Higher and Postsecondary Education EdD

The Doctor of Education Program degree develops breadth of understanding about higher and postsecondary education with a focus on an intellectual issue or professional activity (concentration or emphasis area). Breadth is assured through study within three curricular domains: (1) academic and developmental analysis, (2) organizational and institutional analysis, and (3) social/cultural and civic analysis of higher and postsecondary education. Students will work with faculty advisors to develop emphasis areas, among them studies in teaching and learning, institutional assessment, administration and leadership, diversity and access, student learning and development, and scholarly learning and careers. The Ed.D. requires in-depth study in processes/methods of inquiry appropriate to the area of concentration or emphasis, as well as a substantial theoretical understanding of the area and approaches to inquiry within it. 

Students who pursue the Ed.D. explore and question the range of perspectives for understanding the higher education enterprise, its educational and intellectual core, its institutional/organizational rubrics, and its social/cultural and civic contextualizations. Thus, through their own research (situated within an emphasis area), students participate in reshaping current understandings of postsecondary education. Ed.D. students conclude their programs by writing a dissertation that, though focused on a particular research problem within higher and postsecondary education, reflects the tripartite aims of the curriculum, as well as deep understanding of knowledge structures underpinning their area of inquiry.

Our students are positioned to scrutinize prevailing views of what it means to engage in “higher learning,” and to improve and develop the settings in which that learning occurs.

Graduates of our program may become policy-makers and evaluation specialists in higher and postsecondary education; they may assume substantial leadership responsibilities, as through presidencies or other key administrative posts in colleges and universities or state systems; they may lead university- or college-wide instructional development centers and activities; they may become academic scholars and researchers.

The Ed.D. requires a minimum of 90 points of graduate coursework, completion of the certification exam (an exam in two parts), and the writing and successful defense of a dissertation. Beginning in the 2024-2025 academic year, the Ed.D. degree required credit load for this program will change from 90 to 75 credits. Up to 30 credits from prior graduate studies may be transferred, subject to advisor approval. Prospective new students who apply for spring, summer or fall 2024 terms and are successfully admitted will follow the new reduced Ed.D. credit requirements.