Agenda item: Issues in Designing a new EdD Program - A Dean's Perspective: Innovation and Systems Coherence
Presenter: Karen Gallagher
Discussion: 6:16 - 7:00pm
(See USC presentation by K. Gallagher)

Rossier is a mission driven educational institution

How were we going to launch a new planningprocess?

• Futures Conference - strategic planning conference that includes large numbers
• 24 months before launch of new program
• Fully planned and facilitated by outside experts
• 100 participants: 50 internals and 50 externals
• 3 days in length
• followed by the white papers on key topics
  • thoughtful, long term, and deliberative planning process
  • Added diverse perspectives and new ideas
  • shifted focus away from schools and students and away from dividing up 'the turf'
  • Put us on public display - every professor attended

What Rossier School Did: (See USC presentation)

• created a steering committee (co chaired by a tenured and a clinical professor)
• created cohorts of students and a highly structured program
• created a review process and criteria
• terminated courses and concentrations
• rewards for important service work that was not imbedded in our rewards system
• Dean is willing to speak about anything, anywhere, and anytime about what Rossier is doing

Why was that important?

• built participation throughout the school of education and kept us honest
• did not divide up the turf - now courses are ‘owned by the team'
• differentiated EdD from PhD
• Created a school wide view of what an EdD program needed (we brought learning in as one of our core courses)

What did Rossier do:

• admit 150 in a cohort this year
• across four concentrations: K-12 leadership in Urban School Settings, Teacher education in multicultural societies, Educational Psychology, Higher education admin/Community college leadership
• a USC off-campus center in Orange County
• All students start program in August with all-day student orientation

Why is this important?

• S. California is huge and diverse - recruitment and impact
• The student experience - small classes, cohorts, strong student support, clear program support
• Thematic dissertations (their dean is on her second round of committees - 2 course load credit for taking on a thematic group...typically 4 a year, but the group takes care of two)
• EdD program is the signature program of the Rossier School with an EdD office and school wide involvement of all faculty

Michael Fullan quote from Leading in A Culture of Change (2001)

Directional coherences

• Identity, Vision, and Strategy
  • who we are
  • where we are headed
  • how we are going to get there

Contextual coherence

• connecting and aligning
  • with the larger environment
  • with our key external stakeholders

Relational Coherence

• creating connections
  • among faculty, staff, students
  • across functions, initiative and decision making structures

Task Coherence

• action and accountability
  • the right work
  • done by the right people
  • at the right time

(VISUAL PICTURE of the system [See USC presentation])

Graduating well prepared, diverse, professional leaders for educational practice

Committed to continuous improvement and examination of our program by internal and external stakeholders