Walden University Offers New EdD in Higher Education and Adult Learning

Minneapolis—June 23, 2008—Walden University, one of the nation’s largest providers of graduate degrees to educators, now offers a specialization in Higher Education and Adult Learning in its Doctor of Education (EdD) program, created to improve, build on, and enhance the skills of educators who teach adults.

The new specialization is designed as a versatile program to meet the professional goals of those who teach in various settings, including community colleges and adult education in a school district or corporate venue, and is among a number of new offerings in The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden.

“This new EdD program for dedicated instructors and professors meets an overwhelming need in higher education. Coupled with Walden’s Community College Leadership program, the EdD specialization in Higher Education and Adult Learning places Walden in the vanguard for serving the nation’s community colleges,” said Dr. Terry O’Banion, director of the Community College Leadership Program at Walden and president emeritus of the League for Innovation, one of the nation’s leading community college associations.

“Walden’s EdD curriculum is uniquely designed to teach research skills in conjunction with core coursework which, along with a final doctoral study project, leads to the development of innovative and critical thinkers prepared to examine, experiment and reflect on practices that empower adults to be lifelong learners,” added Dr. Joe Ann Hinrichs, associate dean and director of the EdD program at Walden.

Walden’s EdD specialization in Higher Education and Adult Learning is a non-licensure program designed to improve reflective teaching and facilitator skills and develop solutions for higher education as well as for adult learning in the workplace. Walden’s learning format combines online courses and face-to-face residencies, allowing students to learn from education leaders around the world while balancing personal and professional commitments. Walden also offers an EdD specialization in Teacher Leadership and one in Administrator Leadership for Teaching and Learning designed for K–12 educators.

In addition to this new specialization, curriculum enhancements have also been added to several master’s and PhD programs. Because technology is an important element of learning and training for K–12 technology leaders in higher education and in the workplace, Walden is including the latest technology tools for learning and methods in its MS in Education (MSEd) specialization, Integrating Technology in the Classroom (Gr. K–12), and the PhD in Education specialization, Educational Technology. Also, new advancements in neuroscience about the brain and how people learn are informing school literacy programs and changing the way teachers approach literacy in their classrooms. Walden brings the latest research in this area to its updated MSEd specializations, Elementary Reading and Literacy (P–6) and Elementary Reading and Mathematics (Gr. K–6).

In January 2008 Walden University, an accredited institution, named its College of Education in honor of Richard W. Riley, the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and a leading advocate in advancing education as a national priority. The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden recently added a Bachelor of Science in Child Development program and special education endorsement programs to its offerings, which include M.S. in Education, PhD in Education, EdD and teacher preparation programs.

For more information, call an Enrollment Specialist at 1-866-492-5336 or visit www.WaldenU.edu.

About Walden University
Since 1970, Walden University has offered working professionals the opportunity to earn advanced degrees through distance learning. Today, this comprehensive, accredited online university offers master’s and doctoral degrees in education, psychology, management, public policy and administration and health and human services, as well as master’s programs in engineering and IT and bachelor’s programs in business, child development, computer information systems and psychology. Walden University is a member of Laureate International Universities, a leading global network of accredited campus-based and online universities. For more information, visit www.WaldenU.edu.

Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.hlcommission.org; 1-312-263-0456.