Organizational change is a complex and critical issue in higher education today. Changes experienced across institutional systems have both short-term and long-term impact, making this phenomenon ripe for educational leadership research. Many universities and colleges have applied Kotter’s ( 1995 ) eight-step change model prescriptively to implement academic initiatives, curriculum revisions, and strategic vision. However, Kotter’s ( 1995 ) model has not previously explored ad hoc changes over time and has not been used to study a college live mascot program. Although a decreasing campus tradition, college live mascots have a relationship and impact on a student’s experience and college identification, as well as university engagement with alumni and the public. Therefore, understanding how change is identified and experienced by campus stakeholders of a college live mascot program describe the various complexities and issues that initiate a climate for institutional change. To explain the evolution of a college live mascot program, oral histories across twenty years of campus stakeholders, including student trainers, campus administrators, and external consultants were analyzed using Kotter’s ( 1995 ) model. The findings of this study affirmed that the steps associated with Kotter’s ( 1995 ) change model, with a specific focus on the first three steps, are relevant for ad hoc changes, and offer implications for higher education change.

As members of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), universities across the United States are restructuring EdD programs to better prepare professional practitioners with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge needed to improve the educational environments that they serve. The hallmark of these programs is often the dissertation in practice, a scholarly investigation within which students define a problem of practice and then systematically test solutions to that problem. In this study, we investigate the experiences of university faculty participating in the redesign of an Educational Leadership EdD program who approach the redesign as a problem of practice. Root causes of identified program issues are presented in addition to the changes implemented in the redesigned program to improve upon the problem of practice.

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine doctoral student perceptions about an experiential learning summer study away program involving one Texas educational leadership doctoral (Ed.D.) program. Students shared their perceptions about how the four-day study away trip advanced their professional and educational development in becoming more effective scholarpractitioner leaders. Data were collected and analyzed from a completed end-of-course reflective assignment involving students who participated in the study away program. After coding the data and identifying the common themes that emerged from the reflective writing narratives, there were four overarching themes that were derived from the students' responses: (1) encouraging collaborative campus-level decision making; (2) understanding the various contexts and environments of various public school campuses; (3) recognizing the importance of stakeholder trust within the educational setting; and (4) examining the experiential observations within the context of leadership theory and research. The researchers conclude that the experiential learning experience positively impacted the development of scholar-practitioner leaders. The authors further discuss the potential benefits that study away programs can have for other Ed.D. programs considering this option and offer recommendations about how faculty and site-based administrators can work together incorporating similar study away programs for their respective doctoral students.

The purpose of this study is to compare degree attainment rates in online and not wholly online degree programs, using longitudinal data from a national sample. Longitudinal data, collected from the National Center for Education Statistics via Beginning Postsecondary cohort 12/14, were analyzed to determine if relationships between degree attainment, course type, and degree program existed. The largest sample size available for analyzing any combination of relationships was 6,770 students. Chi-square and log-linear analyses indicated a significant interaction between course type, degree program, and degree attainment at p < .005. In terms of degree attainment, results indicated that online learning lends to similar student success, to learning that does not take place in a fully online environment. Additionally, in an analysis of specific program outcomes, students taking online psychology programs were more likely to finish the degree program than students not taking all online courses, p < .000.