Middle Georgia State University is rolling out two new graduate programs – a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Master of Science in Management – in 2017, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
 
Both programs, which would bring to four the number of graduate degrees offered by Georgia’s newest state university, were recently approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
 
MGA hopes to offer the Master of Science in Management as early as January 2017 and the Master of Arts in Teaching beginning the following summer.
 
“With the new programs in Education and Business, we’re rapidly expanding the number of options for students in the midstate to pursue graduate education and cementing our role as a University,” said Dr. Melanie Hatch, MGA’s provost.
 
MGA, which became a university in July 2015, already offers graduate programs in Nursing and Information Technology. SACSCOC, the organization responsible for accrediting colleges and universities in the Southeast, has granted MGA Level III status as a master’s degree-granting university.  
 
As with the first two programs, MGA’s new graduate degrees were developed to meet workforce needs in the Middle Georgia region.  The MAT will prepare students – including those who may have bachelor’s degrees in a field other than Education – for teacher certification and anticipates a partnership with the Macon-Bibb County Board of Education. The MSM program will be offered through face-to-face classes at MGA’s Warner Robins Campus.
 
MGA is also developing a graduate certificate in Technical Writing and Digital Communication, to be housed in the University’s Department of English. In addition, the University’s existing Master of Science in Information Technology just added a track in software development.
 
In spring 2016, SACSCOC conducted a site visit to review MGA’s first two master’s degrees, the Master of Science in Nursing in Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and the Master of Science in Information Technology with tracks in cybersecurity and health informatics, both of which began in January 2016.
 
The site visit report gave the institution high marks for integrity, and SACSCOC voted in June to formalize MGA’s new status.  At the same time, SACSCOC reaffirmed MGA for accreditation, concluding a standard review process that happens every 10 years.
 
MGA’s Office of Graduate Studies is headquartered at the Warner Robins Campus. Dr. Kevin Cantwell has been appointed permanent dean of Graduate Studies after serving as MGA’s interim provost.
 
Serving as associate dean of Graduate Studies is Dr. Loretta Clayton, an associate professor of English who begins her 10th year at MGA this fall.