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Because each student’s situation is unique, the Master of Arts Program provides each one a great deal of flexibility in designing his or her own community-based graduate program. Prescott College is accredited to grant the Master of Arts degree in five broadly defined programs of study: Adventure Education, Counseling and Psychology, Education, Environmental Studies and Humanities. Students are able to design individualized programs (concentrations or emphases) within each degree area. Below are examples of concentrations and emphases that Prescott College MAP students have completed. Many more are possible; the options are extensive. The MAP faculty will work with the student to find a suitable graduate advisor for each individualized program of study. MAP students are expected to take an integral approach to graduate study and to consider the relevance of social and ecological issues within their field.
Adventure Education
The Adventure Education program provides students the opportunity to pursue studies that cover a range of outdoor and adventure-based programming opportunities. Areas of study may include:
- school and college curricula
- community recreation programs
- social action
- guiding and outfitting
- corrections and therapeutic adventure
- earth-based studies
- rites of passage
- ecopsychology
- integral studies
- nature spirituality
Adventure Education (AE) students create study plans according to their specific interests and backgrounds, emphasizing technical skills, program design, and administration, or focusing on specific populations, processes, or environments. Coursework may include experiential and adventure education, leadership training, wilderness travel, safety and risk management, environmental education, special education programming, challenge course facilitation, and corporate teambuilding. Students may also wish to take coursework in counseling theories, group facilitation, human growth and development, adventure therapy, ecopsychology, and ecotherapy to more ably bring these perspectives and approaches into their work with diverse populations and different educational or therapeutic settings. These courses could lead to a concentration in therapeutic applications of adventure education.
Students in this program should have several years of experience in wilderness backpacking and, preferably, competence in at least one technical activity-based skill such as mountaineering, rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, ropes course facilitation, or sailing. Experience working in the field and strong skills in interpersonal communication and group facilitation are recommended. Students are expected to continue their skill development and expand their experience base while engaged in MAP. First aid training and certification is required for all leaders in this field.
Click here for faculty contact information for the Adventure Education program.
 View the brochure.
Concentration in Therapeutic Applications of Adventure Education
MAP students working in therapeutic applications of adventure education will prepare themselves to employ adventure-based theories and techniques in settings that focus on non-clinical counseling methodologies. This focus was created to enrich professional adventure educators’ depth and breadth of knowledge and skills in working with the affective needs of individuals and groups. It will enrich adventure educators’ applied integration of counseling theories and group dynamics, and human development. The concentration is available at various levels, depending on students’ previous experience in combination with their academic and career goals. Therapeutic applications of adventure education is not a clinical licensure degree path.
View the Adventure Based Counseling brochure.
Concentration in Integral Adventure Education
An integral approach to Adventure Education seeks to bring the broadest range of perspectives, intentions, and strategies to the transformational learning potential of adventure experiences. Examining these situations through the reflective filters of individual development, social interaction, and external behaviors and expressions, unfolds and probes the relationship among humans and between humans and nature. This combination of inner and outer realms of being is a primary focus of this concentration. Each adventure encounter or connection has multiple levels of interpretation that help identify the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components to provide a more holistic, integrative, transformative, and transmodernist understanding of its potential value.
Adventure experiences provide a practice ground and reflective context in which to explore the four dimensions of human experience—the individual or collective, the internal or the external—to more effectively address issues and needs through programs or approaches that support integral sustainable developmental structures. The works of Ken Wilber, Robert Kegan, Andy Fisher, Don Beck, Christopher Cowan, Jenny Wade, Chris Bache, and others provide a rich context for this exploration.
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Counseling
and Psychology
The M.A. in Counseling and Psychology students allows students to prepare to sit for state licensing exams. Students must design their study plans to meet the academic licensure requirements for specific state or provincial licensing boards. Counseling and Psychology students may focus on specific concentrations such as:
- adventure-based psychotherapy
- equine-assisted mental health
- expressive arts therapy
- somatic psychology
Students may also focus on many aspects of counseling and psychology pertaining to specific populations or cultures, such as:
- ecopsychology
- ecotherapy
- lesbian and gay issues in counseling
- child development
- grief counseling
- forensic psychology
- criminal psychology
- career counseling
- educational counseling
- adolescent psychology
- the psychology of women
- African-American psychology
Students who are interested in a non-clinical, more theoretical aspect of the field of psychology may study this within the Humanities program.
