Ph.D. Educational Leadership

The Ph.D. in Educational Leadership program is designed to prepare education scholars, practitioners, and leaders across and for P-20+ educational contexts by engaging in the breadth and depth of theoretical and practical knowledge related to leadership, ethics, diversity, research, and policy. The program seeks admissions applications from current P-12 teachers and school leaders and higher education administrators seeking advanced education to continue in formal leadership and decision-making roles across P-12 and post-secondary contexts (i.e., schools, districts, state-level organizations, community colleges, technical schools, 4-yr colleges and universities, state and federal level, policy bodies). We offer two concentration areas, P-12 and Higher Education. Through association with and apprenticeship to faculty members experienced in research, teaching, and leadership, doctoral students in our program engage in rigorously informed inquiries centering contemporary problems of practice related to leadership and education. By choosing to apply to the Clemson’s Ph.D. in Educational Leadership program, prospective students are making the conscious choice to engage with nationally recognized education faculty who serve and have served as presidents of leading education associations, senior-level university administrators, journal editors, P-12 school administrators, and post-secondary campus staff and administrators.

Alumni of the Ph.D. program serve P-20 schools, community and state agencies, and institutions of higher education as ethical leaders providing research-based educational policies and services for increasingly diverse students and societies. Alumni also serve in leadership roles as faculty in schools and higher education institutions; as college and university deans, directors and presidents; or as principals, district office leaders and superintendents.

Introduction to the Higher Education Concentration
Clemson’s Ph.D. program in educational leadership in higher education focuses on developing professionals’ knowledge and research abilities in this applied multi- and interdisciplinary field. Because many of the higher education Ph.D. students in this field remain connected to their professional roles, this program is paced to accommodate each student’s timeframe while ensuring steady progress to degree completion.

Introduction to the P-12 Ph.D. Concentration
Students interested in the P-12 concentration have four options among their concentration coursework. Students may select a combination of coursework among courses for both higher education and P-12 concentrations. Students may also choose to obtain state of South Carolina licensure for work as school administrators at the building level, district level or both while enrolled in the program. Students who plan to obtain certification will take coursework with master's and specialist students, and must complete the state’s licensure approved program requirements.

Doctoral students collaborate with their advising committees to plan an individualized program within program requirements including courses and non-course milestones culminating with the dissertation. The overall design requires a minimum of 58 graduate-level course credits beyond the master’s degree and completion of 18 credit hours dedicated to the dissertation project. The categories of courses include a preliminary core, concentration core, research core, cognate, elective, research internship, candidacy and dissertation core.

The preliminary core consists of a minimum of nine credits completed within the first two years of enrollment, concluding with the preliminary exam, a non-course requirement. The doctoral advisory committee, in consultation with the student, uses the results of the preliminary examination to establish an individualized program of study, including a minimum of 18 credits of courses in the chosen concentration (P-12 or higher education), research courses and a minimum of 12 credits through internship and cognates. The internship experience focuses on a research-based approach to the common dilemmas of knowledge and practice in the applied field of educational leadership. Cognates are courses selected from academic fields supporting each Ph.D. student’s research agenda. Upon completion of a program of studies course work, students qualify as doctoral candidates by successfully completing the comprehensive exam. Doctoral candidates then complete nine credits of post-comps core in preparation for their proposal defense and then move to 18 hours of dissertation studies before defending their dissertation research. The timeframe for completing this program is controlled by Ph.D. students with support from their doctoral advising committees.

Application for admission to Clemson’s Ph.D. program in Educational Leadership (EDL) begins with an online- application at the Clemson Graduate School’s website. All application materials must be sent to the Clemson Graduate School and should not be sent electronically or through ground mail to faculty or any department members. The process starts and ends at the Clemson Graduate School and is a two-part process. Both the Graduate School. and the EDL program must accept students.

There is a non-degree application option for students who have a relevant Master’s degree. Students who choose this option may only enroll in EDL 9100, Introductory Doctoral Seminar. Students who enter the program as a non-degree seeking student must reapply for full admission to the program before taking other courses in the program.

A master’s degree in educational leadership, student affairs administration, or comparable degree programs with an acceptable grade point average is required for admittance to the program.

