EARN YOUR STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP DEGREE AT SC!
Total Credit Hours: 124
Transfer Credits: Up to 94
The online bachelor’s degree program in strategic leadership is your ticket to a career with versatility! Whether you are seeking a job in project management, supply chain management, or other areas of business management, you’ll graduate with the skills and knowledge ready to lead! Online courses are taught by industry experts, so you can be assured real-world application will be a part of your academic experience. Classes are taught in six-week sessions at an accelerated rate, allowing you to earn your degree faster!
- Gain experience in leadership and problem-solving skills needed to lead today’s complex business environments through practice activities and exercises
- Stack with the Organizational Communication Certificate or the Operational Leadership Certificate to build additional credentials
- Discover more reasons to choose SC!
Recently ranked by U.S. News and World Report for its online business degree programs and its online bachelor’s degree programs, Southwestern College offers quality online degrees to adult learners. With courses taught by expert faculty and access to a variety of student resources, SC learners are provided with the tools and flexibility needed to succeed in their education while preparing for professional advancement. Diplomas from SC Professional Studies programs are the same as diplomas received by traditional students at our physical campus.
CAREER OUTLOOK
Projected Job Growth (BLS): 30%
Average Salary (PayScale): $84k
Graduates of the online strategic leadership program at Southwestern College will be prepared for a variety of careers, including:- Supply chain manager
- Business development coordinator
- Project analyst
- Compliance officer
- Project manager
STUDENT SUCCESS STORIES
“I would recommend Southwestern College especially to parents…that want to go back to school, adults who want to go back to school that are working full time… I think that this is a great program that will offer flexibility so you can still work. You have time to study and still do your classes. It makes it very easy to juggle everything else that’s within life and make it possible.”
Crystal, 2015 Graduate
FACULTY
Visit our faculty page to view current strategic leadership instructors.
View Courses & Program Details
PROGRAM OUTCOMES
Students enrolled in the online strategic leadership program at Southwestern College can expect to:- Demonstrate breadth and depth of key strategic leadership concepts and generally accepted theories and practices (such as leadership theories, group and individual behavior theories, and talent management).
- Describe the skills necessary for competency in understanding and working with people, including personality types and group dynamics applicable to preparation for a career in a strategic leadership position.
- Apply critical thinking to the completion of class projects and assignments associated with the strategic leadership field.
- Show an understanding of how to effectively lead people and processes in a variety of business environments.
- Craft documents that showcase an understanding of the use of technological tools associated with strategic leadership
- Explain an understanding and appreciation of ethical reasoning in the application of strategic leadership skills.
- Prepare strategic leadership related documents using effective written communication skills.
RESOURCES
Article: Business Degrees: Knowing the Difference and How to Choose
Article: Biggest Advantages of Earning a Degree at SC While in the Military
RELATED PROGRAMS
Operational Leadership Certificate
Organizational Communication Certificate
Operations Management
Business Quality Management
Business Administration
STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM DETAILS
Being a leader in today’s rapidly changing society requires content knowledge as well as knowledge about self and leadership style. The strategic leadership online degree program provides learners with the ability to enhance their self-awareness and to effectively forecast and lead change.
Learners completing this major will have been provided the opportunity to develop a proactive approach to strategic leadership and decision making.
Admission Requirements
- Applicants must be graduates of an accredited high school or have completed a GED®
- Minimum GPA of 2.0
Core Major Requirements
HRD 335: Understanding Personnel Characteristics and Group Dynamics
Individuals bring their unique personalities, strengths, and challenges to the workplace. Each of these characteristics influence the dynamics of the interactions between individuals and groups. Learners will explore the major personality assessments commonly used in the workplace and their individual and group applications. Through research and experience, learners will examine how individuals and groups can benefit by learning about personality traits.
STL307: Leadership Theories and Practical Applications
This course is an introduction to various leadership theories and models. Learners will evaluate and apply leadership theories to practical real work situations.
OMGT320: Managing Group Dynamics
Learners in this course will examine individual and group behavior within the context of the organizational design and culture. Learners gain theoretical and practical knowledge for understanding topics such as motivation, leadership, management decision‐making, group process, and conflict resolution.
BSAD415: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Effective interpersonal skills are essential for professionals as they communicate, collaborate, and negotiate with other individuals and groups within and outside an organization. Successful learners develop the professional interpersonal, facilitation, negotiation, conflict management, and dispute resolution skills necessary for success in today’s complex business environments. This complexity includes elements such as the social, cultural, and economic diversity of the workforce in domestic and global environments. Learners apply these skills in a series of scenarios including those related to personnel, team, contractual, procedural, change, and other stakeholder concerns.
