College Launches New Accelerated Masters of Science in Nutrition and Revises Curriculum for Existing Accelerated Programs in Health Administration, Health Informatics, and Public Health

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Accelerated programs offer highly qualified students a faster and more and cost-effective path to master’s degrees.

Accelerated bachelor to master’s academic degree programs offer academically motivated undergraduates a faster and more cost-effective pathway to earn a master's degree in a specialized field of study to advance their career goals.

The College is pleased to announce the launch of a new accelerated Master of Science in Nutrition and upgrades to three existing accelerated master’s degree programs: the Master of Health Administration, the Master of Science in Health Informatics, and the Master of Public Health. The nutrition, health informatics, and public health accelerated degree programs are open to undergraduates from any discipline/major. 

Upon admission to one of the four accelerated master’s degree programs, undergraduates can complete up to 12 graduate credits during their junior and senior years which can be applied to both their undergraduate and graduate degrees. In addition, students may earn up to 6 additional reserve credits of graduate coursework while finishing their undergraduate degree program. 

“The College is committed to offering high quality, affordable, accelerated master’s degree programs for students who interested in pursuing advanced degrees at George Mason,” said Robert Weiler, senior associate dean for academic affairs. “The revised curriculum allows students to complete the master’s degree in less time and is less costly. One of the best features of the program is that undergraduates pay undergraduate tuition for graduate course credits until they matriculated into their master’s program. This is a win-win for students and for the College in our efforts to retain talented students throughout their graduate studies.

“The new accelerated master’s degree in Nutrition provides students with extensive experiential learning opportunities while allowing them to complete their graduate studies in less time and at cost savings,” said Lilian de Jonge, associate professor and director for nutrition programs. “The need for dieticians and nutritionists continues to increase. Our program prepares students to engage in further study for research careers in nutrition and for careers in organizations that seek to improve nutrition at the local, national, and global level.”

"The existing accelerated health informatics program attracted the best students within the field, and we are excited to open the revised program to students from all other majors. This is an important step towards reinforcing a strong health informatics presence at Mason," said Janusz Wojtusiak, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy and program director for health informatics.

“The accelerated MHA program benefits healthcare delivery overall by providing employers with job candidates that have administrative competence faster. The ability to fulfill this need is critical as we enter a post-pandemic era where the application of cutting-edge leadership knowledge is required,” said Brenda Sheingold, associate professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy and program director for health administration and policy.
 
Mason undergraduates who have completed at least 60 credits toward their bachelor’s degree and no more than 100 credits toward the degree are eligible to apply to accelerated programs. To learn more about these programs and degree offerings, 
please see this page.