Pacific Index

Amy Tracewell spills the details on Pacific’s Master of Nonprofit Leadership Program 

“What this program does is help bring out who you’re meant to be, so that you can have the courage to tackle the world,” explains the Director of Master of Nonprofit Leadership Program Amy Tracewell. “I want to play a role in stewarding this program so it exists, so people like you can have the strength and courage to take on the challenges of tomorrow.” 

Over the past three years Pacific has had a fully online, 13-month Master of Nonprofit Leadership (MNL) program that helps its students efficiently gain the skills to manage public service organizations. “Three years ago, Jaycee Whitehead, the now current undergraduate dean, approached me and said, ‘hey Amy, I’m thinking about developing a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership,’” recalls Tracewell. As a previous employee for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO), Tracewell was just the person to go to for help with this program’s development. 

Tracewell helped connect Whitehead with the Executive Director of NAO Jim White to design the curriculum and even procured a grant for the program’s development. “I helped get the grant, I helped put together the program, and then I decided to take the inaugural cohort and be in the class,” Tracewell details. “It’s made for working professionals. The classes are from four to seven at night, so you can take the full load Wednesdays and Thursdays and get your advanced degree in 13 months.”

Midway through Tracewell’s first year in the program, the interim director who had started the program decided it was time for him to retire. This led Tracewell to throw her hat into the mix of applicants and apply for the position. “I graduated in January of ’24 on a Friday and the following Monday I started in this position,” she says with a smile. 

The cool thing about Pacific’s MNL program is that it was born for practitioners. “A lot of master’s degrees for nonprofits are sometimes tucked underneath the college of business or a planning degree,” Tracewell reveals. “This one grew up out of the school of social sciences, and it was meant to be for practitioners and people who want to make a difference with their life and their career.” 

Some students may hear the word ‘nonprofit’ and assume that their intended careers can’t intersect, but Tracewell doesn’t see it that way. “You might not be graduating from here thinking, ‘I want a career in nonprofits,’” says Tracewell. “Everyone who graduates from Pacific might find themselves, no matter what their skill sets, working in a nonprofit.” Tracewell gives the example of an accounting major, explaining how all nonprofits have money and need people to manage their books and grants. 

While that’s a fairly straightforward example, there’s a never-ending variety of nonprofit organizations which all require different skills—many which can be found in Pacific’s curriculum. “It’s just a type of business you might find yourself in, and if you find yourself in there then this program helps you learn how to advance in that ecosystem,” she affirms. 

For students who curious about how nonprofits can intersect with their desired careers, Tracewell urges them to look for nonprofit focused courses offered at the undergraduate level in the coming year. She also excitedly shares, “I’m working on a way for juniors and seniors to take some graduate level courses enrolled as an undergraduate and then come into the program and finish it in like six months.” 

While this pathway isn’t yet available, Tracewell is working very hard to make the MNL program have more of a presence on campus. “Any student who wants to develop a pathway, and a career, and a life of purpose…I want people to feel free to reach out to me.” 

The only prerequisite needed to take this program is a bachelor’s degree, and that degree can be in any field. It’s a program for all, even students who didn’t originally set out with a nonprofit career in-mind. “This program is a way to build your leadership skills and prepare you for work in a sector that has doing good as it’s core promise,” concludes Tracewell.