Graduate Study Opportunities

Earning a bachelor's degree often fuels a desire for more knowledge and academic achievement. Many NLC graduates have gone on to continue their academic work at graduate schools in a range of disciplines and at law schools.

NLC works with several universities to help those institutions set up labor-oriented programs designed to make them useful and accessible to NLC graduates and other union members. Over the years, various schools have offered programs at NLC, on their own campuses, and online, in studies such as organization development, union leadership, public administration, and legal and ethical studies.

While NLC is supportive of these programs and assists in recruitment, these are not NLC programs, because NLC is not a graduate institution.

George Mason University in Partnership With National Labor College Masters of Science in Organization Development and Knowledge Management

The Organization Development and Knowledge Management (ODKM) masters program is designed to enhance participants' abilities to be effective agents of change within their unions, communities and organizations.  The focus of the program is to understand what is happening in organizations, to address issues and challenges relevant to labor representatives, and to practice new leadership skills.  Graduates are prepared to find creative solutions to complex problems common to many organizations.  This is a cohort program, so students begin and end together and work together throughout.  Work between residencies is supported by online collaborative tools.

• 18 month program
• Six residencies held at George Mason University's Arlington campus
• In-state tuition at $678.75 per credit hour
• Total tuition for the program is $24,435
• 36 total credit hours*
• Federal financial aid and scholarships available

*Visit the GMU ODKM site for more information.

University of Massachusetts Master's Degree in Union Leadership and Administration

The University of Massachusetts offers a Master's Degree in Union Leadership and Administration (ULA) at its Labor Relations and Research Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. This part-time, low residency program is designed for union officers, staff and activists. The ULA program provides the technical skills necessary for today's union leaders to confront the challenges facing the modern labor movement.
For more information, call or write:

Union Leadership and Administration Program University of Massachusetts Labor
Center/Gordon Hall
418 N. Pleasant Street, Suite B
Amherst, MA 01002-1735
Phone: 413-545-4875
Fax: 413-545-0110
Website: http://www.umass.edu/lrrc