Toward a Social Justice Model for an EdD Program in Higher Education

Evaluative in nature, this article includes an initial examination of a doctoral program uniquely designed to prepare higher education administrators and practitioners to be socially just and equity-minded leaders. The program emphasizes the integration of equity, social justice, and ethics into professional practice. As such, this article utilizes a social justice, leadership framework. Originally designed in 2006 by Colleen Capper, George Theoharis, and James Sebastian to prepare secondary administrators for social justice leadership, the framework assists with the enclosed evaluation of a program that prepares postsecondary administrators for social justice leadership. The article delineates the effectiveness of the program’s implementation and the extent to which the program’s goals, curriculum, and pedagogy align with components of the framework. The program has been chosen because of its commitment to addressing socio-economic and educational attainment disparities in higher education through the focused teaching and professional development of academic and student affairs personnel.