Concentrations
We are pleased to offer several specific concentrations for consideration in addition to Counseling and Psychology certification/licensure. Many students include their special interests in their degree design for counseling and psychology. By combining the following concentrations with the state certification courses, a student will be well prepared to enter into several fields. We have Associate Faculty with expertise in each of the following areas that oversee these concentrations. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with them to discuss your personal interest and degree design. In addition, if you have any other concentration that you are looking to pursue, please contact admissions with your proposed ideas and we can discuss how to implement them into a Prescott College Master's degree.
Concentration in Counseling Psychology
Required curriculum for Study Plan
Concentration in Adventure-Based Psychotherapy
This concentration is designed to train professional psychotherapists who specialize in adventure-based intervention with clinical populations. Graduates possess competencies in both conventional psychotherapy and adventure therapy, including wilderness leadership (as desired), and are employable across a range of settings from the educational to the clinical. Students are required to pursue the appropriate state licensure for professional counseling or marriage and family therapy as an integral aspect of their whole study plan.
In keeping with the essence of the Master of Arts Program, this concentration is intended for the self-directed, adult learner who comes with some background in either mental health or outdoor education, and wishes to become proficient in the applied integration of the two fields. Areas of necessary self-directed coursework may (depending on state licensing requirements) include: human development, group dynamics, theories of counseling, counseling skills, multi-cultural foundations, professional ethics, helping relationships, career counseling, social and lifestyle issues, psychopharmacology, trauma and addiction, psychopathology, diagnosis and treatment planning, and research and evaluation.
Additional course content areas for this concentration include history and theory of adventure-based psychotherapy, therapeutic facilitation skills, risk management, in-depth theory study and wilderness as healing place.
Interwoven throughout the ongoing coursework is experiential development of outdoor activity skills (including the Wilderness First Responder first aid training), as well as a 700-hour (minimum) applied practicum in both adventure-based and conventional settings. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this emerging area of study, most students should expect to spend a minimum of five terms (2 1/2 years, full-time) completing this degree concentration. The Prescott College transcript for the graduate with this specialization will indicate a degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Adventure-Based Psychotherapy.
Required curriculum for Study Plan
Click here for faculty contact information in the Adventure Based Psychotherapy program.
View the ABP brochure.
Concentration in Expressive Art Therapy
This degree is designed for the student who wishes to become an expressive art therapist with a solid foundation in both the expressive arts and psychology. This program is designed to meet the education standards of the American Art Therapy Association and the requirements for licensure with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health. Students seeking licensure in other states must make sure that their degree program covers the necessary requirements of the licensing board in their state.
Courses for expressive art therapy include the history, theory, and practice of the expressive art therapies, including art, movement, drama, journaling, and the appropriate use of music. Students are required to attend two of Prescott College’s Expressive Art Therapy Summer Institutes, which take place in July and offer workshops related to expressive art therapies. The fee for these institutes is not included in the MAP tuition.
Those wishing to pursue movement therapy will be paired with an advisor who is also a registered movement therapist with the American Dance Association. Those wishing to become art therapists will be assigned an advisor who is a Registered Art Therapist. In both cases students will have the opportunity to explore both art and movement therapy plus drama and role play with an experienced therapist in these modalities. Each advisor will also be certified or licensed as a counselor, social worker, marriage and family therapist, or psychologist. The estimated length of this concentration is 2 ½ to 3 years.
Required curriculum for Study Plan
Click here for faculty contact information in Expressive Art Therapy
View the EAT brochure.
Information about the Art Therapy Summer Institute
Concentration in Equine Assisted Mental Health
This concentration allows students seeking licensure or certification as a psychotherapist or in counseling and psychology to develop competence in the rapidly evolving field of equine-assisted mental health. In addition to the established core requirements designed for professional licensure, this coursework explores the theoretical understanding, ethical issues, facilitation skills, and relational equine skills crucial for mastery in this area of counseling. The estimated length of this program is 2 ½ years (five semesters). In addition to the MAP required residencies, equine-assisted mental health students also attend at least one four-day workshop per semester following regularly scheduled colloquia. These workshops are an opportunity for the students to gain hands-on experience in equine-assisted mental health and are coordinated with the required colloquia to reduce travel expenses for students. The cost for each workshop covers room and board for Sunday through Wednesday and is in addition to the MAP tuition. Workshop fees can be covered by financial aid.
Required curriculum for Study Plan
Click here for faculty contact information in Equine Assisted Mental Health
View the EAMH brochure.
View the recent Transitions feature.
