Celebrating Dr. Jenny Riggle: 2025 Dissertation in Practice (DiP) Award Recipient

The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) is proud to announce Dr. Jenny Riggle of Sacred Heart University as the recipient of the 2025 Dissertation in Practice (DiP) Award. This prestigious honor recognizes Dr. Riggle’s groundbreaking work on advancing student and teacher engagement through continuous improvement in rural districts.

About the Award-Winning Dissertation

Dr. Riggle’s dissertation, chaired by Dr. Vitoria A. Osbourne-Leute, explored how improvement science can reimagine engagement in one rural school district. Her work did not stop there—what began as a single-district effort has since expanded to 18 rural school districts, demonstrating its adaptability, sustainability, and wide-reaching impact.

Her research shows how human-powered improvements, when paired with emerging technologies and AI-powered classrooms, can achieve authentic innovation for both students and educators. By generating practice-based evidence alongside practitioners, Dr. Riggle challenges traditional assumptions about evidence-based practice and provides a model for scalable, practice-driven change.

Lasting Impact on Education

With more than two decades of leadership and scholarship, Dr. Riggle embodies CPED’s commitment to reclaiming the EdD as the highest quality professional practice doctorate in education. Her work highlights the power of practitioner inquiry to drive meaningful and relevant improvements in schools—particularly in rural communities where innovation is often both most needed and most difficult to achieve.

Dr. Riggle’s contributions illustrate how educators and researchers can work hand-in-hand to create lasting change that improves teaching and learning experiences for all.

Join Us in Celebration

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jenny Riggle on this remarkable achievement!

She will be formally recognized at the CPED Awards Reception on Wednesday, October 22, during the 2025 CPED Convening in Philadelphia, PA (October 22–24).

We look forward to honoring her and showcasing her important work with the CPED community.