Deadlines

There are two deadlines for application to Clemson’s Ph.D. program in Educational Leadership. March 1 for summer or fall and October 1 for spring semester enrollment.

Required Documents:

Applications are reviewed shortly after the above deadlines and must be complete to be reviewed. Applicants are evaluated on a variety of criteria that includes: cover letter with specified information, transcript, reference letters, curriculum vitae, and GRE scores.

• Cover Letter – The cover letter, which will be evaluated for content and as a writing sample, must be 2- pages or less and include:

  • Reasons for pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership, including research interests and career goals;

  • Professional and/or personal experiences shaping your current research interests and career goals; and

  • How the program faculty can support you in completing this degree.

• Transcripts - Unofficial transcripts from all previous institutions are uploaded for the application review. Official transcripts are required after admission and must be sent directly to the Clemson Graduate School.
• Letters of Recommendation – Three letters of recommendation from current or prior supervisors and at least one professor from a prior degree program should be submitted to the Clemson Graduate School. A form is available on the Clemson Graduate School web site, if desired.
• Résumé/CV - A resume or curriculum vitae that supports candidacy with evidence of pertinent educational leadership experience and evidence that the candidate can perform in a scholarly environment.
• GRE Scores - GRE scores must be acceptable. GRE scores more than five years old, relative to the date of initial enrollment, will not be accepted.

Mail all documents to:
Office of Graduate Admissions
Clemson University
E-209 Martin Hall
Clemson, SC 29634

For additional information on the Educational Leadership Ph.D. program , please contact either the Program Coordinator, Dr. Natasha Croom or Alison Search, the Graduate Student Services Coordinator. 

Download the Ph.D. Program Handbook

In accordance with departmental policy, the program of study in educational leadership will include a minimum of 58 graduate level course credits beyond the master’s degree and an 18-hour dissertation project.

These required courses represent a basic body of knowledge in educational leadership. A student must demonstrate a proficiency in this material through the comprehensive examination. The following is a list of core courses:

Preliminary Core: 12 credit hours (Required of All Ed Leadership PhD Students)

EDL 9100 Introductory Doctoral Seminar
EDL 9000 Principles of Educational Leadership
EDL 9050 Theory and Practice in Educational Leadership
EDL 9110 Systematic Inquiry in Educational Leadership or EX ST 801 Statistical Methods

Concentration: 18 hours
The field of specialization may be either public school administration (P-12) or higher education. The courses for specialization should be selected in close consultation with the student’s advisory committee. These courses allow the student and advisory committee to tailor the program to the unique needs of the student within the overall philosophy and structure of the program.

Higher Education (Required of Higher Education Concentration Students)

EDSA 8190 Contemporary College Students
EDL 9500 Educational Policy Studies
EDL 9620 Higher Education Governance (Required Core)
EDL 9750 College Teaching 
EDL 9770 Diversity Issues in Higher Education (Required Core)
EDL 9800 Current Issues in Educational Leadership

P-12 (Required of P-12 Concentration Students)

• Program Handbook

Research Core: 16 credit hours (Required of All Ed Leadership PhD Students)

• Introductory courses in both qualitative and quantitative methods
• Advanced course work in either qualitative or quantitative methods

Research Internship: 3 credit hours (Required of All Ed Leadership PhD Students)
The purpose of the research internship (EDL 9860) is to provide students a research apprenticeship, preferably under the guidance of their major advisers or any other member of their doctoral advising committees, to build their curriculum vita and emerging research agenda for their dissertations. The research internship provides students an opportunity to develop viable research questions from the problems and issues of practice and then participate in the development of the research design, data collection, analysis and reporting phases of research studies. Student products from the research internship include conference proposals, presentations and manuscripts.

Candidacy Core: 3 credit hours (Required of All Ed Leadership PhD Students)
EDL 9880 Directed Research

Cognate: 6 credit hours(Required of All Ed Leadership PhD Students)  
Cognates are courses from academic fields outside of educational leadership supporting students’ research agendas. As part of the program of study, each student must complete six graduate semester hours in a cognate area. All six hours must be from the same discipline and approved by the student’s graduate committee.

Dissertation: 18 credit hours (Required of All Students)
EDL 9910 Doctoral Dissertation Research