The Department of Religious Studies prepares students to lead social change and navigate cultural differences. Religious Studies offers a wide variety of classes in global religious and cultural knowledge and a one-of-a-kind Nonprofit Leadership career track.
Individual attention from award-winning faculty & staff and advisors.
Program is dedicated to deepening your understanding of religious phenomena, and broadening your global cultural knowledge.
Religious Studies will help you on your path to a future career in Nonprofit and NGO leadership.
This interdisciplinary degree prepares students for leadership in nonprofit, philanthropic, and community-based sectors. Students develop intercultural competence, strategic thinking, and practical skills for creating meaningful social change at local and global levels.
Learning about religions means that you understand different cultures and develop a more global perspective. Religious Studies is the ideal major for those who seek a career in international & interdisciplinary fields.
The Concentration in Nonprofit Leadership is unique at Michigan State University, that will appear on your official transcript, and that gives you additional career options available only as a Religious Studies major at Michigan State University.
To study religion is to develop cultural knowledge that will be of value both to you and to your future employer. We offer minors in both Religious Studies & Religion in the Americas.
Our professional degree programs train and empower nonprofit leaders to tackle local and global challenges through an ethical lens while building intercultural competence and knowledge of human and ecological systems.
Learning about religions means that you understand different cultures and develop a more global perspective. Religious Studies is the ideal major for those who seek a career in international & interdisciplinary fields.
The Concentration in Nonprofit Leadership is unique at Michigan State University, that will appear on your official transcript, and that gives you additional career options available only as a Religious Studies major at Michigan State University.
To study religion is to develop cultural knowledge that will be of value both to you and to your future employer. We offer minors in both Religious Studies & Religion in the Americas.
Our Global Nonprofit Leadership M.A. is offered 100% online and our competency and knowledge-based curriculum allows you to build on your previous knowledge and experience while learning in a unique five-week course sequence that builds your skills and knowledge.
Nonprofit Leadership
What is Religious Studies?
“My emphasis on Nonprofit Leadership has given me immense perspective about how to help bring people together using the skills learned throughout my Religious Studies major, including learning about people’s beliefs and traditions.”
Liv Swanton
Religious Studies Major with Nonprofit Leadership Focus
The Farmscapes to Forests: Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research Artists-in-Residence Program is entering its fifth year, featuring Kalamazoo-based visual artist Ellen VanderMyde as the 2026 Artist-in-Residence and the debut of the program’s first group exhibition showcasing the work of last year’s cohort of Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters artists.
The Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University celebrated undergraduate excellence at its 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium and Awards Ceremony on April 17, recognizing students whose academic achievements and community commitments reflect the department’s core values. Three students — Alliah Woodside, Emma Wilkins, and Avery Riehl — were each presented with awards at the event for their outstanding achievements.
Four College of Arts & Letters faculty have been selected as this year’s recipients of the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities in recognition of their exemplary Integrative Arts and Humanities (IAH) instruction. Presented each spring by the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH), the Fintz Award, which is student nominated, recognizes outstanding faculty who engage students in arts and humanities ways of knowing while helping them develop critical thinking and effective communication skills.