38 Students Begin New Doctoral Program
7/15/04

One student works on Indiana Wesleyan University's Marion campus, while another comes from Cape Coral, Fla. Most live in Indiana.

They are a diverse group. Twenty are women, 18 are men. They are preachers and teachers and corporate managers.

The 38 students who gathered Sunday in Marion comprise the initial class in IWU's first-ever doctoral program: an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership.

The reasons the adult students have enrolled in the program are as diverse as the students themselves.

"IWU's unique focus on servant leadership is absolutely what drew me to the doctoral program," said Tiffany Beaver, a pharmaceutical salesperson from Carmel. Beaver received a Master of Business Administration degree from IWU in December.

Dexter Suggs, a school administrator in Indianapolis, and Jeff Lander, who works for the State of Indiana, enrolled in the doctoral program after earning master's degrees from IWU.

"I chose this particular doctoral program because of the diversity it offered," said Suggs, who earned a Master of Education degree from IWU in 1997. He is a middle-school principal in the Indianapolis Public Schools.

"Seldom as an educator do you have this kind of opportunity to interact with so many people from different professions. I expect to get a lot of feedback from other business professionals that I can apply in the public schools," Suggs said.

Jeff Lander, an information specialist with the Indiana Office of Workplace Development, earned an MBA from IWU 10 years ago. After being laid off by a trucking company he went to work for state government, working his way up from local offices to the state office.

"I've struggled through the last 10 years to do what I could to make changes in my workplace," Lander said. "I enrolled in the doctoral program to get the added information and knowledge that I need to act as a change agent in Indiana government."

The doctoral program, which took three years to plan, received full approval in February from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. It is being offered through IWU's College of Adult and Graduate Studies.

"The doctoral program will use a combination of site-based and online classes," said Dr. James Fuller, Dean of IWU's College of Graduate Studies. "The coursework will take about 27 months, and then there will be a dissertation on top of that. Students could conceivably finish the program in three years."

Fuller said the program is aimed at people who are influencers in organizations and who want to develop their servant leadership skills beyond the master's degree level. "We think the program not only will be popular with people in business or the ministry but in other disciplines as well," he said.

The 38 students officially began their educational journey with five days of classes on the Marion campus this week. In addition to online classes, students in the program will meet as a group about nine times each year for classes.

"The students have blended with each other remarkably well this first week," said Dr. Larry Lindsay. "They clearly have enjoyed getting to know each other and learning together."

Lindsay, who was instrumental in developing the doctoral program, is serving as the program's interim director. He said about 40 percent of the students in the two classes have previously earned IWU degrees and 10 of the doctoral students have taught adult education classes for IWU.