WKU News

WKU will offer its Educational Leadership Doctoral Program at Fort Knox with the first cohort of students scheduled to begin the Ed.D. program in January 2018.

According to Dr. Tony Norman, Director of WKU’s Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, Fort Knox will offer the same rigorous, high-quality program available in Bowling Green since 2008 to military and civilian personnel assigned at Fort Knox and their families, retired service members, reservists, veterans and P-12 educators as well as other professionals. WKU is nationally recognized as a consortium member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate.

Individuals interested in obtaining a post-graduate degree, developing leadership skills and earning the credentials needed today for success in a wide-range of education-based organizational settings will find WKU’s Ed.D. program to be highly compatible with the lifestyles of full-time working adults. Classes are offered in such delivery formats as face-to-face, online, weekend, evening and via interactive video service (IVS) as the unique needs of each course dictate.

A major advantage of the program is its focus on practical application where students can apply in their own day-to-day workplaces concepts and best practices about which they are learning in their classes.

 “Offering the Ed.D. at Fort Knox has huge potential for further developing not only our military leaders but also the educational leaders who serve the districts in and around our Elizabethtown-Fort Knox Regional Campus,” WKU President Gary A. Ransdell said. “True to our mission, the launch of this program at Fort Knox puts an outstanding post-graduate degree within the reach of students close to home.”

The doctoral program offers four areas of program specialization from which participants can choose to pursue in-depth study after completing the initial required common “core” of courses. These include:

• Organizational Leadership – Designed for individuals who desire to serve or to enhance their capacity to serve in education-related organizations that are not classified as schools, colleges, or universities.
• P-12 Administrative Leadership – Designed for individuals who desire to serve or to enhance their capacity to serve as P-12 school building or school district administrators.
• Postsecondary Leadership – Designed for individuals who desire to serve or to enhance their capacity to serve in two-year and four-year institutions.
•  Teacher Leadership – Designed for individuals who desire to serve or to enhance their capacity to serve in leadership roles related to such areas as assessment, curriculum, technology, literacy, and classroom teaching.

Dr. Evelyn Ellis, Regional Chancellor for WKU Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, said: “We hope to increase access to advanced opportunities in higher education within our regional service area and beyond by making this exciting new program available to professionals from a wide range of career backgrounds. Unlike many academic programs where participants share a common background and perspective, this doctoral program by design is for practitioners and capitalizes on the diversity of thought that emerges when professionals in a single cohort -- from varying career fields -- come together as ‘one’ to learn.”

In addition to the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, WKU’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences offers degrees and programs in counseling and student affairs; educational administration, leadership and research; military science, psychology and teacher education. Many of these degrees and programs offered in Bowling Green are also available at the WKU Elizabethtown-Fort Knox Regional Campus.

For information regarding the WKU Educational Leadership Doctoral Program at Fort Knox, contact Bea Cobb, WKU Military Programs Manager, at bea.cobb@wku.edu, call (270) 706-8870 or (270) 745-2626, or visit the program’s website at  http://www.wku.edu/cebs/doctorate/

Contact: Educational Leadership Doctoral Program, (270) 745-3061