Information about the EAMH Program
Post-graduate Concentration in Equine-assisted Mental Health or Equine-assisted Learning
This post-graduate concentration is designed for the licensed counseling professional who would like the opportunity to develop a concentration in equine-assisted mental health or equine-assisted learning. This is a one-year, 15 credit, limited residency program comprised of four courses, a practicum, and four residential colloquia and intensive training workshops. The coursework explores the theoretical understanding, ethical issues, facilitation skills, and relational equine skills crucial for mastery in this area of counseling.
Concentration in Somatic Psychology
This concentration prepares students for licensure and also provides a complement to the student’s training program of choice in body/mind psychotherapy. Somatic psychology offers a powerful way to access material that cannot be accessed verbally. Our bodies carry within them our stories and our history. It is through this work that one can become aware of these stories and re-create them to provide for healing, growth, and positive change in one’s life. Insight in ourselves that is stuck in our bodies can provide useful tools to re-structuring and re-framing one’s habitual patterns in life.
This five-semester concentration includes theory and praxis, preparing graduates for licensure as Professional Counselors (LPC) or Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) in the state of Arizona. Students may adjust the design of their program to meet the certification or licensure requirements of other states and provinces.
The program requires that a student obtain expertise in a body/mind modality prior to, during, or after enrollment at Prescott College. It is expected that this expertise be in reputable training programs such as the Rubenfeld Synergy training or Rising Phoenix yoga training, etc. These programs will be approved by the MAP faculty and must have standards of practice, an ethical code, and a national board, and be respected in the field of body/mind psychotherapy.
Prescott College encourages students to explore the full range of effective, cutting-edge practices developing in the field of somatic psychology. MAP faculty work with student sand their advisors to encourage integration of best practices as students develop their personal style and mastery. Required courses for the somatic psychology concentration include: history and theory of somatic psychology; standards of practice/ethical issues in somatic psychology; somatic assessment and movement analysis; recent literature and research in somatic psychology; history and practice of movement therapy; and a somatic psychology practicum.
In addition to the MAP required residencies, somatic psychology students also attend two week-long fall institutes in Prescott. These institutes are opportunities for the students to gain hands-on experience in somatic psychology, and they are coordinated with the required colloquia to reduce travel expenses for students. The fee for these fall institutes is separate from the MAP tuition.
Required curriculum for Study Plan
View the Somatic Psychology brochure.
Information on Somatic Psychology Fall Institute
Other possible concentrations
Marriage and Family Therapy
Eco-Psychology
Hypnotherapy
Grief Counseling
Child Development
Lesbian and Gay Issues in Counseling
and many more
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Education
Students interested in the broad interdisciplinary field of Education will design programs enabling them to gain general knowledge and experience in both educational theory and practice in formal and non-formal settings, and in a particular area of special interest. Many students pursue interests in broad non-formal aspects of education, such as experiential education, environmental education, adult learning in education, multicultural education, and global/international education. Alternatively, some students elect the Master of Arts Program’s well-developed and state-approved certification programs that include standards-based Pre-K-12 teacher certifications and guidance counseling.
Education students are expected to expand their learning beyond what has been considered traditional education toward successful experiential, holistic, transformative, or community-based models. Students in this field seek degree foci with a wide variety of emphases, including the following:
- border issues in education
- environmental education
- community-based leadership and education
- interdisciplinary, academic, and creative writing
- social justice in education
- expressive arts in learning
- nonprofit education
- sustainability education
- critical pedagogy
- literacy
- curriculum design
- education leadership in institutions of higher learning
- organized development and education
- English language instruction (both within the U.S. and abroad)
- bilingual education
- early childhood education
- place-based education
Click here for faculty contact information in the Education program.
Teacher Certification Requirements
Concentration in Experiential Education
This concentration is for students who wish to become innovative educators who ground their educational philosophy in John Dewey’s classical belief that all genuine education comes through experience. Students concentrating in experiential education come from a variety of backgrounds as counselors, program specialists, corporate trainers, education directors in nonprofit and government agencies, potential or current teachers, and administrators. The experiential education concentration is transdisciplinary in nature and mirrors the Prescott College philosophy that assumes students understand that experience is the origin and test of all knowledge.
Students build upon their previous knowledge and background of theories, epistemologies, and methodologies within the field of experiential education. Students research the underlying concepts of experiential education and demonstrate how experiential education can be applied in a wide variety of non-formal and formal educational situations.
