Position Description for the Doctoral Program Director

The Dean of the College of Education appoints the Doctoral Program upon the recommendation of the Doctoral Program Faculty for a three-year term. The Director provides overall leadership and direction, as well as coordination and management, of the Educational Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership. The Director position is a faculty release position at the equivalent of .33 FTE (12 credits over 4 terms).

The Doctoral Program Director:

1. Provides faculty oversight to the College of Education’s Doctoral Program.

   1. 1. Provides general supervision for student recruitment, application, and selection, assuring the fulfillment of university guidelines.

      2. Serves as faculty liaison between the College of Education and the Graduate School attending PSU Doctoral Program Directors meetings.

      3. Collaborates with the College of Education faculty and the Doctoral Program Faculty to articulate and implement a vision for the Ed.D. This vision is currently in alignment with the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate (CPED) guiding principles and the College of Education conceptual framework.

2. Manages and provides leadership to the doctoral program:

   1. 1. Along with the Doctoral Program Faculty, creates the meeting agendas and shares leadership of DPF meetings.

      2. In collaboration with the Department Chair, approves doctoral students’ committee composition, and other documents assuring the fulfillment of program and university requirements and policies.

      3. Oversees the maintenance of student files and records of student progress, including supervising the maintenance of the TK-20 files and providing reports about student progress.

      4. Coordinates scheduling of doctoral core courses.

      5. Collaborates with the College of Education’s Department Chairs to identify and assign Doctoral Core teaching faculty.

      6. Ensures that faculty adhere to the core comprehensive examination paper, dissertation proposal, and dissertation defense guidelines and that faculty record student rubric scores in TK-20 for program assessment purposes.

      7. Provides direction for the Doctoral Program Coordinator.

      8. Provides curricular leadership by working with the Specialization committees and the Doctoral Program Faculty to identify learning outcomes, content, and key assignments for core courses.

      9. Collaborates with the specialization committees in developing and delivering the specialization curriculum.

      10. Coordinates ongoing program assessment activities in line with COE accreditation expectations.

      11. Convenes and facilitates regularly scheduled meetings of the Doctoral Core teaching faculty designed to strengthen the Core curriculum and the quality of the Doctoral Core experience.

3. Maintains communication with and support for doctoral students.

   1. 1. Along with the Doctoral Program Coordinator, serves as a contact for prospective students through correspondence and/or informal conference and advising hours.

      2. Identifies resources to support doctoral students’ academic skills and professional development.

      3. Facilitates program information sessions, student orientation, and welcome reception as well as disseminates information through the website and/or print media.

      4. In consultation with the Doctoral Program Faculty sub-committee on student issues, works with core teaching faculty and advisors to assess student progress.

      5. Addresses concerns about student academic performance, timely progress, and conduct.