Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

The Graduate Programs in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies are designed to prepare the next generation of School Administrators and leaders of Higher Education. Our Masters and Ed.D programs in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) are Nationally Recognized; and our NEW PhD program in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies (HELPS) has been endorsed by prominent higher education policy and leadership organizations, including: 

• U.S Department of Education;
• The United Negro College Fund;
• White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities;
• American Council on Education;
• American Public-Land Grant Universities;
• National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
• Excelencia

Each of our programs is designed to produce individuals who:

• possess the fundamental knowledge, skills, and attitudes relative to all phases of the organization, management, and leadership of school systems;
• are familiar with the forces and influences which impinge on the process of education;
• can use with intelligence and discrimination the findings of research and evaluation; and 
• are sensitive to the interrelationship between school systems and the communities they serve.

The Department's mission is to prepare educational professionals in school administration and educational supervision for K-12 schools within the framework of educational and social policy. The faculty —through teaching, research, and community service—seeks to contribute to the understanding and the resolution of educational leadership and management issues with particular attention to the educational needs of African Americans and other historically excluded ethnic groups.

The SOE has high quality professional education programs derived from a conceptual framework that is knowledge-based, articulated, shared, coherent, consistent with the institutional mission, and continuously evaluated by Reflective Educators/Practitioners, Facilitators of Change and Scholar Researchers. The framework also contains statements of desired student outcomes. The SOE faculty has defined eight critical abilities/outcomes that it believes all students must demonstrate if they are to become leaders in education.

 HUSOE-Defined Abilities and Outcomes for Leaders in Education