1. 74 Milwaukee Magazine May2015
take a shorter time to complete. Most of our
certificate programs are online to make them
as accessible as possible.”
Medical College
of Wisconsin
MCW’s most popular graduate program is
the Master of Public Health. Fully online, it is
designed for the working professional who is
short on time but long on motivation. There
are seven master’s programs in total, includ-
ingtherecentadditionofMaster’sinMedical
Physiology, a one-year program designed to
help college graduates preparing to apply to
medical school.
MCW’s graduate certificate series in-
cludes Public Health, Bioethics and Clini-
cal and Translational Science. “The MCW
graduate certificate series delivers core
competencies from degree programs in a
sequence of four to six classes, says MCW
Associate Director of Recruitment and De-
velopment Guy Berst. “These core classes
offer students a platform to extend their
knowledge base, specialize in an area or
equip working professionals with addition-
al tools to be successful in their careers. The
graduate certificate series course work may
be transferred into a MCW master degree
level program with minimal restrictions.”
Milwaukee School
of Engineering
The MSOE MBA program is the school’s
most popular graduate offering. Students
also enjoy the Master of Science in Engineer-
ing Management program, which combines
an individual’s technical background with a
corebusinesscurriculum.Bothprogramsare
offeredinablendedonline/classroomoption
or 100 percent online.
In addition to the new MBA program,
MSOE also recently added a Master of Sci-
ence in Nursing–Health Care Systems Man-
agement. “Our MSN program has a unique
Back in the day, getting a college degree
meant being set for life. Sadly, those days
seem to be over, as the modern workforce
gets more competitive and additional and
advanced degrees or professional certificates
are becoming more commonplace. Accord-
ing to a 2014 Washington Post article, jobs
that require a master’s degree are expected to
grow 21.7 percent through 2020.
Luckyforus,thereareplentyofoptionsfor
continuing education available to residents
of southeastern Wisconsin. These world-
classinstitutionsoffermultipleopportunities
to pursue a master’s degree, MBA, Ph.D. or
professional certificate without having to
leave the state.
Concordia
University Wisconsin
Concordia’s most popular graduate offering,
the MBA program features a number of con-
centrations to meet students’ professional
and personal needs. The school also offers
numerous health care disciplines to choose
from, including doctoral programs in Phys-
ical Therapy, Nursing Practice, Pharmacy,
and Occupational Therapy.
For those interested in entering or fur-
theringtheircareersinthefieldofeducation,
the CUW School of Education provides stu-
dents with district-specific training through
the Preferred Educational Partnership (PEP)
initiative. “With PEP, the School of Educa-
tion partners with K-12 school districts to
provide targeted graduate-level faculty de-
velopment for teachers based on the needs
of the district,” says Dr. William Cario, Con-
cordia’s Senior Vice President of Academics.
Concordia offers more than two dozen
professional certificate programs ranging
from lay ministry to human resource man-
agement to graduate certificates in Chris-
tian counseling and bioethics. “Sometimes
people are not ready to invest in a degree
program,” Cario says. “Certificate programs
are more focused than degree programs and
Lab lessons
at the Medical
College of
Wisconsin.
There are plenty
of options for
continuing
education available
to residents of
southeastern
Wisconsin.
special advertising section
Schools of Thought
Local colleges and universities offer multitude of advanced
degree options. By Jeff Karzen

2. 76 Milwaukee Magazine May2015
special advertising section
blend of nursing, business, and engineering
concepts that equips graduates with the
knowledge and skills necessary to function
effectively in the health care environment,”
says Brittney Lynn, MSOE graduate pro-
gram specialist. “It is designed to accom-
modate busy, working professionals with
courses in a blended online and classroom
format.” MSOE also offers a variety of pro-
fessional certification offerings.
University of
Wisconsin–Milwaukee
The UWM College of Nursing ranked in the
top50andtheSchoolofInformationStudies
ranked in the top 15 by U.S. News & World
Report. The School of Architecture and Ur-
ban Planning is the only of its kind in Wis-
consin, and the interdisciplinary Health Sci-
ences PhD Program in the College of Health
Science is one of only 11 such programs in
the country.
“UWM has an incredible variety of more
than 135 master’s, doctoral, coordinated and
certificate programs among our 14 schools
and colleges,” says Marija Gajdardziska-Josi-
fovska, UWM Dean of the Graduate School.
In the last decade, the number of UWM
graduate certificate offerings has increased
from about a dozen to almost 50. And there
are plans for more.
“We aim for our certificate programs to
provide specialized knowledge and skills for
personal enrichment, professional advance-
ment or to assist with a career change,” says
Gajdardziska-Josifovska. “The Graduate
School has made a concerted effort to ca-
ter to those individuals who are looking to
obtain an extra skill set beyond their degree
and to give them an edge in their respective
fields.” ■
Student
welcome at
the University
of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee.
Photo by Troye Fox/University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee