Welcome from the HESL Graduate Program Director
Thank you for your interest in learning more about the PhD in Higher Education Studies and Leadership at Baylor. This program is designed to educate scholars and scholar-practitioners who desire to have a meaningful, lasting influence on higher education. Our program is uniquely balanced among research, academic rigor, and hands-on professional experiences. Students entering our program will be professionally challenged through their apprenticeships and academically challenged throughout the course sequence.
The program is small and built on the idea that a great doctoral education stems from great mentorship. We seek to provide support, camaraderie, and debate as students come together from across the nation, representing a great diversity of regional and cultural worldviews.
Higher education needs leaders who are thoughtful, reflective, and capable of leading forward through scholarship and practice. As we look to recruit students for next fall, we invite you to explore our website and reach out should you have any questions.
Sincerely,
About Our Program
The HESL degree plan seeks to strike a balance between structure and specialization. Students progress through a series of courses alongside others in the program; however, the program sets aside elective hours for students to use for courses both inside and outside the department to help meet their professional and research interests.
HESL Learning Outcomes
Through participating in HESL, students will be able to:
- Synthesize diverse educational traditions into a comprehensive framework, enhancing your understanding of educational history and philosophy
- Analyze higher education problems using theological, moral, and data or social science-oriented frameworks
- Understand, analyze, and evaluate the trends currently impacting higher education
- Understand various leadership theories and apply them to specific problems within higher education institutional settings
- Demonstrate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research and the skills relevant to producing high-quality research in higher education