Program Infomation

The Department of Education Organization and Leadership (EOL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers the Community College Executive Leadership (CCEL) graduate option. The CCEL program is for current community college administrators and faculty leaders who aspire to executive leadership positions as presidents, vice presidents, and deans in public community colleges. CCEL involves course work over approximately three years, plus a dissertation. The selected participants will enter this graduate option as a cohort and continue through the course work as a group.

The CCEL option results in the awarding of the degree Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) which is designed to provide students with advanced professional training and to develop expertise in the scholarly study of professional issues.

A distinguishing feature of CCEL is that students can remain employed full-time while pursuing the Ed.D. degree since this option encourages the continuous engagement of practice with theory and research. For students who wish to commit to full-time study, a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) option is available.

The College of Education has engaged in graduate education for community college personnel for many years. Since 1998 three CCEL cohorts have enrolled approximately 50 doctoral students. Graduates have been placed successfully in administrative positions as president, vice president, dean, director, and department chair in Illinois and nationally.

Applicants should consult the Graduate Handbook of the College of Education for additional requirements at: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/saao/grad/handbook/