MACLE

November 14, 2024 By radefolaju Leave a Comment

Should I get my master’s degree…? 6 Reasons we don’t take the leap

Have you considered going back to school for your master’s? Certainly, it can be a daunting prospect, but the truth is that most of the things that hold us back from the adventure of a graduate degree aren’t quite the deal-breakers we imagine…

In case you’re wondering whether or not to take the next step, here are the top six reasons we don’t pursue the higher education that could change our lives and careers.

We think…

It’s too expensive. By now we’re used to hearing about prohibitively expensive education and overwhelming burdens of student debt. However, not every program comes with this kind of cost. Belmont Abbey’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies conscientiously maintains affordable rates and meaningful financial aid options in order to ensure that its master’s programs remain accessible to young professionals.
I don’t have time. We all lead busy lives, so it can be difficult to see where a degree program might fit on a daily basis. Certainly, graduate studies require a time commitment, but Belmont Abbey master’s students find that the program’s flexible online structure not only presents manageable requirements but also strengthens the skills and strategies that bring new levels of fruitfulness to your time outside of coursework.
I won’t be able to balance my full-time job. While career and classes both require time and attention, Belmont Abbey’s flexible online graduate programs are designed for the full-time professional. The nature of a master’s degree, moreover, recognizes professional goals and networks as essential elements of the program. In fact, remaining actively engaged in a career throughout your graduate studies can actually help enrich and contextualize coursework by uniting it with consistent, hands-on experience. Ultimately, the Abbey’s graduate degrees aim to enhance career success and take you to the next level without demanding that you put your job or life on hold.
I won’t be able to balance my home life. Because we love our families and honor our responsibilities to them, we should evaluate the demands that our prospective studies might make on life at home. We know that creating personal and family balance during our graduate studies will present challenges like any meaningful commitment. And yet, graduates of Belmont Abbey’s master’s programs demonstrate time and again that the flexible nature of the online coursework and the responsive accessibility of professors help encourage and sustain successful balance. It’s also important to remember that your loved ones want to see you succeed and that your family, as they accompany you on this educational journey, can be a true source of strength.
It’s too late at this point. Whether you’re fresh out of college or bringing years of career experience to the decision, it’s never too late to pursue the personal excellence and increased expertise of a graduate degree. The benefits to your personal and professional development remain profoundly relevant at any stage of your career.
It’s just not worth it. There are many reasons why this last is a tempting but ultimately unsatisfactory conclusion. A graduate degree is not everyone’s calling, but if it’s yours, the benefits to your earning power, advancement, career satisfaction, personal development, and community relationships remain profound and substantial. In fact, to explore 10 reasons to complete your graduate degree, click here.

Although none of the above should prevent you from pursuing the transformative education to which you are called, going back to school will always present challenges and require the discipline of sacrifice. Just remember that education is an investment in the future – your own and your community’s – and when we respond to a genuine calling with generosity and love, the blessings are always greater than we can anticipate.

When you’re ready to take the next step, Belmont Abbey College is here to help. Explore our flexible, affordable online graduate degree programs and discover how a master’s could change your life and your career! Click here to check out our MBA, MSN, MS in Data Analytics, or MA programs in Classical and Liberal Education, Communication, or Leadership.

November 13, 2024 By radefolaju Leave a Comment

Is a Master’s Worth it?

Wondering why you should get a master’s degree? Explore these 10 reasons to take your education to the next level.

Getting your master’s can be a daunting prospect, especially for busy professionals seeking to maintain balance amid work, family, and personal commitments. It’s worth pausing to consider, however, what a graduate degree could mean for you – especially since assessing the benefits can help shed light on what you want from your career and your life as a whole.

So… if you are a working professional, what ARE the benefits of earning a master’s?

