The Ed.D. Higher Education is delivered in a hybrid format that seamlessly blends face-to-face and online delivery, allowing you to experience the intimacy of the classroom as well as the convenience of distance learning.

Each fall and spring semester consists of 14 weeks alternating weekly with seven of those weeks face-to-face and seven spent in online learning. Students normally take two courses each semester, meeting on the same night.

In the summer terms, courses vary with most offered in a four-week, accelerated format with one intensive-learning weekend face-to-face.

You will develop an area of specialization (e.g., academic affairs, student engagement, enrollment management, and nursing education) within higher education through the selection of elective courses, independent study courses and topics, the practicum experience, and dissertation study. Your academic advisor will work with you to help design an area of specialization that builds upon your interests and career goals.

Students may choose to study higher education in a selected country. This faculty-led trip provides opportunities to contrast and compare how the higher education system in the travel country varies from the system in the United States in light of current issues such as fund, access, and assessment.

Students attend classes during the fall and spring semester as part of a cohort, which creates a professional learning community to enhance student-to-student interactions and support throughout the program. This format is especially helpful for working adults who study part-time and move through the degree program as a cohort within a standard semester framework. Students take six credits per semester in order to maintain cohort status.

Cohorts meet for classes on the Immaculata University campus in Malvern, PA, at the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg, PA, at Montgomery County Community College University Center in Blue Bell, PA, or at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA.

The practicum allows you to sharpen the knowledge and skills you have developed in the program. During this 90-hour field experience seasoned professionals offer you personalized professional development opportunities and guidance related to issues and trends impacting higher education.

Examples of recent field experience engagements and their locations include:

• Development of IT technical skills to creation of Open Source Language training through video (Montgomery County Community College)
• Clery Center for Security on Campus (Wayne, PA)
• Space Study for facilities management (Immaculata University)
• Website Update: Center for Teaching and Learning (Kutztown University)
• Assessment Project: Evaluating Pathways to Success through Summer Bridge Programs (Penn State commonwealth campuses)

The capstone of the higher education program is your successful completion of a research study in your area of interest. You will select a chairperson at the start of the dissertation writing process who will work with you until the completion of your study. As a culminating experience, you will defend your research study to a panel of readers and university administrators.

Examples of the breadth of dissertation topics include:

• Title IX and Services at Community Colleges
• Perceived Transferability of Writing Skills of Second Language Students from ESL to English Composition
• Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty Engagement at a Suburban Community College
• Exploration of the Pipeline to the Presidency for African American Women