EDH 705: Higher Education Law
As a core course in the Ph.D. in Higher Education program, EDH 705 asks an existential question: “How can higher education stakeholders know where to go from here if we don’t understand where we came from?” Accordingly, the course explores the social and cultural histories of legal decision-making in higher education. Students learn not only how legal precedent has shaped institutional structures, but also how the laws of the past constrain the policies of the present, with implications for the future.
EDH 715: Organizational Theory
The purpose of this course is to introduce systematic methods of theoretical analyses that define a scholarly approach to understanding higher education problems. The curriculum supports the development of tangible skills including a working knowledge of organizational theories representing post-positivist, constructivist, sociocultural, and critical paradigms. Students learn how to apply multi-paradigmatic theories as tools to understand, conceptualize, and implement equity-minded change in higher education organizations.
EDH 707: Designing Research
This course introduces new doctoral students to scholarly writing: How to do it and how to critique it. This means understanding the purposes, assumptions, and convergent logics that make up a coherent research design. Among other learning outcomes, students develop the explicit skills to: (a) identify a relevant research problem, (b) conduct a literature review, (c) choose an appropriate methodology, and (d) collect and analyze data according to a theoretical framework.
EPY 718 & 719: Qualitative Methods
Both Introduction to and Advanced Qualitative Methods use experiential learning theory and fieldwork simulations to teach foundational naturalistic research skills and traditions.
EPY 726: Case Study
This course is taught as a research practicum. Students participate in the course as teams of research assistants, conducting fieldwork observations and semi-structured interviews based on an IRB-approved protocol.
