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BIDDEFORD, Maine

UNE launches online doctoral program in educational leadership, appoints director

The University of New England welcomes Michelle Collay, Ph.D., to its Department of Education leadership team as professor and director of the new online doctoral program in educational leadership (Ed.D), which welcomes its first class in fall 2012.  

Building on the strength of 15 years of successful distance and online graduate programs for educators and other professionals, UNE has launched a doctorate designed for leaders who work in education, social work, medicine, and other rapidly changing fields demanding innovative leaders. 

UNE is uniquely positioned to provide experienced faculty, cross-role communities of practice, interdisciplinary study, and technologically integrated pedagogy for the next generation of graduate students.

Michelle Collay

Collay recognizes the power of transformative leadership in many roles and fields.  She was most recently curriculum coordinator for the California State University East Bay's doctoral program: Educational Leadership for Social Justice.  A former public school music teacher, Collay is a scholar practitioner who supports transformative leaders in higher education, K-12 schools, and other agencies.

Her research focus is teacher professional socialization with attention to how race, class, and gender shape professional identity.  Collay's recent publication, Everyday Teacher Leadership: Taking Action Where You Are (Jossey-Bass, 2011), recognizes and celebrates the power of teacher leadership in schools. She coaches school leaders engaged in developing and sustaining communities of practice, constructivist teaching, transformative leadership, and other school reform work.

Collay says, "The UNE Education faculty have a vision for transforming self, organization, and community by grounding professional actions in personal values, collaborating across role and organization, and integrating ever-expanding technological resources. Leadership development relies on the newest and most senior members in any organization, each with much to offer and gain from innovative graduate study."

Integrated Learning Experience

UNE's doctorate in educational leadership is a three-year program that is completed entirely online (including dissertation), with no residency requirement. It is designed to be an integrated learning experience for professionals who will connect and collaborate with each other and the UNE instructor. 

Says Collay, "Our program validates and builds on what experienced professionals already know.  UNE's focus on transformative leadership enables participants to apply the theoretical to their current settings "to develop and implement their vision within their institutions.  Much of the curriculum is designed for applied research."

Douglas Lynch, Chair of the Education Department, emphasized that transformative leadership is especially valuable to the doctoral candidates:  "The doctoral program is designed to respect the professional skills and knowledge of the graduate candidates.  This empowerment supports a professional learning community that will persist across the three years."

Collay has a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Oregon.  She has been active as a parent volunteer in her children's schools and is a bassoonist in community orchestras and chamber ensembles.

The Ed.D. admissions process is open and review of applicants is under way.  For more information, visit the website.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.