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Advising a Podcast EdD Dissertation
Advising a Podcast EdD Dissertation
What happens when a dissertation is also a podcast — and why it matters for Black and Brown creatives in higher education
What happens when a dissertation is also a podcast — and why it matters for Black and Brown creatives in higher education
This site is for faculty advisors, doctoral students, and anyone curious about what it looks like when rigorous academic research takes a creative, culturally grounded form. It is grounded in a real dissertation by Diamond Morgan — an EdD candidate, social worker, and podcaster — whose research on Black and Brown creatives in higher education became something you can actually listen to.
What is a Podcast Dissertation?
What is a Podcast Dissertation?
A podcast dissertation is exactly what it sounds like: a doctoral dissertation where the research findings are communicated through a podcast series rather than through written chapters alone. The research is real. The methodology is rigorous. The literature review, survey data, and focus group conversations are all there. But instead of chapters four and five sitting as documents in a binder, they exist as podcast episodes — produced in a studio, with participants' real voices, available for anyone to listen to.
This is not a gimmick. It is a methodological choice grounded in values: that knowledge should be accessible, that the people you are studying deserve to be heard in their own words, and that creativity is itself a form of rigor.
→ Learn more: What Is a Podcast Dissertation?
Why This Matters
Why This Matters
Amplifies marginalized voices. Diamond's dissertation studies Black and Brown creatives in higher education — people whose experiences, gifts, and perspectives are too often overlooked by institutions. A podcast format ensures those voices are heard, not just summarized.
Honors creativity as scholarship. Higher education has long drawn a line between creative work and academic work. Podcast dissertations challenge that line, demonstrating that innovative form and intellectual rigor are not in tension.
Models a new relationship between research and community. Traditional dissertations are written for small academic audiences. This one was made for everyone — participants, communities, curious listeners, future students, and the broader field.
Grounded in Diamond Morgan's Research
Grounded in Diamond Morgan's Research
This site would not exist without Diamond Morgan. She is a doctoral candidate at West Chester University, a licensed social worker, an educator, and a podcast host. Her dissertation — The Secret Sauce — investigates how new media podcasting influences Black and Brown creatives' experiences in higher education. The eight-episode podcast series is both how she collected data and how she presents her findings.
Her work is proof of concept for everything this site describes.
Where Would You Like to Start?
Where Would You Like to Start?
I'm an advisor considering this kind of work.
→ Start Here: Is This For Me?
I want to understand the theory behind it.
→ Core Principles and Theoretical Foundations
Show me what it actually looks like.
→ The Case Study: Diamond's Dissertation
I need practical tools and templates.
→ Resources
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