Labor Studies Graduate Program
Take me to the Labor Center.
Students admitted to the MS in Labor Studies program come from a wide range of undergraduate majors in the social sciences and humanities. They also bring different kinds and levels of experience, including work in the labor movement, campus organizing, organizing against sweatshops, and other types of community-based work experience. This unique, multidisciplinary program offered through the Labor Center equips students for careers in the labor movement, related social justice organizations, or further academic work. It combines coursework, labor research, and an internship in which students gain experiential knowledge of the field. Graduate courses provide not only the skills necessary to work in and with the labor movement—expertise in research, organizing, collective bargaining, and union leadership—but also offer an opportunity to examine the larger theoretical and strategic issues confronting workers and their unions. Concentrations in globalization, labor and communities, women and work, labor education, and strategic corporate research allow in-depth exploration of cutting-edge issues.
Requirements include 42 graduate credits of which no more than 6 may be transferred from other accredited institutions, and no more than 6 may be in departments other than Labor Studies. Also required is an internship with a labor organization, related organization, or agency. A thesis can be substituted for the internship. Six credits are granted upon completion of the internship seminar. Full-time students typically complete the program in two years. Most students do an internship in the summer between their first and second years. Students’ courses of study are planned in consultation with their advisers. For more information go to the Labor Center.
The Union Leadership and Administration Limited Residency Program
The Union Leadership and Administration (ULA) Master of Science in Labor Studies is an innovative program tailored to the needs of working union officers, staff, and activists. It offers a nonresidential degree program giving trade unionists the opportunity to study and explore the labor movement from a union perspective. Requirements for the ULA program are the same as the core curriculum for the residential program, with the exception of the internship or thesis requirement. Students with extensive experience in the labor movement may waive this requirement, and receive the degree upon completion of thirty-six graduate credits. Courses are taught during ten-day sessions in the summer and winter. Participants take two intensive courses during each session, including a reasonable amount of reading, writing, and other participatory exercises. Students complete a written project upon returning home. Six credits are earned by completing a final paper in the last semester of the program, and students may transfer up to six credits from other graduate programs. Full-time students typically take classes twice a year for two and a half years, and complete the degree in three years.
For more information, go to the Labor Center.
