Why Earn a PhD in Education & Leadership?
Pacific University's unique, low residency PhD in education and leadership (PhDEL) program prepares experienced educators and health professionals to create change through research and leadership in order to build a more equitable world.
The PhDEL program is designed for experienced educators and administrators from institutions of education and healthcare — and these two policy arenas — who are interested in becoming leaders in their fields. With a strong emphasis on evidence-based practice, this program explores themes and issues about the meaning of leadership and learning, and strategies to lead in a time of dynamic global change. The education and leadership curriculum encourages students to explore the role of technology in forming and supporting leaders, and creating new distributed communities where leaders can gather and learn from each other across temporal and geographic environments.
Is a PhD in Education and Leadership right for you?
The PhDEL program offers:
- An inter-professional approach to research that fosters respect across professional domains.
- A learning community that is inclusive, inviting, and collaborative.
- Individualized faculty mentoring and advising.
- Student financial support.
- Streamlined academic and administrative processes.
The PhDEL program is best suited for:
- Individuals with master's or doctoral degrees in the fields of education, health sciences, allied health professions, or health professions educators or practitioners who desire to enter the community of scholar professionals and learn the skills to lead change within their field.
- Learners who have exhibited requisite knowledge and skills within their areas of expertise.
- Scholar educators who seek to contribute to scientific knowledge and who value lifelong learning, while implementing new theories into daily practice.
- Scholar professionals and scholar educators who wish to advance in their fields.
- Scholar practitioners who approach their professions with sensitivity to ethical issues and to developmental, cultural, and individual differences within the workplace.
What Can You Do with a PhD in Education & Leadership?
Graduates from the PhD in Education & Leadership program are leaders in their respective fields who influence practice through their innovative scholarly contributions to the body of knowledge and pedagogy. PhDEL students are prepared to publish their dissertation work, which meets the requirements for original scholarship relevant to education and leadership within their professional disciplines.
Low Residency PhD
The PhD in Education and Leadership offers students a technology-based, low residency PhD program — students are only required to be on campus for one week each January to attend a formative applied, evidence-based research symposium, which provides a rich opportunity for students, faculty, and the broader leadership community to collaborate and showcase current research. The program intuitively supports applied research for the dissertation, from each student’s discipline of choice, and draws on the inter-professional expertise of students as well as the faculty and leaders from the community at large.
Interprofessional Education and Leadership Conference
Each winter, the Pacific University PhD Program in education and leadership presents the Interprofessional Education and Leadership (IPEL) Conference, bringing together health and education researchers to present their work, discuss leadership theories and ideas, and work to make the world a more equitable and just place.
For PhDEL admissions information:
Emily Josi | Assistant Director of Graduate and Professional Admissions and Marketing
emcdaniel@pacificu.edu | 503-352-7219
For general program information:
Lollie Molina | Program Assistant, PhD in Education and Leadership Program
Lollie.Molina@pacificu.edu | 503-352-1437
For the PhDEL Program Director:
Andy Saultz | PhD in Education and Leadership Program Director, Associate Professor
andrew.saultz@pacificu.edu | 503-352-1461