Jackson State University’s Executive Ph.D. Program in Urban Higher Education is holding its 10th Anniversary Celebration Gala on Thursday, Dec. 11.
To be held at 7 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Jackson, this year’s event is titled “Catalyzing Change in Urban Higher Education.”
Special guest speaker is Dr. William E. Cox, president and CEO and co-founder of Cox, Matthews & Associates, Inc. (CMA), a Fairfax, Va., firm specializing in print and online publishing, e-commerce, research, training and consulting. He is also president and CEO of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education magazine.
In 1999, Dr. Cox was responsible for the creation of Black Issues Book Review, the nation’s only publication addressing books for, by and about African-Americans.
Dr. Cox has played both a leadership and contributing author role in the publication of The Unfinished Agenda monograph series, books addressing significant events in the history of the American civil rights movement.
Tickets are $50, tables start at $450.
For more information, call 601-979-EPHD (3743) or email ephd@jsums.edu.
The Executive Ph.D. Program (EPhD) in Urban Higher Education prepares students to assume senior leadership roles in post-secondary institutions and other organizations whose primary activities relate to institutions of higher learning.
The program, which started in 2004, has graduated 167 students over an eight-year period, according to Dr. Fran Bridges, assistant director of the program. Approximately, 50 percent of its graduates are from out-of-state.
The program was recently featured in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.
The trans-disciplinary degree requires studies in business, public policy and administration, and urban and regional planning, combined with studies in higher education administration, research methodology and practice.
Most of the program’s research addresses subjects such as retention of African-American students in higher education, administrative challenges, faculty concerns, STEM curricula, utilization of technology and research on HBCU development.
According to Dr. Walter Brown, a professor and executive director of the program, there is much to celebrate.
Many of the students fly in from other parts of the country, attracted by the ability to earn the degree one weekend a month (Thursday through Sunday) in approximately 24 months. This enables students to complete coursework and a dissertation in two years without career interruption, Brown says.
Students typically are already involved in demanding careers. Some are faculty seeking higher level leadership, as well as mid-entry level personnel in management from colleges and universities, as well as others. This could include human resource/service agencies, foundations, corporations with adult training missions and other sectors that represent government, industry, commerce or technology.