Concentration in Multicultural Education
This concentration relates the field of education to the intricate systems of socially constructed identity, as they exist within the U.S. paradigm. Students will be expected to examine theoretical foundations within multicultural education as they relate to the dominant culture within the U.S. educational landscape.
This concentration would be appropriate for those students who see themselves activating change in an educational context within the United States. It is designed to prepare teachers and other professionals to assume leadership roles in classrooms, school districts, colleges, universities, and other institutions that have projects, course, and programs related to multicultural education and race relations. Current and prospective educators focusing on this concentration should have a foundation in educational theory and methods as well as some experience in the field of Education. Practicum work is encouraged in a cultural demographic within the U.S. that is substantially different from that of the student. Educators involved in helping school districts move from segregated to effectively integrated educational environments will also benefit from the concentration.
Concentration in Global and International Education
Students pursuing this concentration may envision their future work occurring in international schools, overseas immersion programs, educational start-ups outside the U.S., or numerous other teaching venues outside the United States. This concentration examines many of the numerous complexities involved in working in an international educational context. Students are expected to gain skills in developing, analyzing, implementing, and evaluating new educational programs and policies at educational institutions/organizations or private sector jobs by using cross-cultural perspectives in training employees and researching curriculum development. Students in the global and international education concentration are encouraged to pursue a practicum experience in a country other than their own.
Concentration in Equine-assisted Learning
Students having an interest in working with horses to enhance the learning of people in non-therapeutic contexts will be interested in this area of concentration. Students will build upon their previous experience in relational skills with horses as well as learning theory to develop an appropriate curriculum that is based on socially and ecologically responsible processes. This concentration will focus on human and nonhuman systems and patterns that enhance transformative learning experiences for others. Specific course and practicum requirements will apply.
Education Certification
Students intending to earn education certification as Pre-K-12 teachers or school guidance counselors are encouraged to follow the Prescott College Arizona Department of Education approved program. Credential requirements for various state certifications and endorsements may be incorporated into the student’s individualized program as well.
All certification students may also decide to include research in related areas as part of their credential program. Examples include: multicultural education or global and international education, social justice in education, critical pedagogy, literacy, information technology, student services, environmental education, and experiential education. The Education program is ideal for students who want to focus on a very specific research area that relates to their classroom practice ,administrative focus, or content area, as well as school reform and holistic management perspectives. Teachers who want to advance their credentials in leadership may seek further knowledge in teaching methods, literacy, or standards-based assessment.
Graduate and postgraduate students may earn education certifications through Prescott College’s state-approved standards-based Education Certification Program.
Certification areas include:
- Early Childhood Education
- Elementary Education
- Secondary Education (e.g., English, History, Biology, Art)
- Special Education
- Early Childhood
- Emotionally Disabled
- Learning Disabled
- Mental Retardation
- School Guidance Counseling
Concentration in School Guidance Counseling
Post Graduate Certificate in School Guidance Counseling
This state-approved program is designed for students seeking a School Guidance Counseling credential to work in either Elementary or Secondary school (K-12) settings. Students may fulfill these requirements while earning their master’s degree; or, if already possessing a graduate degree, may complete the requirements for School Guidance Counseling certification as a postgraduate certification. All coursework, field experiences (minimum of 600 clock hours), and assessments are aligned with standards established for School Guidance Counseling. Students are expected to demonstrate academic excellence in educational and guidance counseling principles and experiential strategies involving the K-12 greater learning community (students, parents, teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and non-school community members).
View School Guidance Counseling brochure.
Imagine Education
”Let teaching be your classroom.” Imagine Education is an experiential and standards-based teacher certification graduate program option for students wanting to study theory and methodology in a real world context. This place-based teacher education program requires a foundational year taking courses in Taos, New Mexico while completing an internship with a mentor teacher in schools implementing Expeditionary Learning. Graduate advisors, Stephanie Owens and Scott Laidaw, guide the Imagine Education students as they are immersed in the best practices of teaching at local Taos area schools, implementing the innovative Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound™ model.
Teacher Certification (Fast Track)
Teacher certification students are encouraged to consider combining post-baccalaureate coursework in the Prescott College Adult Degree Program with their graduate study in MAP to earn certification and a master’s degree. This combined program will reduced the cost of earning certification as a part of the graduate degree and will help students to build a professional network that they can draw upon throughout their graduate research.
Fast Track students start with one or two enrollment periods in the Adult Degree Program, completing foundational courses through mentored undergraduate study. Students may then enroll for three additional terms (1 ½ years) in the Master of Arts Program. Students incorporate into their graduate program a specific focus or area of interest within the field of Education.
