major requirements. Additional University Core Curriculum and elective credits will be required to complete the 120-credit BA degree. You may transfer up to 90 approved credit hours to decrease cost and time to completion.

Students must select at least one of the following courses:
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Through a comparison of numerous cultures, students explore the primary distinguishing characteristics of culture and identify strategies for relating their own culture to those of others. Emphasis is placed on an eclectic cultural design. The primary goal is to provide students with practical and theoretical knowledge and an understanding of intercultural communication in contemporary life situations.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
After a survey of the African heritage, including slavery, a study is made of the history of people of African descent in their New World environment. The role of African-Americans in the development of the United States to the Civil War is examined.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Examines traditional schools of psychology as they pertain to the psychological experience of African-Americans. Alternative psychological considerations relative to the African-American experience, including those advanced by noted African-American psychologists, are also explored.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course analyzes multiple forms of social oppression and inequality based on race (and color), sex (and gender), sexual orientation (and identity), and class in the United States. It will examine systemic aspects of social oppression in different periods and contexts and the ways that systems of social oppression manifest themselves on individual, cultural, institutional and/or global levels thus becoming self-perpetuating but not wholly unaltered structures. Individual and group agency, strategies of resistance, and visions for change will also be studied.

Students must select at least one of the following courses: 

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course explores the experiences of North American workers from the nineteenth century to the present with a focus on how workers engaged with the problems they confronted and attempted to craft solutions. The course examines the everyday lives and challenges faced by workers at the job site, in their communities, and in their struggles to secure union representation and more favorable public policies. It traces the main outlines of the modern union movement, from the violent confrontations of the late nineteenth century, to the surge in union strength of the mid-twentieth century, to the dramatic membership declines of recent decades in an economy buffeted by globalization, deindustrialization, and downsizing. Special attention will be paid to the particular challenges confronting women, immigrant, and non white workers. The course will consider how particular groups of workers and their supporters engaged within their communities and with civic institutions to address a particular problem or set of challenges.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Designed to familiarize students with the legal system with particular emphasis on the court system and administrative agents. Also includes examination of substantive areas such as antitrust, bankruptcy, corporate law, partnership, and securities regulations.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to increase awareness of values, ethics, beliefs and attitudes, and how they relate to issues of sustainability. It will pay special attention to the manner in which corporations can become agents of injustice and inequality in society, and conversely, how they can be transformed by individual actors and by institutional reforms. This course will also analyze sustainability at the institutional level, focusing on socially and structurally imbedded nature of corporate actions. This is a writing intensive course.

Students must select at least one of the following courses: 

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Introduces basic principles, policies, problems, and successful methods of business organization and management. Emphasizes management’s ability to analyze, plan, coordinate, and control the varied activities of production, personnel, finance, and marketing. Also examines social responsibility and environmental factors affecting business policy and operation.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Introduces basic principles, policies, problems, and successful methods of business organization and management. Emnphasizes management’s ability to analyze, plan, coordinate, and control the varied activities of production, personnel, finance, and marketing. Also examines social responsibility and environmental factors affecting business policy and operation.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces students to the science and practice of industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology. Psychological theory and research are applied to the solution of problems in business and industry. After an overview of research methods and the history of I/O psychology, students are exposed to basic concepts from human resources psychology, organizational development, and consumer behavior.
Students must select at least one of the following courses:
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Introductory course in the fundamental principles of accounting, the theory of debit and credit, account classification, preparation of working papers, adjusting, closing, reversing entries, and preparation of basic financial statements. Use of spreadsheet and word processing computer applications.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts of macroeconomic analysis. Particular emphasis will be placed on the examination of production, expenditure, employment, unemployment, and price levels for the economy as a whole. Discussed are also monetary, fiscal, and financial policies, with regards to their impacts on economic growth, inflation, unemployment, and financial stability.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
A study of algebraic and transcendental functions, including their properties and graphs with a focus on applications to business. Topics include algebraic fundamentals, equations and inequalities, polynomial functions and graphs, exponential and logarithmic functions and mathematics of finance.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course studies the development of statistical concepts with applications to various disciplines. Topics include descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The latter are explained in terms of concepts from probability theory such as normal distribution, t-distribution, sampling theory, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, t-test, Chi square test, analysis of variance and regression and correlation. The software package SPSS is used to perform statistical analysis. Emphasis is on understanding the concepts and problem-solving using modern technology.