Ultimately, a master of arts or sciences empowers you to:

Further discern your calling by engaging meaningfully with an area of personal or professional interest. A degree program can clarify unexplored possibilities for growth within your chosen field, highlighting the industry needs and opportunities that invite your unique contribution . Graduate programs offer more opportunities to engage your field at the cutting edge as professors provide context and guide you in making original contributions to the academic and professional conversation. Even more than an undergraduate degree, graduate studies position you to recognize and embrace the possibilities of your field or discipline.
Increase your earning power. Full-time, 25-34 year old professionals with a master’s degree earn a 20% higher median salary than those whose highest level of education remains at the undergraduate level, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Completing your master’s qualifies you to climb the salary scale with greater confidence.
Learn from – and join – experts in your chosen field. Graduate professors combine education, training, and experience in a way that uniquely qualifies them to provide the formative guidance you need to excel both personally and professionally. They have dedicated their exceptional knowledge and skills to helping you achieve success, ultimately facilitating your growth toward new levels of collaboration in your discipline or field.
Alongside a verified standard of knowledge, skill, and critical thought, a master’s degree demonstrates your disciplined commitment to a field. A master’s signals not only that you are prepared for enhanced responsibilities and greater opportunities, but also that you are willing to embrace challenges, learn new skills, and develop your potential. Colleagues and supervisors recognize this, and the recognition transforms your professional landscape.
Expand your professional network through the connections and opportunities available within a college community. Even beyond hands-on learning, research, thesis development, and conferences, the institutional life of a college includes a community of alumni, professors, and peers who can provide support and invaluable connection. In terms of resources for higher education and advancement, graduate degree programs remain particularly attuned to the active professional life since by its nature it seeks to prepare serious and aspiring participants for meaningful work in their chosen fields.
Raise your promotion potential. Don’t let your education level keep you from career advancement, especially in an industry where education thresholds might otherwise curb your upward mobility or hold you back from the leadership only you can offer. A master’s degree demonstrates expertise that qualifies you to rise more quickly and confidently than you otherwise might have.
Learn together with other motivated seekers. Aside from the professional advantages of earning your master’s – which includes a network of peers aspiring to more profound collaboration in their fields – the personal benefits of a learning community shouldn’t be underestimated. Engaging in the shared pursuit of excellence and exploring the depths and challenges of a chosen field offer a basis for lasting friendships and community, especially at the graduate level, where conversations seek and support original contributions at the very forefront of a discipline or industry.
Open up new career opportunities. As you grow and develop both personally and professionally within a master’s program, the career opportunities open to you grow commensurately, providing new challenges and satisfactions that can increase your sense of accomplishment and overall well-being. A master’s degree embraces a wide new range of careers and levels of advancement that might otherwise remain out of reach.
Embrace your God-given potential. When you develop your capacities and gifts to their full potential, you participate in God’s creative work and embrace His will. Of course, formal education isn’t the only way to do this, but it can be a powerful means of responding to the vision of our Creator and taking on the vocation that is our particular calling in life. With the expertise of a master’s degree, you invite new possibilities of creative and active participation in God’s plan for your life.
Transform your community. Remember that embracing your calling benefits not just you but also your entire community. Your gifts transform the world and change the lives of those around you, so developing them through a graduate degree program has truly unimaginable effects. Find out what it can mean for you!

Consider investing in yourself, your career, and your community. Take the next step today by exploring Belmont Abbey’s flexible, affordable online graduate degree programs, whether our MBA, MSN, MS in Data Analytics, or MA programs in Classical and Liberal Education, Communication, or Leadership. Click here to learn more.

November 12, 2024 By radefolaju Leave a Comment

What can I do with a Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education?

Belmont Abbey College’s Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education (MACLE) provides essential formation for professionals in Classical K-12 education: whether teachers, administrators, curriculum and resource creators, or homeschooling network leaders.

If your calling lies in classical education, this flexible, affordable online degree program with a 10-12 month completion date offers personal and professional development uniquely capable of transforming your vocation.

