GRADUATE PROGRAMS
In recent years, all eligible MA students in Religious Studies have received funding that includes a stipend and tuition waiver.
Graduate Study
Our curriculum supports student learning in four areas of focus: the Study of Religion; Religion, Race, and Change; Religion, Gender, and Sexuality; and Religion, Health, and Humanity.
Alongside Religious Studies courses in these areas, students engage in meaningful work in internships and through classes in other departments. Our applied approach to the study of religion means that students graduate having practiced a number of key career skills, such as global and intercultural fluency, critical thinking and problem solving, oral and written communication, and professionalism and leadership. Students in our program also have opportunities to network with our alumni, who have gone on to careers as nonprofit executives, healthcare professionals, academic faculty and staff, K-12 teachers, lawyers and entrepreneurs.
Our graduate students are:
- diverse: they come from a variety of professional and personal backgrounds.
- engaged: they attend and present at regional and national Religious Studies conferences.
- enthusiastic: they contribute to the life of the Department through the Religious Studies Student Forum, Brownbag Presentations, and the annual Symposium.
Graduates of our program:
- have been admitted to doctoral programs at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Brown, Virginia, Chicago, Berkeley, Emory and Duke.
- pursue careers in education, non-profit management, law, and business.
- return to established careers with a better understanding of religion and culture.
Master of Arts in Religious Studies
Concentration in Nonprofit Management
Students in the Concentration in Nonprofit Management will develop expertise in both nonprofit management skills and diverse cultural systems that will prepare them uniquely for service in metropolitan Atlanta as well as in national and international nonprofit organizations. Students who graduate from this unique program will have the requisite cultural training in Religious Studies as well as the preparation for employment in a nonprofit agency.
The Program is:
- singular: there’s no other program like it in the state of Georgia;
- collaborative: Religious Studies and the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies designed a program that prepares students for careers in the non-profit world; and
- focused on theory, method and practice: students gain an understanding of the world’s religions and complete an internship in their areas of interest as part of the course requirements.
Concentration in Religion and Aging
Students who successfully complete the M.A. of Religious Studies with a Concentration in Religion and Aging will be able to employ the theories and methods acquired in their study of religions and aging to craft a final research project in which they:
- Identify relationships between the study of religions and aging significant to their own research interests and career objectives; and
- Articulate those relationships in a graduate-level research project that fulfills the M.A. with a Concentration in Religion and Aging degree requirement.
Writing a Thesis
Students who choose to write a thesis will have the opportunity to work closely with a committee of faculty members on the research project of their choosing. Many of our graduate students go on to publish their thesis or expand the ideas they explore into a larger research project.
Contact Us
The Department of Religious Studies
Office Hours (Available Remotely):
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Office Hours (In Person):
By appointment
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Director of Graduate Studies / Department Chair
Department Specialist
Department Specialist
Office/Delivery Address
Department of Religious Studies
Georgia State University
25 Park Place, Suite 1700
Atlanta, GA 30303
Mailing Address:
Department of Religious Studies
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3994
Atlanta, GA 30302-3994