The Professional

4 February 2014 • the professional Learned development Neil Armstrong once said, "Research is creating new knowledge." CMU's College of Education and Human Services is offering students enhanced opportunities to pursue such research through the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in educational leadership program. For years the college has offered a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership program primarily for students interested in serving as K-12 administrators or who already served in such administrative positions. The new Ph.D. program is more tailored for students interested in scientific research or becoming higher education faculty. Frimpomaa Ampaw, assistant professor and Ph.D. program director, says the cross- pollination of students from each program will enrich each student's experience and lead to higher quality research. "The best research always comes when you have discussions with diverse people who bring different perspectives," Ampaw says. "We're going to have classes with both Ed.D. and Ph.D. students in attendance, which will allow students to strengthen their research by combining ideas with practitioners who are currently in the field." The doctoral program is the only Ph.D. in educational leadership offered in northern Michigan. It differs from similar programs nationwide because it hosts weekend classes to accommodate working professionals. Flexible scheduling eliminates the traditional requirement of doctoral candidates to enroll as full-time students. Thinking "big" about research More than ever higher education is demanding that faculty and administrators conduct in-depth research on critical topics that affect education. In the new Ph.D. program, students begin thinking about broad research areas early in their cohort. The curriculum then is filled with classes that will help students further develop and refine their methodology. Anne Hornak, associate professor and Educational Leadership Department chair, suggests students have open minds when choosing their research topics. "I tell students to think big," Hornak says. "Students who come in too narrow-minded have a harder time using the classes to look at their particular topic." Ed.D. students still are required to conduct research; however, the addition of the Ph.D. has inspired a few students to switch programs in order to dig deeper into their research. Colleen Green, '07, is director of CMU's Native American and Student Transition Enrichment programs and currently is enrolled in the Ph.D. program. She plans to examine support programs offered across the 37 tribal colleges in the United States and see if there is any correlation that increases the recruitment and retention rates. "I think this will be a challenging program that will allow me to explore my research in a holistic manner, while also giving me a better understanding of various aspects of higher education across the world," Green says. by Darryll Stinson, '13 Faculty member Frimpomaa Ampaw engages doctor of education students in their class discussion.

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