Advisors:
Andrea Beach, Walter Burt, Van Cooley, Joe Kretovics, Louann Bierlein Palmer, Sue Poppink, Patricia Reeves, Jianping Shen, Charles Warfield, Gary Wegenke
Room 2217, Sangren Hall

The Ph.D. in Educational Leadership is targeted toward professionals working in the areas of K-12, Higher Education, Career Technical Education, or other environments engaged in education or adult learning. It is a college-wide degree, administered principally by the faculty unit(s) offering the predominance of the core courses in a topical “concentration.” At present, the degree program has four topical concentrations, three principally administered by the Educational Leadership faculty unit in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership and one administered principally by the Career and Technical Education faculty unit in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in collaboration with the Educational Leadership faculty unit. The four concentrations are 1) Higher Education Leadership, 2) K—12 Leadership, 3) Organizational Analysis, and 4) Career and Technical Education. The program requirements specific to each concentration are listed below.

Key program goals include preparing individuals to become transformation leaders, ready to help educational or other institutions to address current challenges, including the need to better educate students who have historically not been well served by traditional learning institutions. In addition, graduates will expand their inquiry and research skills, enabling them to add to the knowledge base concerning education, especially as it relates to the growing challenges facing all educational institutions.

Admission Requirements

1. Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution, indicated on an official transcript.
2. For students who have completed at least twenty hours of graduate work, an overall grade point average of at least 3.0 for all graduate work undertaken beyond the bachelor’s degree.
3. Submission of

• Score on the GRE General Test
• Graduate Application
• Two official transcripts from each institution attended since high school
• Autobiographical Statement that shows a clear and complete statement of that person’s professional goals, and how these goals relate to the doctoral program
• Graduate Reference Forms completed by three different individuals
• Resume of Leadership Experience form
• Professional Vitae or Resume

All required forms will be available from the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership’s website http://www.wmich.edu/coe/elrt/edleadership/phd/index.htm.

Each student will be interviewed by a minimum of two members of the faculty, and each application will be reviewed for acceptance by the entire faculty of the Leadership Unit. After admission, a doctoral chair will be appointed from among the faculty advisors, and the student will work with this advisor to assemble an appropriate doctoral advisory committee to guide the student through the program.

The total number accepted in any given year will depend upon the quality of individual applicants, as well as available resources to support the program.