Undergraduate students can begin graduate work during their senior year through four of Sarah Lawrence College’s unique graduate programs. In addition, students can earn a special combined 3-2 degree program in engineering with Columbia University. This allows students to leave the College with two degrees after five years.
Five Year Programs
The Art of Teaching: BA & MSEd
Sarah Lawrence’s Art of Teaching graduate program gives students a solid philosophical framework and a strong background in current thinking about educational theory and practice, as well as extensive opportunities for classroom research and experience. The program:
- Provides the tools for teachers to articulate and demonstrate a clearly defined, child-centered, and culturally sensitive approach to education for use in classrooms and schools
- Prepares graduates to become strong leaders and agents of change in the complex and highly demanding profession of early childhood and elementary classroom teaching
- Gives students access to resources such as the Early Childhood Center, a laboratory school on the Sarah Lawrence campus, and the Child Development Institute, which offers lectures, conferences, and outreach programs
- Offers dual certification in both Early Childhood and Childhood Education which leads to a Master of Science in Education degree
To learn more, visit the Art of Teaching website or e-mail Jerusha Beckerman, program interim program director.
Child Development: BA & MA
Sarah Lawrence’s Child Development graduate program explores the life of the child as the interaction of intellectual, emotional, social, and imaginative streams. Combining the in-depth study of primary theoretical perspectives with practical fieldwork, the program:
- Encourages students to study children in a wide range of social contexts and environments—among members of their family, peer group, and culture; and within their homes, schools, and neighborhoods
- Prepares graduates for direct work with children in various settings, for teaching child development at an intermediate level, or for pursuing doctoral study in psychology and related fields
- Gives students access to resources such as the Early Childhood Center, a laboratory school on campus, and the Child Development Institute, which offers lectures, conferences, and outreach programs
- Results in a Master of Arts degree
To learn more, visit the Child Development website or e-mail Patricia Hanley, interim program director.
Dance/Movement Therapy: BA & MS
The Dance/Movement Therapy graduate program provides a solid foundation for work in clinical settings using the body, movement and dance to support the mental and physical health of individuals and groups. Using an embodied, process-oriented approach to learning, the program:
- Invites students to engage in critical thinking about the body, movement, and relationship
- Introduces students to the research, history and practice of dance as therapy from historical, sociocultural, relational and social justice perspectives.
- Provides opportunities for in-depth clinical training in local hospitals, nursing homes and treatment centers
- Prepares graduates to take the New York State licensing exam for Creative Arts Therapists (LCAT) and to receive the R-DMT credential from the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA)
- Results in a Master of Science degree
To learn more, contact Elise Risher, Program Director, at erisher@sarahlawrence.edu.
Health Advocacy: BA and MA
The Health Advocacy program at Sarah Lawerence College is an online, asynchronous degree designed to help students build broad, foundational expertise in Health Advocacy. Through coursework and practical experience, students will develop skills applicable to a wide range of career paths. The program:
- Provides the skills needed to design, implement, and evaluate health advocacy strategies to enact positive change. These skills include program design and evaluation, research methods, statistics, and building advocacy campaigns.
- Affords students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through fieldwork with a partner organization aligned with the student’s interests.
- Through its multidisciplinary curriculum, develops students’ understanding of the contexts and influences that shape health care and the tools to make change.
- Is online and asynchronous, allowing students to work, provide care, and manage other responsibilities as needed.
- Results in a Master of Arts degree
To learn more, visit the Health Advocacy website or email Bridget Bohannon, program director.
Engineering: BA & BS with Columbia University
This combined plan program allows students to earn two bachelor degrees in five years: a Bachelor of Arts in the liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence and a Bachelor of Science from Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.
- Both degrees are awarded after completion of the full five-year program: three years at Sarah Lawrence, two at Columbia.
- Upon successfully fulfilling prerequisite and graduation requirements at Sarah Lawrence, maintaining the necessary overall and prerequisite GPA, and receiving favorable recommendations from College faculty, students are prepared to apply for admission to one of the nation's top engineering programs in one of the world's top universities.
- Graduates gain a competitive advantage from the rare combination of problem-solving and technical skills gained through the study of engineering, joined with the creative thinking and communications skills developed through liberal arts study.
Five Year Program Alumni Stories
Doug Rubenstein MS ED ’15

“I chose Sarah Lawrence College for the same reasons I chose it for my undergraduate education: the degree to which the individual is valued at Sarah Lawrence is remarkable. The small classes and personalized attention made me feel valid, important, and intelligent, which was not always the case in my history with school. And the graduate curriculum was rich with philosophy, theory, examples, and applied experience.”