Course description
The MHS Program is designed for full-time human service professionals with a record of successful work experiences and the potential for academic achievement.
At Lincoln, experienced human service practitioners are challenged to become agents of social change, equipped with the interpersonal, managerial, research and presentation skills essential to success in the field.
If this is a challenge that excites you, we hope you'll read further to learn more about this highly innovative, non-traditional graduate program.
The MHS Program requires 54 hours of academic credit, a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 (B) or better, takes two years (four 15-week semesters and a mandatory 8-week summer semester) to complete, and leads to a Master of Human Services (MHS) degree.
Course Descriptions
The MHS Program is a performance-based approach to education that organizes skills and theories into five basic competency units:
* CU I: Self-directed Learning
* CU II: Helping Relationships
* CU III: Group Processes (summer session)
* CU IV: Community Planning and Program Management
* U V: Organizational Development and Planned Change
Curriculum matrix
Students interested in licensure in professional counseling in Pennsylvania and several other states have the option of adding 6 credit hours to graduate with a 60 credit Master of Human Services degree with a Concentration in Counseling. The extra six credits may be taken as an overload during the regular academic year or in an elective fall semester with a December graduation.
Students interested in additional coursework in administration have the option of taking 16 additional credit hours to obtain the Master of Human Services degree with a concentration in administration. Additionally, there is opportunity for additional coursework in aging studies to earn a Concentration in Gerontology.
The subject matter of each competency is studied from the viewpoint of five dimensions: Values (Ethics), Self and Others (Psychology), Systems (Sociology), Skills (Communication/Research), and Integration and Practice Application.
Values (Ethics)
* Student Learner Outcomes
Self/Others (Psychology)
* Student Learner Outcomes
Systems Theory (Sociology)
* Student Learner Outcomes
Skills (Communication, Intervention/Community Organization, Management and Research Skills)
* Student Learner Outcomes
Integration and Practice Application
* Student Learner Outcomes
The classes held at Lincoln’s Graduate Center on Saturdays address the first four of these, while the fifth dimension is addressed one evening during the week in the Integration and Practice Seminar. These weeknight seminars are located where students cluster geographically, usually at a human services agency or local university site. The purpose of the Integration and Practice Seminar is to integrate the student's work activities in his or her agency with the theoretical material presented in the Saturday coursework. Weekly logs, individual presentations and professional experiences form the basis for discussion. For each competency unit the student is also required to complete a field project or practice application project. The field project demonstrates the understanding of theory, organization of ideas, the appropriate application of new concepts to practice, and the explanation of new steps to be taken. Emphasis is on problem solving using the Action Research model.
In the last year of the Program, students choose either a micro track (counseling and other direct services) or a macro track (administration and planning). Also in the last year, students complete a change project, make an oral presentation on this project, and produce a peer review article for submission to one of the many human services related journals.
When the competencies and dimensions are put together, they form a matrix of courses that make up the MHS curriculum. This curriculum provides the integration of concepts and practice which is the hallmark of the Lincoln University Master of Human Services Program.
