The Leadership of Higher Education Systems Concentration is offered as a way for students to focus their study on developing the knowledge and skills to be change agents within higher education systems.

The Fielding program is a signature program. It is especially designed as a professional development program to meet the needs of employed scholar practitioners.

Requirements for the Concentration
The concentration is an individually tailored program based on an individual learning plan created by each student. Your program is independent and self paced. This concentration requires that students take ELC 782: Higher Education and focus three of their other faculty-approved Knowledge Area courses on higher education system and leadership topics.

To complete the program, working with your mentor, you may design your learning program around the following plan:

Eighty units via eight ten-unit Knowledge Areas:
ELC Core (40 units)
ELC 751 Action-Oriented Research (10 units)
ELC 752 Leadership and Change (10 units)
ELC 753 Systems Thinking and Intervention (10 units)
ELC 769: Structural Inequality and Diversity (10 units)
Concentration in Leadership in Higher Education (40 units)
ELC 782 Higher Education (10 units)
ELC XXX: Electives. Focus three faculty-approved Knowledge Area elective courses on higher Education change and leadership topics (30 units)

To complete the Ed. D degree you must also complete an additional 21 units in the following areas:
21 Units that include the following:
Learning Plan (3 units)
Comprehensive Assessment (credit only)
Dissertation (18 units)
Total Units: 101

Program Leadership: Gloria Willingham, PhD
Dr. Gloria Willingham, Associate Dean, is the contact person for this concentration. Dr. Willingham has explored higher education systems in the United States and abroad to include Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Jordan, Egypt, Australia, Thailand, and Cuba. While working in Saudi Arabia she was the member of a team drafting plans for a proposed new college of nursing. She led the development of several post-graduate diploma programs and created a mentoring program linking nurses from thirty-two different countries in an agreed upon educational program system. She was previously faculty at California State University, Long Beach; and adjunct faculty at numerous other higher education institutions across the United States.

She moved into higher education full-time subsequent to her retirement from a successful career as a Chief, Nursing Education and Research in the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System. She holds a BA from Regents College, USNY; MNSc. from University of Arkansas, and a PhD in Higher Education (concentration: Higher Education Administration) from Claremont Graduate University (CGU). She is a recipient of the CGU Distinguished Alumni Award and is a charter member of the CGU Alumni Hall of Fame. She served previously as the President, Alumni Board of Trustees, Regents College, Albany, New York. She was a member of an early Blue Ribbon Task Force studying competency-based education and proficiency testing in New York state in the 1980’s.

Dr. Willingham is also a retired Lt. Colonel from the US Army Reserves where she served in numerous leadership positions in education to include serving as a member of the Command staff of an Army Reserve School spanning thirteen western states. She had received numerous awards for her leadership in higher education initiatives in a variety of settings to include academe, government, private, and nonprofit setting. She is a sought after public speaker and has spoken on various topics related to education across the United States and abroad.

She is an active member and leader of many professional and community organizations thereby positioning her as a link to valuable networks for students and faculty. Not unlike our students, Dr. Willingham worked full time while raising a family and attending school full-time earning three college degrees.