As a classical K-12 teacher, you will develop the skills and understanding to inspire students with a shared love of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. By grounding yourself in a pedagogy specifically designed to engage students directly with the riches of the Great Books tradition, you will not only encourage active participation, critical and creative thinking, and thoughtful and genuine communication: you will change students’ lives.
As a classical K-12 administrator, you will learn how best to support classroom instructors and their students, cultivating an authentic community oriented toward learning. Fruitful classroom seminars are only possible where a safe, ordered, and healthy community is free to grow and to engage with the Good, so classical education requires men and women like you who address the essential needs of an academic institution with wisdom and prudence.
As a resource or curriculum creator, you will provide classical educators at all grade levels and across communities with renewed access to the timeless riches of the Western canon, facilitating profound encounters with the great conversation in which generations have engaged as they seek the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. Curricular support extends this conversation and helps teachers to challenge their students, offer context, and explore further questions, scaffolding the skills by which students will discover ever more fully how to learn and engage.
As a leader in a homeschool network, you will bring the depths of the Great Books tradition into the first of all schools, the home, by providing the tools and support that parents and fellow educators need to fulfill the mission they have so generously embraced. By taking such direct and active roles in their children’s schooling and their community as a whole, homeschooling educators model the joyful responsibility of lifelong learning in pursuit of wisdom, and offering leadership in such a community entails a profound contribution to the good of our society and culture.

Belmont Abbey designed its Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education in collaboration with the CiRCE Institute, ICLE, and the Veterum Sapientia Institute, all leaders in the classical education movement who are committed to forming men and women like you in the best that liberal arts tradition has to offer. In addition to exploring the Trivium and Quadrivium as foundations of classical education, the MACLE candidate gains critical pedagogical training while engaging questions of faith and reason, poetry and philosophy, civic understanding, and the human condition.

As an educator invested in the mission of classical education, you will have the opportunity to more deeply pursue Truth, Goodness, and Beauty while making the fruits of this journey available to your students and colleagues – ultimately inspiring them in their own journeys and nourishing the active community of seekers that lies at the heart of classical and liberal education.

If you are an educator seeking to grow personally and professionally, consider what an MA in Classical and Liberal Education could mean for your calling. Click here to explore the possibilities.

May 30, 2024 By Sarah Bolton Leave a Comment

Belmont Abbey College Partners with the Veterum Sapientia Institute to Elevate Graduate Offering

Belmont Abbey College Partners with the Veterum Sapientia Institute to Elevate Graduate Offering

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Belmont, N.C. (May 30, 2024) – Today Belmont Abbey College announces a new partnership with the Veterum Sapientia Institute (VSI). Aimed at enhancing learning opportunities for students interested in the Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education (MACLE), individuals seeking this degree can complete all required credits for graduation at Belmont Abbey, or 12 of the required 30 credits through VSI’s Teaching Credential in Latin Pedagogy. Intended for individuals with a passion for the Latin and Greek languages, this new certification is designed to give current and aspiring teachers the tools to make their Latin classes more interactive, and integrate the Catholic faith into their student learnings. This is the first-of-its-kind credential to teach Latin in an integrated, Catholic approach using active pedagogy from the only pontifically-approved institution for Latin and Greek language study in the United States. Belmont Abbey and VSI welcome the inaugural cohorts for their respective programs in the Fall of 2024.

VSI’s new Teaching Credential in Latin Pedagogy aligns with Belmont Abbey’s overall mission and the aim of the Master’s in Classical and Liberal Education to develop future generations of educators who believe in the education of the whole person- mind, body, and spirit. Dr. Christine Boor, The Vilma György Pallos Endowed Chair of Classical and Liberal Education, speaks to the importance of this partnership. “This collaboration marks a significant milestone for both institutions as we join forces to expand academic offerings, foster innovative learning, and prepare graduates for success in the classical education space,” said Boor.

Developed with administrators, educators, and non-profit leaders in mind, the MACLE follows an online, synchronous format with 30 credit hours required for graduation. This program offers students who are enrolled in Belmont Abbey’s MACLE program the ability to fulfill partial credits through VSI, the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE) and the Center for Independent Research on Classical Education (CiRCE). “We developed this program with the foremost goal of formation in Classical Education, but believe that these partnerships provide a personalized component to each student’s degree program,” said Boor. Belmont Abbey College is currently accepting MACLE applications for the Fall 2024 semester. The deadline to apply is July 15, 2024. Get program information and apply here.

