Welcome
The West Texas A&M University Educational Leadership Program prepares confident, skilled, and reflective leaders of education to pursue excellence and make powerful and lasting impacts in their communities.
The educational business and finance pathway is designed for financial leadership positions in educational institutions (primary, secondary, and post-secondary) serving rural regions. Specific leadership skills for business officers and those seeking a specialization in business affairs within educational institutions, including an understanding of the legal/fiscal structures, constraints and opportunities available to chief financial officers and their support teams. This program also provides a deep understanding of ethics, organizational theory, power, decision-making, academic research, and scholarly writing through which financial management action is deployed to the good of institutions.
Distinguished program characteristics require 60 hours of courses that include an interdisciplinary curriculum, an emphasis on scholarly research and methodology, the opportunity for a high-impact experiential residency, and an endowed scholars’ program. Candidates who qualify may transfer up to 12 hours of transfer credit and/or competency credit into the three-year program. The residency requirement will be met when the candidate completes a minimum of 48 hours of classes at WTAMU. This satisfies the residency requirement of the Graduate School.
Features of the curriculum highlight environmental courses (sociology, decision-making, and superintendent certification) to ground doctoral candidates in the interface among the community, the individual’s decision-making, and the job description. The first year in the Educational Leadership doctoral program includes superintendent certification courses while the first year in the Leadership in Higher Education Pathway focuses on leadership in university and/or community college settings. All three Pathways are introduced to add additional knowledge and skill courses of educational leadership in the second year. For all Pathways, the final year focuses on research, scholarly writing, and applying theory to practice. Rather than the traditional dissertation, innovative scholarly research throughout the three years at WTAMU results in an extensive literature review and two articles that are publication-ready.
If you are interested in seeking a Doctorate of Educational Leadership (Ed.D.), West Texas A&M is here to help you achieve your goals.
- Dr. Eddie Henderson (Program Director EC - 12) and Dr. Janet Hindman (Program Director Leadership in Higher Education)
Degree Requirements
Educational Leadership Cognate Courses (12 SCH Required)
Rural Emphasis Courses (9 SCH Required)
[Note: "*" indicates Required for the Educational Business/Finance pathway]
Educational Business/Finance Leadership Pathway (15 SCH Required)
and/or
Other content concentration course(s) approved by the program director.