STL425: Strategic Risk and Leading Change
This course is designed to introduce learners to the tools, concepts, and applications that assist in forecasting, predicting, and leading change as applied through a strategic risk perspective. Utilizing new research and findings, the framework of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) will provide the student with a working knowledge of business strategy based on emerging risks, predictive analytics, forecasting, and macro business trends.
STL430: Multi‐Cultural Perspectives and Global Trends
This course includes the study of leadership implications surrounding political, social, economic and other world views. Learners will also explore how global events affect decision-making and strategic goals.
STL435: Strategic Planning
This course is designed to help learners take a proactive approach to strategic planning. A variety of perspectives, models, and approaches will be used in the most common form of strategic planning.
CAPS495: Senior Capstone
Learners engage in two projects that assess their achievements and preparation for pursuit of professional aspirations in their major field. Through application and assessment, learners examine the knowledge and skills gained throughout the program, achievement of the program outcomes, and their preparation as followers and leaders in their chosen professional field.
Prerequisites: The capstone should take place within the last 9 hours of a learner’s program.
General Education Requirements*
Basic Skills
CORE110: Information Literacy
This course is designed to provide learners with the skills that are fundamental to becoming an information‐literate professional who can locate, evaluate, organize and communicate information. The abundance and rapid flow of data requires skill development in the understanding of information resources, accessing information sources, determining the credibility of Internet information, logically organizing sources and finally presenting the information professionally.
ENGL101: Composition 1
This course helps learners develop writing skills that are transferable to any academic or workplace writing task. The course guides learners through the process of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading academic and workplace writing. Learners will develop skills necessary to craft coherent sentences and paragraphs, to edit editing their writing for proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation. They will learn about narrative structure and techniques as well as the elements of successful argumentation and persuasive discourse. This course also guides learners through every stage of the research process. Learners will develop a research plan, conduct research, organize and draft a research paper, and then revise, edit, and proofread that research paper.
ENGL102: Composition 2
This course builds on the thinking and writing skills introduced in Composition 1. Learners will write critical, argumentative essays based on their interpretations of nonfictional texts, including literary, film, and cultural texts, and in doing so, will recognize the role of rhetoric in the writing situation as they craft persuasive discourse. In doing so, they will learn methods of questioning, analyzing, and evaluating their own beliefs as well as the perceptions and perspectives of others. These methods of critical thinking are intended to improve the quality and organization of learners’ writing for any purpose, including academic and workplace purposes. In addition to writing essays, learners will develop more advanced research strategies, as well greater proficiency in APA style.
Prerequisite: ENGL101
COM125: Speech
This course helps learners majoring in any discipline strengthen communication skills essential for success in academics and the workplace. Learners will focus on listening, evaluating, and delivering spoken discourse based on audience and purpose. Learners will evaluate why some people are more effective than others as public speakers, analyze speeches and audiences, study ethical considerations for speakers, research and organize findings on a topic, and present findings before an audience, and learn techniques for identifying and reducing speech anxiety.
MASC110 Statistics & Probability or MASC115 College Algebra
MASC110 Statistics & Probability, or MASC115 College Algebra, or more advanced college credit bearing mathematics course requiring college algebra or higher as a prerequisite.
Ethical Reasoning
HUM201: Ethics
Ethics introduces learners to moral philosophy, the branch of philosophy that questions what is good and bad. The course surveys a number of important ethical theories—ethical relativism, objectivism, egoism, altruism, utilitarianism, duty‐based moral theory, natural law, natural rights, and virtue ethics—as they examine reasons why certain actions are morally right or wrong. Learners will apply ethical theories in the evaluation and analysis of current controversial issues, question ethical matters from a variety of angles, and acquire new tools to assist them in making ethically sound, well‐informed decisions throughout their lives.
Disciplinary Perspectives
Natural Science (3 or more credit hours)
Social Science (3 or more credit hours)
Humanities (3 or more credit hours)
The Arts (3 or more credit hours)
Other Cultures (3 or more credit hours)
Capstone
CAPS495 Senior Capstone
Senior capstone or major capstone course.
*Most general education requirements are waived for students with an AA, AS, or AAS degree. Speak to your admissions counselor for details.
Graduation Requirements
- Complete all foundation and major courses with an overall GPA of 2.0
- Complete a minimum of 124 credit hours, with at least 60 hours at a bachelor’s degree-granting institution
- Complete at least 30 credit hours with a C average or above from Southwestern College
All degree requirements are subject to change. Please see Southwestern College Professional Studies Catalog for the most current degree requirements.