Program Design and Evaluation

The MA in Program Design & Evaluation is a research in social change degree. This MA provides graduate-level education for students and community partners across sectors who seek to advance and study solutions related to the "grand challenges" or "wicked problems" of our time.

The fully online program will equip students with knowledge and skills to design and implement community-focused and research-based solutions to problems situated in social systems, and to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of those solutions.

The degree is designed for currently employed professionals and students; with 7.5 week cycles leading to a completed degree within 24 months. Students will immerse in the process of identifying, understanding, and researching key problems of our time with focus on creating viable, sustainable solutions and examining evidence of impact.

This research in social change degree program is designed to provide students with transferrable skills applicable across industry sectors, populations, and challenges or problems. Students will gain cross-cultural competencies, community engagement skills and applied experience while establishing competency in evidence-based problem identification, solution development, monitoring and evaluation and translation of results for program and policy evolution.

Cross-Cutting Themes

• Structural Focus: The challenges of our time are structural in nature. This requires preparing students to understand the structures that produce adverse individual, social and environmental outcomes and inequities.
• Community Engagement: Communities are authorities and possess capacities that can be strengthened and supported to address the challenges of our time. Students will become proficient in applied, community-based, research translation and solution identification to further strengthen the Academic-Community partnership.
• Ethics: Ethics of conducting human research and evaluation, and of working with diverse populations to create change.
• Social Justice:  Students will be prepared to understand and address inequities produced by problems or challenges in order to advance social justice.