Degree Requirements
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Administration
Required coursework for the Educational Administration Ph.D. currently constitutes a total of 52 hours beyond the Master's degree, including 22 hours of core courses, 21 hours of research, and 9 hours of dissertation research. Students with no Master's degree in either educational administration or higher education may be required to complete additional coursework (a 12-hour concentration in their discipline).
Continuous Enrollment
Doctoral students are required to maintain continuous enrollment from the semester of admission to graduation, i.e. they must be registered every Fall and Spring semester (summers are optional). Where extraordinary circumstances prevent continuous enrollment students may petition their advisor for a leave of absence. Leave of absence requests must be received by the end of the final exam period for the semester PRIOR to the requested leave.
Required Examinations
Doctoral students are expected to pass two required examinations, the Qualifying Exam and General Exam. The Qualifying Exam is taken after students complete 12 hours and the General Exam is taken, typically, in the last year of coursework.
Academic Integrity
Education Administration students are expected to conform to the highest of ethical standards both as professionals and in their scholarly work. The full force of UNO policy will be applied where academic dishonesty (e.g. plagiarism, cheating, falsification of data) is reported or suspected by program faculty. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with the UNO policy to be found at the Graduate School’s website.
Residency Requirement
A doctoral student must earn two consecutive semesters of a minimum of nine hours of residence. The doctoral residence requirement may be met alternatively by three semesters of enrollment at six or more hours, which may be non-consecutive.
Students who are in residence for the purpose of the above requirement are expected to devote all of their energies to graduate study under the direct supervision of a major professor and/or advisory committee. Students holding Graduate Assistantships and who are accordingly performing duties clearly relevant to their program of study will, in most cases, be accruing full-time residence credit.
Time To Degree Limitations
Coursework taken towards the Doctoral degree expires 6 years after the date of General Examination and 9 years after program admission.
Course Requirements
A minimum of 52 hours beyond the Masters degree is required. The curriculum is comprised of doctoral core courses (22 credits), research courses (21 credits), and dissertation research (9 hours), as presented below. Admitted students lacking graduate study in K12 Educational Administration or Higher Education Administration are required to take an additional 12 credits of concentration coursework in one of those specialties.
See course descriptions
Please note that not all courses are offered every semester.
Doctoral Core Courses (22 hours required)
- EDAD 6900 Pro-seminar 1 in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6905 Pro-seminar 2 in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6910 Strategic Approaches to Educational Administration
- EDAD 6920 Organizational Theories in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6930 Leader Behavior in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6940 Power and Politics in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6950 Educational Policy Analysis
- EDAD 6960 Conceptualizing PK16+ Education
Concentration Courses (minimum 12 hours required if not previously earned from a UNO or non-UNO Masters degree program)
School Leadership Concentration
- EDAD 6800 School Leadership
- EDAD 6805 Leading the Learning Environment
- EDAD 6810 School Law
- EDAD 6812 Leading Curriculum, Assessment & Instruction
- EDAD 6816 School Based Management
- EDAD 6840 Organization & Governance of K-12 Schools
- EDAD 6845 School Community Relations
- EDAD 6850 Supervision of instruction
- EDAD 6860 School Principalship
- EDAD 6875 School Improvement
- EDAD 6895 School Leaders Internship
- EDAD 6980 Independent Study in Ed. Administration
- EDAD 6993 Special Topics in Educational Administration
Higher Education Concentration
- EDAD 6530 Student Services in Higher Education
- EDAD 6535 College Student Development
- EDAD 6600 The American College and University
- EDAD 6605 Community and Technical Colleges
- EDAD 6610 Legal Aspects of Higher Education
- EDAD 6620 History and Philosophy of Higher Education
- EDAD 6675 Current Issues in Higher Education
- EDAD 6681 Organization and Leadership in Higher Education
- EDAD 6683 Students in Higher Education
- EDAD 6684 Teaching, Learning & Curriculum in Higher Education
- EDAD 6693 Diversity in Higher Education
- EDAD 6695 Internship in Higher Education
- EDAD 6980 Independent Study in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6991 Special Topics in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6993 Special Topics in Educational Administration
Research Courses (21 hours required):
NOTE: EDFR 6705, 6710 and 6715 as well as EDAD 6890 and 6997 are required for all doctoral students. Students should consult with their advisor for the remaining 6 hours of research courses.
- EDFR 6705 Quantitative and Qualitative Research Design
- EDFR 6710 Descriptive Statistics and Inferential Hypothesis Testing (Prerequisite: EDFR 6705)
- EDFR 6715 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (Prerequisite: EDFR 6705)
- EDFR 6720 Applied Regression and Analysis of Covariance (Prerequisite: EDFR 6710)
- EDFR 6721 Qualitative Research Data Analysis (Prerequisite: EDFR 6715)
- EDFR 6725 Multivariate Statistics and Covariance Structure Analysis (Prerequisite: EDFR 6720)
- EDFR 6731 Qualitative Research Design and Writing (Prerequisite EDFR 6705, EDFR 6715, EDFR 6721)
- EDAD 6890 Seminar in Educational Administration
- EDAD 6997 Research Seminar in Educational Administration
Dissertation Research: Minimum 9 hours required.
- EDAD 7050 Dissertation Research
Check the Educational Administration Courses web page for further Course Catalog information.
After completion of all other coursework, students must enroll in at least three (3) hours of EDAD 7050 every fall and spring semester to maintain continuous enrollment until they graduate. Sometimes this exceeds the 9 hours minumum. [EDAD 7040 may be scheduled only if student has successfully defended their dissertation but otherwise did not meet deadlines for graduation in the previous semester. EDAD 7040 may be taken only once.]