Online
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
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EARLIEST START DATE
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STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
Key Summary
Scholarships
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Introduction
If you’re an aspiring leader who wants to earn your terminal degree to lead strategically, ethically and create meaningful change, Spalding University’s online Doctorate of Education in Leadership (EdD: Leadership) is designed for you.
Our online EdD: Leadership program is a collaborative, interdisciplinary and globally conscious program for current and future leaders aspiring to use their influential voices to innovate and create sustainable, transformational change.
This full-time program is mission-driven and addresses modern-day issues. Courses are delivered one at a time, allowing you to earn your terminal degree in just two years while maintaining your current job responsibilities and personal lifestyle.
With your EdD in Leadership, you will stand out as an exemplary practitioner of ethical organizational leadership, an extraordinary team builder, a systems thinker and a driver of change and innovation in a global economy.
Mission Statement
Spalding University is a diverse community of learners dedicated to meeting the needs of the times in the tradition of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth through quality undergraduate and graduate liberal and professional studies, grounded in spiritual values, with emphasis on service and the promotion of peace and justice.
Admissions
Curriculum
Systems Theory and Leadership
This course focuses on the interdisciplinary study of systems and on the systemic thinking that 21st-century leaders must adopt to lead effectively in a diverse world and global economy. Students learn how the current emphasis on the interdependence of individuals, groups, structures and processes contrasts sharply with the 19th- and early 20th-century philosophy that individuals and organizations thrive as independent agents. Students also analyze a case study to identify and articulate the underlying leadership problem(s).
Leading Innovative and Creative Change Across the Organization and Within the Community
This course examines effective, ethical, creative and transformative ways of implementing organizational and community change. Students learn how a leader can drive and shape an organization to embrace, foster and promote individual and collective innovation. Further, students explore skills and strategies to systematize operations and confirm digital access and appropriate infrastructure for an organization to thrive in a global marketplace. In addition, through written and other forms of assessment, students demonstrate accountability in the mindful use and application of transformative processes, just as students learn strategic planning, the importance of team building and the significance of creating partnerships. Students also analyze a case study to identify and articulate the underlying leadership problem(s).
Ethical Leadership
This course promotes a global understanding of the philosophical and civic traditions of leadership as the ethical construct of diverse practices in myriad organizations, institutions and societies. Students gain greater awareness of the cultural contradictions that influence contemporary organizations, especially in U.S. society, and learn to identify Western views of morality as well as ethical business practices in a competitive and diverse world marketplace. This course also focuses on ethical, mindful and legal decision-making based on compliance, regulations and customs in a global marketplace. Students demonstrate their learning via written assessments, oral presentations and other appropriate means of evaluation. This course moves away from the traditional construct of leadership as the manifestation of a single role and instead explores the more substantive concept of leaders’ relationships to internal and external constituents, as well as to cultural mores and constraints. In this course, students also enroll in and complete the required research ethics online course and must pass the assessment related to the course. Students must pass the quiz to pass EDD 905. Students also analyze a case study to identify and articulate the underlying leadership problem(s).
Research Methodology and Problem-Solving
The purpose of this course is to educate doctoral-level students in the use of the scientific approach in research and to ensure informed decision-making grounded in empirical research. By critiquing research studies, students develop the knowledge, skills and aptitudes that characterize the disciplined researcher who conducts and applies qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed-method studies. This course challenges students to think systematically-yet-creatively about inquiry and about how inquiry aligns with an organization’s foundational design and performance-improvement principles. This course also promotes inquiry that informs ways in which leaders conceive, develop, implement and evaluate interventions (programs, products, systems and aids) to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Earning your EdD in Leadership affords you a wide variety of career options. Graduates from our program carry out our mission to serve others in a variety of industries, organizations and disciplines. Typical leadership roles in the education sector include principal, superintendent, chancellor, dean, provost, education consultant, thought leader, department leader or faculty member. Other sectors include:
Business Sector Leadership Roles
Graduates with an EdD in Leadership can pursue roles such as chief learning/education/executive officer, or step into positions in human resources leadership, employee development and training, consultancy, thought leadership or public affairs.
Nonprofit Sector Leadership Roles
Nonprofit leadership positions often include director or administrator titles as well as roles in fundraising, development, association leadership, arts and cultural organizations or think tanks.
Public Sector Leadership Roles
Graduates can take their terminal leadership degree into public roles as government officials, into military or veterans affairs, into public health or policy leadership.