![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Austin-Peay-State-University-Campus-1-480x320.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/a>The campus of Austin Peay State University. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the program received its final approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) \u2014the region\u2019s higher education accrediting body.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe approval of the level change by SACSCOC marks a historic day for APSU as it joins the ranks of the nation\u2019s doctoral universities,\u201d Dr. Rex Gandy, APSU provost and vice president for affairs, said. \u201cWith this approval the University is better positioned to serve the educational needs of students at all degree levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
The University was previously classified as a Level IV institution by SACSCOC, which meant the highest degrees Austin Peay could offer were master\u2019s degrees and education specialist degrees. With the approval of the Ed.D. program, SACSCOC has reclassified the University as a Level V institution, opening the door for doctoral degrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe faculty and staff within the Eriksson College of Education saw the need for this degree more than a decade ago, and they\u2019ve worked tirelessly to develop a program that will meet the needs of the educators in our region as well as transform this University,\u201d Dr. Alisa White, APSU president, said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to welcome our first doctoral students to campus this fall and watch them, and this program, grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ed.D. is designed to meet the needs of several groups of potential students, including:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Current educational leaders in the K-12 environment who currently hold an administrative license.<\/li>\n
- Classroom teachers who have earned master\u2019s or Ed.S. degrees who wish to acquire the administrative license while obtaining a doctorate.<\/li>\n
- Classroom teachers who have earned master\u2019s or Ed.S. degrees who do not wish to be a school administrator but desire to become an educational leader.<\/li>\n
- Current educational leaders in the K-12 environment who need to earn the doctorate to either enhance their marketability or to improve their skills.<\/li>\n
- Military personnel who desire to continue their education after the master\u2019s degree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The new degree, housed within the college\u2019s Department of Educational Specialties, will consist of 60 credit hours beyond a master\u2019s degree, with students taking classes in leadership theory and practice, research and statistics, organizational analysis and analysis of educational policy, in addition to writing a dissertation.<\/p>\n
[320left]The program will enroll 20 students into this fall\u2019s initial cohort, with the department admitting additional students each subsequent year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur University was founded by teachers, so it is fitting that our first doctoral degree program is in the field of education,\u201d Dr. Prentice Chandler, dean of the Eriksson College of Education, said. \u201cToday\u2019s announcement is the culmination of a lot of hard work by our faculty and staff, and we are excited to start a new chapter in the college.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Ed.D. will integrate knowledge of theory and research and applications of best practices, with special attention to strengthening the dispositions necessary for leadership in educational settings,\u201d Chandler added.<\/p>\n
The nation is expected to see a 6 percent increase in elementary and secondary school administrators by the year 2024. In Tennessee, this equates to 5,680 positions, with approximately 220 annual job openings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Austin Peay State University (APSU) Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) took a major step forward today with the announcement of the first doctoral degree in the institution\u2019s history. Beginning this fall, the APSU Eriksson College of Education will offer a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree in Educational Leadership for K-12 professionals looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[22711,23,19130,11642,262,825,30605,25204,27613,1758],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-6Nd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26116,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions\/26116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Austin](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" "\\"Austin")
Clarksville, TN<\/strong> – Austin Peay State University (APSU) took a major step forward today with the announcement of the first doctoral degree in the institution\u2019s history.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Austin-Peay-State-University-Campus-1.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/a>