The EdD in Leadership and Innovation is a rigorous online doctoral program that can be completed in as few as 24 months. The program combines the discipline of a top-tier university with an innovative approach to education and leadership. Rooted in a rigorous, cohort-style academic experience, this advanced degree program is designed for cross-sector leaders who are motivated to create change in education and organizational learning. Coursework culminates in a completed Problem of Practice, an innovation or improvement study embedded in the student’s professional organization, which drives the actionable and practice-focused nature of the degree. This program serves current leaders from across sectors who understand that by working and learning together, they can affect sustainable and scalable change in their organizations.
Career Opportunities
Graduates of the EdD, Leadership and Innovation program emerge as versatile leaders prepared to tackle complex challenges across education, government, non-profits, healthcare, for-profit corporations, and philanthropy on a global scale. They assume key roles such as executive directors, chief officers, policy advisors, and academic deans, shaping policies, driving innovation, and fostering collaboration. Whether serving as superintendents in education, policymakers in government, healthcare administrators, or executives in corporations, they leverage their leadership and innovation expertise to enact meaningful change. Some transition to academia, while others embark on sectoral shifts, demonstrating a commitment to driving impactful initiatives and addressing societal challenges with vision and purpose.
Admissions
Admission to graduate programs in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development requires the following minimum components:
Problem of Practice (POP) Proposal Defense and Candidacy
Students advance to candidacy upon successful defense of their proposal.
Dissertation Defense, Submission, and Approval
Students must successfully defend their dissertations and submit them for approval.
Departmental Approval
All doctoral candidates must be approved for graduation by their department for the degree to be awarded.
Case Study Project
Students complete four culminating elements as part of the case study project:
Leadership
Students are required to write an auto-ethnography in this course. The auto-ethnography is an examination of the student’s educational and leadership development, the milestones the student has achieved as a professional.
Research Methods
Students are required to conduct an analysis (SWOT) of their own organization (or if students are not in an organization at the time of the assignment, they will be placed with one). The analysis entails students assessing the organization for strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats in its culture and overall functioning.
Capstone I and II
Students are required to identify a problem of practice (POP) emerging from their SWOT assignment; shape a research question; develop a POP proposal; develop a bibliography; conduct a research project for the POP; and demonstrate the potential solution or impact of the POP on the organization.
Final Capstone Project
Students will present their final POP to their POP chair and committee.
Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:
Apply relevant principles and concepts drawn from a range of theories in leadership, organizational management, cross-sector partnership, and policy to initiate innovation and improvement efforts within their sector.
Conduct research and use quantitative and qualitative analysis to measure outcomes and performance of an organization or program.
Develop multiple solutions to a POP through the systematic application of the extant literature research and reason, and ultimately, describe readiness for their organizational change using appropriate models/tools and communicate the plan to organizational and community stakeholders.