View Fast Track brochure.
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Environmental
Studies
Environmental Studies is by definition multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in its approach to problem-solving; it acknowledges that environmental concerns crosscut the boundaries of traditional disciplines and require the integration of a broad range of ideas, concepts, practices, and research. Environmental Studies engages students in discovering and understanding Earth’s natural systems and the role of humans who both influence and depend on these systems.
The ultimate aim of the Environmental Studies program is to help develop compassionate, informed, and responsible citizens and scholar-practitioners who are prepared to offer constructive solutions to environmental problems, and to help develop sustainable relationships between people and nature.
First, students are asked to advance their understanding based on a variety of disciplines—from the biological and physical to the psychological and social sciences as well as the humanities—and to utilize these insights to illuminate the interrelationships between humans and non-human nature.
Second, students learn specific skills in critical thinking, in research methods, and in oral and written communication.
Third, students are encouraged to cultivate a philosophical understanding of, and an ethical position regarding, human-nature relationships.
Fourth, students develop their abilities to apply their knowledge to “real-world” situations to prepare them for further learning and meaningful employment.
Finally, Environmental Studies students are invited to continue on their personal path toward integration of the aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual facets of their lives.
Most students who enter the Environmental Studies track have a background in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, environmental advocacy, environmental education, or conservation and/or natural resource management. Environmental Studies students are invited to pursue studies of any aspect of the human-nature relationship. Graduates have completed many individually designed programs in such diverse fields as
- conservation biology
- ecology
- earth sciences
- agroecology
- natural history
- natural resource management
- environmental education
- marine studies
- environmental ethics and philosophy
- environmental history
- ecological restoration
- ecological design
- ethnobotany
Click here for faculty contact information in Environmental Studies.
Concentration in Conservation Ecology and Planning
The focus of this concentration is the study and practice of on-the-ground efforts to protect our planet’s remaining biophysical diversity. Scholar-practitioners with an interest in such interdisciplinary programs as applied ecology, environmental conservation, conservation biology, and/or restoration ecology must be grounded in the natural sciences and understand the sociopolitical context of environmental problems. Students are encouraged to focus on multidimensional conservation, preservation, and restoration issues that integrate ecological science with environmental education, environmental decision-making processes, and natural resource management. Examples of possible focused areas of study and research include biogeography, community-based conservation, riparian and wetland ecology and restoration, conservation and environmental planning, conservation, ecological restoration philosophy, landscape and ecosystem ecology, historical ecology, conservation and environmental policy, wildlife ecology and management, and wilderness and protected-area management.
Concentration in Environmental Education
Master of Arts Program students in either Education or Environmental Studies may pursue a concentration in environmental education. A student’s choice of degree program for this concentration will depend on personal interests, career goals, study plan emphasis, and degree of interest in curriculum development. This concentration is intended for traditional and nontraditional educators who wish to help others develop ecological literacy and explore human and environment interrelationships. Environmental education students have grounded their graduate research in various organizations and programs: public, private, and charter schools; residential nature centers; adventure-based programs: government agencies; and various public education endeavors. Current and prospective environmental educators focusing on this concentration should have a foundation in ecology and natural history, environmental studies, and/or the field of education. The environmental education concentration in MAP includes at least four components that can be given varying degrees of emphasis depending on the students learning and vocational goals:
- education (e.g., learning theories, curriculum design and implementation, experiential methodology, multicultural issues, and assessment praxis);
- natural sciences (e.g., ecology, earth sciences, and natural history);
- human-environment interactions (e.g., environmental history and ethics); and
- environmental stewardship (e.g., ecological conservation and restoration).
View the EE brochure.
EE advising documents are available here.
Concentration in Sustainability Science and Practice
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing us in the twenty-first century is to learn how we can transform human civilization to reflect patterns of sustainability naturally occurring on Earth. A tremendous community-based response has already begun to unfold in a way that spans the disciplines and integrates physical and natural sciences as well as the humanities.
Sustainability is nothing new at Prescott College – we are celebrating our 40th year of experiential education programs focused on issues relating to sustainability. Our Master of Arts Program was designed to give students the opportunity to design their own program for studying sustainability from within their own community. Our unique style of experiential education helps students combine scholarly research, appreciative and critical inquiry, and collaborative learning.
