Dr. Ricki Garrett, senior vice president for public affairs at Hayes Dent Public Strategies, a public affairs and lobbying firm in Jackson, Miss., entered Jackson State University’s executive Ph.D. program in urban higher education in 2006, completed her dissertation and graduated in 2008.
Dr. Marcus Chanay, vice president for student life at Jackson State, entered the program in 2005, completed his dissertation and received his doctorate in 2007. The degree helped him secure a promotion to associate vice president in 2008 and his current position in 2011.
Garrett and Chanay are among the 152 graduates of the accelerated program, which focuses on issues faced by urban institutions of higher education. The faculty and staff are preparing to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, and, according to Dr. Walter Brown, a professor and executive director of the program, there is indeed much to celebrate—out of 50 to 60 applicants, there is an average enrollment of 23 students per year and a graduation rate of 70 percent within the two-year framework. The program is financially supported through the university budget from tuition and participatory fees paid by the students.
The first cohort entered the program in September 2004 and graduated in 2006. The 10th cohort, which enrolled last September, is scheduled to graduate in August 2015.
“The uniqueness of this program is that you have people from so many different backgrounds,” Chanay says. “Not all of them are from higher education … some are in nonprofits, public health, there have been some attorneys … and the strength of the program is that you also have [courses] in public policy administration, business and other areas.”
Brown says 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 “extensive research on HBCU development and fundraising.”
Brown also notes that the JSU program was modeled after the University of Pennsylvania executive Ed.D. program, which is described on its website as “the premier cohort-based Ed.D. program in the world” and one that “enables students to complete coursework and a dissertation in two years without career interruption.”
