Issue Guest Editor: Stephen C. Berkwitz, Missouri State University

Stephen C. Berkwitz is professor of religious studies at Missouri State University. His teaching and research interests include Buddhist studies, South Asian religions, religion and colonialism, and theories of religion. He is the author of Buddhist History in the Vernacular: The Power of the Past in Late Medieval Sri Lanka (Brill, 2004), South Asian Buddhism: A Survey (Routledge, 2010), and a forthcoming book entitled Buddhist Poetry and Colonialism: Alagiyavanna and the Portuguese in Sri Lanka (Oxford University Press). Berkwitz also serves as series editor of the Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism Series, book review editor of Religion, and co-Chair of the Stand-alone MA Program in Religion Seminar for the American Academy of Religion.

Unique Issues in Stand-Alone MA Programs

The Master of Arts student in religion/religious studies is almost a forgotten figure in the field. Compared to studies about teaching religion in PhD and MDiv programs, there has been much less attention paid to how professors may teach effectively to MA students. In many doctoral programs, the MA degree is treated like a transitional stage to prepare students for dissertation research. Meanwhile, MDiv degrees typically prepare students for pastoral and other forms of ministry. For those of us who teach in stand-alone MA programs (i.e., graduate programs that offer an MA degree but not the PhD), we have found surprisingly few sources that offer reflection or guidance on improving our teaching of MA students.

In September 2010, representatives from twelve stand-alone MA programs in religion met on the campus of Missouri State University, Springfield, for a two and one-half day workshop to assess teaching and learning in MA programs. Sponsored by a Large Project Grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, our group met and discussed a variety of issues including addressing diverse groups of graduate students, teaching gateway courses and independent study courses to MA students, teaching split-level or mixed courses comprising both undergraduate and master’s students, and the assessment of learning at the end of a terminal master’s degree. The conversations and exercises in the workshop contained collaborative sustained reflections on how to enhance the education of MA students in the field. The essays that appear in this special issue of Spotlight on Teaching have mostly developed out of this workshop.

Through our discussions and a survey of our respective MA programs, we discovered that we were not quite as isolated or unique as we previously thought. It was apparent that we all share diverse student populations who pursue an MA in religion for a wide variety of reasons. Some students in stand-alone MA programs in religion go on to doctoral programs elsewhere and complete a PhD to obtain employment in the professoriate. However, the survey of our programs found that in most institutions, MA students who planned to proceed on to doctoral studies ranged from around 25 to 50 percent. Other MA graduates have gone into other educational positions in high schools or community colleges, some have chosen to embark upon ministerial or church work, and still others pursue careers in social and nonprofit work, the legal profession, government employment, journalism, and library science.

Furthermore, given that stand-alone MA programs rarely have the resources or faculties to match those departments or schools that house PhD programs, we are expected to "do more with less," offering courses and training for students whose interests range from professional specialization to personal enrichment. We often must supplement our regular graduate course offerings with independent study courses or "split-level" courses that combine Master’s and undergraduate students in the same classroom. And we often must develop a menu of degree requirements to satisfy the diverse needs of our students, some of whom wish to write a thesis and enroll in a doctoral program and others who are content to compile a portfolio of their coursework in order to complete a degree that leads to a different career or personal objective.

Clearly, teachers in stand-alone MA programs face considerable challenges when teaching graduate students in a context that may differ substantially from their own graduate experiences in doctoral programs. And yet, as long as the market for tenure-track professors in religious studies remains tight, the long-term health of the field will depend a great deal upon how well it can prepare students to assume a variety of other careers outside academia. Stand-alone MA programs, in this way, occupy an important, although underappreciated, niche in graduate education. Our programs demonstrate that the advanced study of religion can lead not only to doctoral research or a career in ministry, but also facilitate success in other professions and nurture an individual’s personal interests in the subject. And because we are not obliged to train and place doctoral students in the field, we are able to focus more attention on teaching Master of Arts students and helping them to define and meet their various educational goals.

Our reflection on issues of teaching and learning in stand-alone MA programs in religious studies begins with the essay by Kent L. Brintnall, who discusses the need for teachers to consider the distinctive contexts and goals of their MA students when designing a course or mentoring their advisees. He urges us to consider the diversity of student background and objectives in stand-alone MA programs, and also to resist the temptation of viewing them as "little doctoral students."

The next several essays deal with approaches used in courses that are regularly offered in MA programs in religious studies. Liz Wilson examines the topic of "split-level" courses, which necessitate having to develop ways to engage both undergraduate and master’s students in a single classroom. She outlines some of the challenges as well as benefits of teaching such courses, giving special consideration to how a teacher can facilitate peer-level mentoring to take place among the students. Carolyn M. Jones Medine picks up the same theme of split-level courses and focuses on a teaching strategy whereby she assigns master’s and undergraduate students to form reading communities that are tasked with analyzing selected excerpts from texts and forming interpretations in collaboration with each other. Turning attention to the "capstone course," William Lindsey discusses a new approach that he and his colleagues are developing for the purpose of improving student learning. Rather than offer a single capstone course on theory and method in religion, he advocates developing a number of "critical issues seminars" that give MA students repeated exposure to certain methodological perspectives and theoretical models in the context of coursework that is organized around selected topics. Split-level and capstone courses often form critical parts of the curriculum in stand-alone MA programs, and these essays model important reflections on how to improve the teaching and learning that take place in these contexts.

In addition to regular course offerings, stand-alone MA programs sometimes incorporate additional components to meet student needs. One such feature that figures prominently is the independent study course, which helps stand-alone MA programs to expand upon their typical menu of course offerings. Holly Gayley shares information about how she has developed additional language courses at her university to equip her students with a skill needed for advanced research in the field. Borrowing from the model of Directed Independent Language Study (DILS), she shows how it is possible for stand-alone MA programs with limited numbers of faculty and students to offer less commonly taught languages as a part of their curricula. Another component that can be featured in stand-alone MA programs is pedagogical training for Master’s students. Brian C. Wilson and Stephen G. Covell discuss how their institution has developed a program to train MA students how to teach effectively. Through mentoring and enrollment in a semester-long course on pedagogy, their MA students are able to develop their own teaching skills that they can put to use in introductory undergraduate courses and in their future careers.

Given that not every student who enrolls in a stand-alone MA program intends to go on for a doctorate, it is particularly important for us to equip our students with skills to succeed in a variety of vocations. Andrea L. Stanton discusses how her program is developing a community engagement/service learning component for MA students. In response to a university mandate, they are launching a course to train MA students in grant writing as a form of research and community engagement. Such training may prove helpful to MA students for developing their research and intellectual skills, as well as for seeking various types of employment.

Finally, as students approach the end of an MA program in religious studies, they are often made to complete some large project to fulfill the requirements of their degree. The “exit rituals” used by stand-alone MA programs can differ somewhat, but there is often a written thesis that can be required or optional for students. Martha L. Finch discusses some tips on how to help MA students to finish their theses. She focuses particularly on the technique of holding MA thesis-writing workshops, in which Master’s students write, present, and collectively discuss one another’s work, while adhering to a timeline that leads them closer to completing their theses.

Each of these essays reveals significant insights into how stand-alone MA programs can enhance the education of their students while responding to the realities of diverse student populations and limited faculty or institutional resources. Despite these challenges, the teachers who work in stand-alone MA programs display the dedication and creativity to enhance the value of a Master’s degree in religious studies, which will likely become an increasingly important degree in this field, as it has in many others.

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