Students are also encouraged to draw from theory-based courses while working on practical applications of their learning in an organization, community, or ecosystem of their choice. This is particularly important for students of sustainability because local communities are increasingly in need of information, tools, skills, and leadership for creating a sustainable future.
Students with a concentration in sustainability science and practice can study in many areas:
- ecological economics
- sustainable community development
- permaculture and agroecology
- environmental management and planning
- alternative energy and renewable resources
- natural resource management
- earth systems science
- environmental justice
- integral studies
- globalization studies
- community and sustainable forestry
- general and living systems theory
- education for sustainability
- participatory research
- planning
Sustainability is about ensuring long-term human health and equitable resource use while also preserving healthy ecosystems, both for the services provided and the intrinsic value of biodiversity sustaining life on Earth. Sustainability integrates complex economic, social, ecological, and even broader perspectives on our relationships with each other and the natural world. It brings together the interests of all plants, animals, and people within any community.
Students concentrating in this area will join in the global discussion about how to balance and integrate diverse needs in a changing world. They will be prepared for community-based action research on how to optimize economic and social conditions while protecting and even enhancing the health and integrity of natural ecosystems. Students are encouraged to draw on a variety of theories and methods from multiple perspectives to build theoretical and practical solutions for sustainable living and planetary care.
Prescott College has strong connections to the larger sustainability movement – many of our students and faculty are active participants in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the U.S. Partnership for the U.N. Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), and other organizations dedicated to sustainability.
Concentration in Social Ecology
This innovative collaboration allows students to work with faculty members from the Institute of Social Ecology (ISE) and participate in the Institute’s activities as a part of their graduate program in Environmental Studies or Humanities at Prescott College. Students design an individualized program of study in consultation with the Environmental Studies or Humanities faculty and a graduate advisor chosen from the ISE faculty.
Possible areas of study may include:
- ecological land use, design, and planning
- ecological and social activism
- social theory,
- ecofeminism and other ecophilosophies
- science and technology studies
- globalization
- community development
- food systems and agricultural policy
- ecological alternatives in education
- environmental issues and politics
- many others, including a broad range of individually-designed interdisciplinary studies
Students will attend the MAP colloquia along with their ISE advisors, and will also have the opportunity to participate in colloquia, conferences, and courses offered by ISE, incorporating these activities into their graduate studies. Student study plans will incorporate key works in the philosophy, science, politics, and praxis of social ecology, which have been central to the ISE’s own curricula over the past three decades.
View the ISE brochure.
Teton Science School’s Graduate Program
The Teton Science School (TSS) is a residential environmental center located in Grand Teton National Park near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. TSS’s Graduate program guides a select community of students through a year-long program in place-based teaching, field science, and outdoor leadership. This innovative program integrates academic coursework with an intensive mentored teaching practicum. The 50-week experiential program encompasses a unique breadth of courses, such as community ecology of the greater Yellowstone geoecosystem, teaching in a winter environment, and advanced instructional strategies. TSS students are also regularly exposed to visiting scholars and writers. Through a collaborative agreement between the Master of Arts Program and the TSS Graduate Program, TSS graduates are able to transfer up to 15 semester credits toward an M.A. from Prescott College in either Environmental Studies or Education. The TSS enrollment begins in August.
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Humanities
The Humanities program provides opportunities for students to develop individually designed, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary studies in four major academic areas: the traditional humanities (arts and letters); cultural studies; business and management; and other social sciences. Humanities students are encouraged to develop individualized study areas that incorporate cultural, historical, philosophical, political, and social aspects of their disciplines and work. There are extensive possibilities for academic disciplines within which the humanities degree can be focused, and is true in all MAP degree programs, any disciplinary focus can include a specific concentration or emphasis. Following is an overview of the academic disciplines within which one could focus a humanities degree, as well as possibilities for areas of concentration or emphasis.
Students in traditional humanities can complete individualized programs in a wide range of disciplines. A creative writing concentration might emphasize fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, journalism, technical writing, or environmental writing. Literature students might choose to study an era or genre of literature or a critical focus such as eco-literacy or postcolonial literature and criticism. In the visual arts, students can concentrate in art history, art education, or art theory; any of these areas might include a studio focus such as photography, sculpture, or painting. In addition, students can programs in other arts and letters disciplines, including photojournalism, theater, media studies, video or film theory or production, and dance.
