In December, Concordia University Irvine granted doctoral degrees to four students graduating from its Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership program. They are the first doctoral graduates in Concordia’s history.
“It is a very challenging and hands-on program,” says Marianne Quintero, who graduated with honors as an undergraduate from UCLA and has served for eleven years as an educational specialist in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was one of the four to walk in December. “There were high expectations from the professors,” she says. “But I really felt connected with Concordia, with the professors, with everyone. They really do help you. Our cohort was like one big family. It was a very supportive environment.”
Concordia University Irvine's Ed.D. program has established itself in just four years as one of the more attractive programs in Southern California due to its hybridized class schedule and ground-breaking approach to helping students finish their dissertations.
Concordia University Irvine's Ed.D. program has established itself in just four years as one of the more attractive programs in Southern California due to its hybridized class schedule and ground-breaking approach to helping students finish their dissertations.
Concordia University Irvine's schedule combines face-to-face meetings, remote classes throughout the region, plus online classes. Another significant innovation was to build dissertation work into the schedule from the start. That helps solve a problem commonly referred to as “ABD”—“All But Dissertation.”
“Nationally, it’s very common for people to take coursework and never finish,” says Belinda Karge, who came to Concordia University Irvine from CSU Fullerton, where she chaired the department of special education and ran large federal grants for secondary teachers. “We have a streamlined dissertation track, meaning we start focusing on research topics the very first time we meet.”
Dissertation seminars run concurrently with coursework so that students essentially write their dissertations during the program, not after.
Dwight Doering, executive director of the program, and its principal designer, says the best part is watching students grow as they go through the program.
“By the time they are into their dissertation research, you see this confidence and exuberance,” he says. “They are meeting their professional career goals, moving higher up. It was exciting at commencement to see how confident they were and so very happy with what they accomplished.”
He also appreciates “the opportunity to witness as Christian professors and have an impact with the modeling of our Christian values,” he says.
The program’s retention rate so far is an astonishing 89 percent.
Quintero, who is also the mother of six boys, entered the program to inspire her public school students, but found that she developed new career goals as well.