Doctor of Education

Complete all of the following courses. EDUC 8384 is completed three times for a total of 9 hours.

Complete ONE of the following concentration areas below for a total of 12 hours:

Educational Leadership Concentration

Higher Educational Leadership Concentration

Strategic Leadership Concentration

Human Resource Leadership Concentration

Law, Society, and Criminal Justice Leadership Concentration

The EdD dissertation is an original scholarly research document that addresses a problem of practice.  It is traditionally divided into five chapters:

1. Introduction: The Introduction overviews the purpose of the study by stating the problem, detailing the background of the problem, and the significance of the study.  Moreover, terms are defined, and assumptions and limitations are clearly explained, and the chapter provides a summary of results and their implications.
2. Literature Review: This chapter seeks to conduct an overview of the relevant literature on the topic (either chronologically, historically, theoretically, or thematically), analyzing strengths and weaknesses and synthesizing key insights.
3. Research Methodology: This chapter focuses on the methodology employed in the study (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods) and discusses the research design, research questions, data collection, participants, and analysis.
4. Results and Analysis: This chapter discusses in detail the results of the student’s research, using statistics, tables, charts, and graphs to describe and summarize key findings to arrive at actionable conclusions.
5. Discussion and Conclusions: This chapter provides a summary of findings to illustrate the importance of the study and discuss implications, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as offer suggestions for future research and recommendations for the practical application of the study.

The Chair and Committee

Students will be assigned a dissertation Chair according to the needs of their topic at the beginning of the Year 2 Fall semester.  The Chair will guide the dissertation process, setting timelines, reading drafts, and making edits and substantial suggestions. 

The dissertation committee consists of a minimum of three UST full-time faculty members.  An (external) academic with appropriate experience outside UST may become a committee member if recommended in writing with an attached CV and approved by the Director.  The committee will convene twice during the dissertation process, at the proposal and defense.

The Director of the EdD has final authority to recruit and approve chairs to ensure they have the appropriate expertise and the ability to serve throughout the dissertation process.  Subject-related matches will be attempted by the Director as much as possible. Students should follow the APA style guide, which will be discussed in EDUC 8380 Dissertation Introduction.

Students will take EDUC 8380 in the Spring semester of Year 2, followed by three sequential semesters of EDUC 8384 Dissertation Completion (9 total Credit Hours) in Year 3.  EDUC 8384 is a pass/fail research course in which students work with their Chairs to write all five chapters of the dissertation from proposal to final defense. Students who fail EDUC 8384 Dissertation Completion for any reason, including lack of progress or substandard work, will be required to repeat it at their own expense, thus delaying graduation. Students may not finish early and are required to have 9 Credit Hours of EDUC 8384.