UMass Global expands admissions options for Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership program

Photo credit: Matt Gush

IRVINE, Calif. (Oct. 4, 2022) – Even highly motivated people need mentorship and support as they rise through the ranks. When such ambitions are paired with the online Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership program at University of Massachusetts Global, students and alumni experience positive results.

Among the program’s highly-accomplished alumni are Carla Tweed, Ed.D. ’18 (president, West Hills College Coalinga); Andrew Giannini, Ed.D. ’21 (superintendent, Colfax Elementary School District); Daisy Morales, Ed.D. ’18 (superintendent, Live Oak School District); Jacqueline Cardenas, Ed.D. ’19 (superintendent, Keppel Union School District). 

Determined to help even more people who aspire to leadership positions, but who also need advanced education to reach their goals, the School of Education is expanding access to the Ed.D. program. For the first time, students can enter the Ed.D. program in January. This way, new students don’t need to wait for the new fall term, which begins in August or September, to get going with their studies.

“The new cohort of students will be joining a doctoral program with a demonstrated history of creating transformational leaders,” School of Education associate dean Patrick Ainsworth said. “Students come from a variety of professions including education, emergency services, health care, business and industry, nonprofits, and the military.”

Since 2012, nearly 500 candidates have completed the leadership program, which challenges students to apply their learning to the completion of a Transformational Change Project designed to result in positive change for a real-life organization. Successful students also publish academic dissertations along the way to earning doctoral degrees preparing graduates for leadership in the public and private sectors.

Over the life of the program, an overall majority number of Ed.D. candidates who replied to university surveys taken at the conclusion of their coursework have credited the program with propelling them to elevated levels of responsibility, promotions, or new jobs. Education professionals who have obtained doctorates via the Ed.D. program are well represented in leadership positions at California K-12 schools and community colleges. Others who have completed the Ed.D. program include executives at major firms, healthcare leaders, and government officials.

The Ed.D. graduates’ dissertations and related materials can be found online at its UMass Global ScholarWorks website. This research can serve as a resource for leaders in many fields and readers around the world have downloaded archived work more than 238,000 times. Frequently downloaded dissertations address a wide range of topics, including the problems of social media and cyberbullying, culturally responsive school leadership, generational differences in leadership styles, and women in aviation.

The admissions process for prospective students who would like to begin their Ed.D. program in January 2023 is now open. Ads have been secured in EdCal, a magazine for members of the Association of California School Administrators, to spread the word and the university is sharing program information more broadly via its social media channels.

Students admitted to the Ed.D. program take their coursework online and join cohorts of peer students who, along with faculty mentors, support each other as they collectively undertake the journey to a doctoral degree. Candidates also assemble for a series of face-to-face and virtual immersion sessions that take place at different points in the year.

“This combination will allow students the in-person and virtual opportunities to build relationships and increase their leadership skills, which are essential to leading transformational change in the modern workplace,” Ainsworth said.

Although assembling a new cohort mid-year represents a change for the Ed.D. program, giving would-be doctoral candidates their choice of starting in September or January may be the way the program operates from now on. We hope to keep the twin admissions alternatives as an ongoing feature of the program, he said.