“We are thrilled to embark on this collaborative journey with Belmont Abbey College,” said Christopher Owens, CEO at Veterum Sapientia Institute. “This partnership will not only enrich the academic experience for our students, but also empower them in the schools in which they are serving or will serve. Together, we are shaping the future of Catholic education and creating innovative pathways for our students to study the wisdom received from our Catholic tradition,” said Owens. The Veterum Sapientia Institute exists to form Catholics in their cultural and spiritual birthright by teaching living Latin and Greek languages. Committing to becoming the premier institute for this purpose, VSI is a renowned organization for pedagogical education in Latin and Greek. Click here for more information on VSI’s Teaching Credential in Latin Pedagogy.

Press Inquiry Contact: Julia Long, Director of Enrollment Marketing, julialong@bac.edu or 423-827-8727

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May 7, 2024 By Sarah Bolton Leave a Comment

Belmont Abbey College Announces New Endowed Chair for Classical Education

Belmont Abbey College Announces New Endowed Chair for Classical Education

Belmont, N.C. (May 7, 2024) – Belmont Abbey College announces the establishment of The Vilma György Pallos Endowed Chair in Classical Education, the first Endowed Chair in the college’s history and the first of ten endowed chairs it hopes to accomplish for the $150 million Made True capital campaign. Made possible by the generous support of Dr. and Mrs. Laszlo Pallos, this significant endowment will play a pivotal role in advancing the college’s commitment to classical education and fostering a new generation of educators.

The first appointee to The Vilma György Pallos Endowed Chair is Dr. Christine Boor ‘11, an alumna from Belmont Abbey College and currently an Honors College professor. Dr. Boor will oversee the development of the new Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education (MACLE) program, which aims to provide students with a strong formation in classical pedagogy, the Great Books, the liberal arts, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. “I am honored to continue my time at Belmont Abbey, building upon the foundation of Classical Education that began with the Honors College. I’m excited to witness the growth, accomplishments, and contributions of MACLE graduates for years to come.” This program will enlighten classical educators on the formation of their students in the moral, intellectual, and theological virtues.

Dr. Joseph Wysocki, Dean of the Honors College and Interim Provost, expressed his enthusiasm for the establishment of The Vilma György Pallos Endowed Chair and the new program, stating, “This chair and program will enable us to offer transformative riches to new generations of students. We are grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Pallos for their generous support and to Vilma Pallos for her inspiring legacy. Dr. Boor is a faithful advocate of classical education, and I am thrilled to watch her assume this role.”

This Endowed Chair will honor Laszlo’s late mother, Vilma Mária Pallos, née György, a survivor of both World War II and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Pallos and the legacy of Vilma Pallos, young professionals who share Vilma’s sacrificial dedication and love of education will gain the requisite skills to instruct and inspire others.

Belmont Abbey College welcomes its first cohort for the Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education program in the Fall of 2024. Tailored for individuals deeply passionate about classical education, this degree aims to equip young professionals with the essential formation required to flourish as educators and administrators within the classical K-12 setting.

Endowed chairs like The Vilma György Pallos Chair in Classical Education are instrumental in maintaining and fortifying the expertise that supports the college’s core values. With Dr. Boor’s involvement, Belmont Abbey College will continue to shape the future of classical education and empower educators to make a lasting impact on their students.

For more information about the Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education program, please visit here.

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Sarah Bolton

P: 704-461-7016 E: sarahbolton@bac.edu

About Belmont Abbey College: Founded in 1876, Belmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic baccalaureate and liberal arts institution. Our mission is to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified. Guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition and the Benedictine spirit of prayer and learning, we welcome a diverse body of students and provide them with an education that will enable them to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and to others. Our beautiful and historic campus is conveniently located just 10 miles west of Charlotte, N.C., and is currently home to more than 1500 students. For more information, visit https://belmontabbeycollege.edu/.