Organizational Leadership

Marlboro’s organizational leadership graduate program is a home for purpose-driven leaders to elevate themselves and empower their communities. At Marlboro, students develop their authentic leadership, participate in a vibrant learning community, and learn how to guide healthy, high-functioning teams in nonprofit, business, or government organizations.

To meet each student's professional goals, Marlboro offers a choice of a Master of Science in Management (MSM) or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Both programs have a convenient, low-residency format with retreat-like residencies one weekend a month at Marlboro's beautiful southern Vermont campus.

Students graduate from the organizational leadership program with the essential skills necessary to lead mission-driven enterprises in complex times. Marlboro graduates go on to create start-ups, join consultancies, build new networks, or lead in existing enterprises across many industries, ranging from food security to solar energy, alternative schools to economic development.

Master of Science in Management

36 credits
Core Organizational Leadership Curriculum
Monthly residency-retreats
Flexible blended learning model
Design your own specialty
Integrative Capstone project

Master of Business Administration

45 credits
Core Organizational Leadership Curriculum
Monthly residency-retreats
Flexible blended learning model
Design your own specialty
Integrative Capstone project
Executive-level MBA Seminars

What's your specialization?

Engaging with Marlboro's rigorous core leadership curriculum, students master the essential skills of organizational leadership such as:

project management
systems thinking
financial decision-making
team-building
personal leadership development
clear communication

Building from this core curriculum, each student works with their advisor to craft a field of specialization for deeper inquiry and practice, one that best advances their professional goals. Self-designed specializations maintain high standards while allowing students the flexibility they need to clarify and execute their leadership vision.

Students demonstrate their core and specialized competencies by curating a portfolio of their strongest work. The portfolio may include artefacts from coursework, field-based learning, literature reviews, formal mentorships, and the capstone project.

Project Management

“Over the course of the program, I developed a confidence in my ability to organize a substantial project, execute my idea, and galvanize support. Completing this project gave me the real-world experience I needed to build a concrete belief in my abilities.”

–Sunitha Malieckal '15

Mission-Driven Organizations

"As a leader coming out of Marlboro’s management program, I have a much larger degree of calm confidence than I ever could have imagined. I've been able to think in new ways about community, building on the strengths of team members, collaboration, and leadership."

– Danielle Delaini '16

Social Innovation

"For me, deciding to launch VT Dinners was an attempt to live my values: to demonstrate what the “new story” of business can be. I’d like to believe that by acting from a place of passion (specifically my love for local food), I’ve grown as an individual and as a leader. And for that self-awareness, I thank the community I found at Marlboro.”

–Nathaniel Brooks '15