A cultural studies focus can include such specific areas as geography, language or literature, or social relationships. Cultural studies often concentrate on a specific people, place, or time, such as popular culture, African-American studies, Dine' culture, language preservation, history of the Southwest, Spanish, international studies, sociology, historic preservation, and so on. Many disciplines in cultural studies focus on a particular aspect of human identity such as class studies or working-class studies; gender, queer, gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender, or sexuality studies; or women’s or men’s studies. Many Prescott College students focus on one of the disciplines within cultural studies that are based on social and ecological responsibility, such as political science, international development, sustainable community development, globalism and economics, social sustainability solidarity studies, conflict resolution, social ecology, dialogical ecology, justice and activism studies, or peace studies.
A humanities focus on business and management can include an emphasis on organizational development, human resources, marketing, health care administration or management, public or business administration, economics, international development, globalism and economics, or sustainable business practices.
The Humanities program is rounded out with its inclusion of the social sciences. Students can concentrate their studies in the fields of anthropology and archaeology. Many options are possible within the large framework of philosophy, mythology, and spirituality, including religious studies, eco-feminism, cosmology, dialogical ecology, spiritual studies, comparative religions, and theology. It is also possible within Humanities to focus a degree on some non-clinical areas in psychology such as wellness, gerontology, ecopsychology, depth psychology, forensic psychology, spiritual psychology, or psychology of women.
Click here for faculty contact information in Humanities
Concentration in Justice, Activism, and Solidarity
Prescott College requires its graduate students to develop social and ecological literacies, which results in students considering how their particular discipline specifically and responsibly engenders social justice, solidarity, or environmental justice. Students with a concentration in social justice, activism, or solidarity often focus their work on some aspect of human social and cultural life, such as the sociopolitical dimensions and dynamics of culture and power, or the social constructs of race, gender, and class. Students can also pursue an interest in environmental justice as it relates to the intersections of the natural and non-human environment with human and social environments. Students in MAP may design their program to include the history of social activism as it relates to their own work, or to include careful consideration of the concept of being in service to social justice, environmental justice, coalition building, and solidarity. This emphasis can be completed as a specific academic discipline within a cultural studies framework, for example a Humanities degree in justice and activism or solidarity studies. It can also be the emphasis given to a program within any discipline, for example a Humanities degree in U.S. history with an emphasis on social justice movements.
Concentration in Green/Sustainable Business
Sustainability, which originated in response to a historical conflict between economic development and environmental conservation concerns itself with developing systems that sustain life. The matter of sustainability is at the heart of all life, and students can develop a curriculum framed by ideological, philosophical, or practical applications of sustainability in any aspect of humanities, cultural studies, philosophy and religious studies, social sciences, and business. A focus on green or sustainable business practices is for those individuals working in the corporate or small business world who want to balance business success with environmental responsibility. Successful business leaders in the future must integrate environmental and social responsibility. Successful business leaders in the future must integrate environmental and social responsibility into their operations using approaches that support healthy and profitable business practices. A business management student might construct a business plan that would integrate organizational models and systems based on a solid theoretical understanding and application of sustainability. Students with a concentration in green or sustainable business commit a portion of their theoretical coursework to gaining an understanding of the ongoing work on environmental sustainability and existing theory and practice.
Concentration in Visual Arts
The visual arts concentration is intended for technically proficient artists; successful applicants have solid grounding in the materials and techniques of traditional or non-traditional media. Students commit to bringing depth to their work through advanced study and application of art criticism, art theory, and art history. The concentration focuses on the study of historical, theoretical, and critical concepts, integrating them with dedicated studio work through the development of personal vision, creativity, and expression. Visual arts students give attention to the development and verbal and visual articulation of content inspired by social, cultural, or environmental concerns. As a low-residency program, the MAP visual arts concentration differs from the Master of Fine Arts degree in that it is not a studio-based degree, but rather a theoretical degree with a studio emphasis. Students wishing to pursue a degree with a visual arts concentration must have access to a studio where they can create art and practice all techniques or media studied. Students are encouraged to participate in art institutes, residencies, and apprenticeships. The heart of this concentration is the expectation that students focus on art theory while delving deeply into the actual content of their work and integrating concepts as visual statements in a chosen art form or medium.
