The Educational Leadership Department at Ball State University became a P-16 unit in the 2018-2019 academic year with the addition of three professors from the Higher Education and Community College Leadership program who joined the P-12 faculty. The P-12 program has long been established as one of the most outstanding preparation programs in the state, producing the largest number of school principals of any higher education institution in Indiana and the second largest number of superintendents.
The Higher Education and Community College Leadership program is the home for the nationally recognized Masters Program in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education. Begun in 1965 SAAHE has graduated over 800 outstanding higher education leaders across the nation. The Department of Educational Leadership is comprised of distinguished award-winning scholars and practitioners working together to create a dynamic, highly relevant and contemporary preparation curriculum. Both boast context specific application in theory and practice through on the job training and site-specific internships. The employment rate for graduates is close to 100%. The Department of Educational Leadership is committed to providing high-caliber mentoring experiences for their graduate students and creating a culture of collaboration, innovation, and creative problem solving for educational leaders.
Financial support for both students and faculty is needed to help enhance the ways educational leadership is conceptualized and to advance Ball State's distinctiveness.
For faculty, focused-support is needed for all aspects of their cutting-edge research designed to help improve and enhance the development of social-justice-minded educational leaders within P-16 settings. For example, resources to build meaningful collaborations with research partners worldwide as well as supporting opportunities to share research papers at national and international research meetings.
For students, more support for professional development opportunities that complement in-class work will elevate their national profile and bring their success stories to larger audiences thereby extending the impact they make on the field of education. For example, dedicated funds to support their research projects and travel to conferences to present the results of their research.
In addition, having funds to bring distinguished scholars to campus would provide both students and faculty with enhanced networks, an up close look at best practices in other states and countries, and assist with communicating the message that Teachers College is the destination of choice for the leaders interested in high-impact practices focused on student success. The Department of Educational Leadership is actively engaged in re-imagining the future of education and what role educational leaders will play to help bring forward a more socially-just educational future for all. Supporting this department will have a direct and lasting impact on those poised to lead our educational institutions.