Students must select one of the following courses: 

Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
An opportunity for advanced study and discussion of issues and questions, together with the opportunity to study and analyze the research available in various areas of communication. Each student chooses an area of communication in which to plan and carry out a research project. (Pre-Requisite: COMM 1210)
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Major emphasis on techniques for solving business problems, the development of marketing policies, and the sale of consumer and industrial products. Various marketing decisions are examined with respect to product planning, channels of distribution, promotion activity, selling and sales management, pricing, and international marketing.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 4
Applied Statistics provides an introduction to basic statistical procedures for the behavioral sciences, including probability theory, hypothesis testing, and descriptive and inferential statistics. Students learn how to use and select among a variety of statistical tests such as z-statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, and correlation, as well as nonparametric tests such as chi-square. Technology intensive laboratory sessions train students in the use computer software to analyze data and create graphs that are appropriate for the sciences. Students will be charged an additional Psychology Lab Fee when enrolling in this course.
Students must select one of the following courses:
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Through the study of communication theory as it relates to business and the professions and through practice simulations, the student acquires a knowledge of those communicative and motivational skills essential for success in business and professional life.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course will help students develop knowledge of and capability in various approaches to business writing contexts, as well as the forms and styles of business writing. Students will study and produce different products typical in business writing, including such items as reports, letters, proposals, and analyses. This is a writing intensive course.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Intensive work on the elements of successful technical writing through such forms as the expanded definition, instructions, the informative abstract, and the long technical report. This course is both writing and technology intensive.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course introduces students to the theories and practices of human capital management, specifically emphasizing the role human resources plays as a strategic partner in supporting, upholding, and delivering a business entities mission and values. Students will develop and apply the critical thinking skills necessary to integrate the myriad of moving parts involved in the human capital planning process by applying them to real life business situations designed to move a company forward. Some sections of this course are writing intensive.
Students must complete the following courses:
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to provide a basic introduction to leadership by focusing on what it means to be an effective leader. It provides a broad understanding of the history of leadership, theoretical approaches to leadership, and ethical and practical issues facing contemporary leaders. The course will examine topics such as: understanding the relationship between leadership, culture, and diversity; recognizing leadership traits; engaging people’s strengths; building effective and inclusive teams; developing leadership skills in self and others; establishing a constructive climate; initiating and adjusting to change; and, negotiating conflict. Course participants will assess their leadership traits and skills as well as identify means to improve their own leadership performance.
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
Leadership skills are increasingly demanded of individuals to lead or transform organizations and communities. This course enables participants to define their own learning goals and apply them to leadership approaches, management, team building, decision-making, communication, financial and technological skills, cultural competency, and ethics in the workplace or on community engagement projects. Critical & transformative models of power, politics, and leadership that attend to difference and diversity in an interconnected world will be highlighted. Prerequisite(s): LPS 3000
Duration: 7 Weeks weeks
Credit Hours: 3
This course is designed to enable students to reflect upon, critique, appraise and synthesize the core experience, knowledge and skills gained in the LPS program. Students will complete and finalize their e-portfolio for the program which will demonstrate their critical perspectives, portable skills, and domain knowledge of leadership. Class projects and activities will enhance career-related skills (such as interviewing techniques, oral presentation, and the ability to state and develop one’s leadership philosophy) and assess the student’s ability to apply their leadership experience, concepts, and theories to create practical, effective, strategic, ethical, and socially just outcomes for various contexts (organizations, communities, workgroups, governance). Prerequisite(s): LPS 4000

Take your degree even further. Choosing a minor will allow you to enrich your experience while meeting your undergraduate credit requirements.

Explore your options.

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