Concentration in Creative or Expressive Arts
The concepts and practices of expression and creativity extend far beyond the study of art history and theory, or the practice of various art techniques and media, to a realm where art and aesthetics are explored as an integral and integrative component of life and community. The study of expression, creativity, and art is encompassing myriad outlets that range from the traditional visual and literary arts as well as dance, music, and performance, to include aesthetic considerations such as architecture, landscape, and community development and planning. The expressive arts are used both therapeutically and in non-therapeutic manners that are beneficial to the wellness and sustainability of individuals, businesses, and community. Development and expression of art and creativity benefit the mind, body, and spirit, and enhance human experiences both personally and professionally. A concentration in creative arts or expressive arts can prepare one for a job facilitating or teaching creativity and the arts through expressive arts consulting, community art centers, wellness centers, and more. This concentration can be designed to correspond with the developing requirements for the Registered Expressive Arts Consultant/Educator through the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association.
Concentration in History
History includes more than collective memory. Students concentrating in history seek to understand a complex interpretation of the past that accounts for multiple perspectives. For instance, students in environmental history might study the changes and continuities over time in the metaphors that various peoples have used to describe their relationships with their surroundings. A student of the history of the American West might consider how particular patterns of gender communication in a given community affected the social and economic structures of that community. A student of Native American history might try to explain both enduring traditions and changing circumstances by drawing on a broad range of oral and written sources, music and dance performances, and artifacts. One goal of this concentration is innovation – to look to the past for diverse alternatives to the present, to collect testimony from other times, and to recompose this testimony into narrative.
Concentration in Nature, Gender, and Spirituality
This concentration enables students to pursue studies related to ecology, feminism, and religion. These three interpretive lenses provide an interdisciplinary prism for asking critical questions about a wide range of topics, from ecofeminism to sacred geography and from nature mysticism to the green future of religions. Possible questions include: How do gendered power relations interact with environmental policies? How might practices of contemplation and conservation inform one another? How are philosophies of the cosmos gendered? What can feminism bring to environmental ethics? The goal of this concentration is to bring into conversation with one another three topics usually studied separately in order to gain tools for living sustainability while practicing social justice and engaged spirituality.
Concentration in Spirituality
MAP students may focus their work on customary academic disciplines relating to spirituality, such as comparative religions or theology, or other interdisciplinary and distinctive aspects of spirituality. Students with a concentration in spirituality have focused their work on the intersections of spirituality and sociology, by examining issues of social justice or spiritual direction in conjunction with a combination of global theologies. Some students complete holistic programs that examine the intersections of the spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental through scholarship relating to forms of self-development; such as a comparative study of yoga or tai chi, various forms of meditation, and transpersonal psychology. Emphases may include a study and practice of the world’s sacred texts and traditions, women’s spiritual traditions, spiritual psychology, interfaith studies, contemplative spirituality, cosmology, or liberation theology. In addition, students may be able to combine their MAP studies with a residential program such as an interfaith or non-denominational seminary. MAP students can apply to and work with the School of Spiritual Psychology concurrent with MAP to earn a Humanities degree in spiritual psychology.
Concentration in Border Studies
The U.S.-Mexico border is a dynamic, transnational region experiencing the direct impacts of global change. Border regions offer cutting edge learning environments for students interested in understanding connections between local cultures, economies, environments, and processes of globalization. The Prescott College concentration in border studies offers access to networks of scholars as well as hands-on experience working with community, social justice, environmental, and cultural organizations in the U.S.-Mexico border region. With bio-regional centers in Tucson, Arizona and Kino Bay, Sonora, and a program for Indigenous educators, Prescott College’s border studies concentration supports applied scholarship and community-based action research that offers students opportunities to learn directly from and work with the experts: the communities most affected by globalization and leading movements for social, environmental, and economic justice in the region. In addition to a Humanities or cultural studies approach to border studies, this concentration may also be carried out in Education or Environmental Studies.
The Martin Buber Institute for Dialogical Ecology
Dialogical ecology is a concept that describes the confluence point between the philosophies of Martin Buber, Zen Buddhism, aspects of Indigenous spiritual traditions, and religious Existentialism. When it comes to issues in environmental philosophy and ethics, Buber’s I-Thou philosophy and some aspects of Zen relate with each other in a variety of intrinsic and interconnected ways. What emerges from this is an ecological approach rooted in dialogical relationship with the whole of being. A dialog between these philosophical and religious traditions yields a new and profound approach to our understanding, ethical approach, and global relationship with nature and with the whole of being. The Martin Buber Institute for Dialogical Ecology (MBIDE) offers a number of core courses that may be taken in residency. Through a collaborative agreement between the Master of Arts Program and MBIDE, students can attend courses offered by MBIDE and then transfer up to 15 graduate credits into Prescott College’s Master of Arts Program for a degree with a concentration in dialogical ecology.
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