Higher Education
"Learning better together..."
This student's reflection not only captures the impact of a collaborative learning environment, it characterizes the spirit of our Higher Education Program. It starts in the classroom and in the variety of initiatives in which we, as a community of students, faculty, and staff, are engaged. One of the first programs to develop a graduate learning community, we strive to understand how institutions can act to promote the learning, development and attainment of all their students.
We seek to build a collaborative community for all our members that cuts across the borders that divide academic and student affairs, faculty, and students.
Vincent Tinto
Guiding Principles
Our mission is twofold. We first prepare master and doctoral students to be active participants in efforts to enhance the learning, development, and attainment of all college students. At the master's level, as a preparation program students are educated and trained to become effective higher education professionals in both residential and non-residential settings across institutional types. At the doctoral level, we prepare our students to become theorists, researchers, and administrators who can have a lasting impact on institutional efforts to enhance the education of students. We seek to prepare all our students to become collaborators who can work effectively with others across campus on behalf of student education.
Program History
Programs and Degrees
Admissions and Financial Aid
Research
News and Events
The graduate program in higher education at Syracuse is one of the oldest in the country. The program began in 1931 as the Student Dean Program with the mission to train women to be deans of women at colleges and universities or to be high school and college counselors and placement officers. In 1935, M. Eunice Hilton, who was the first woman to receive a doctorate from the School of Education (1934), became Director of the Student Dean Program, a position she held until 1959. Under Dr. Hilton's leadership, the program became known in the field as the program for women in higher education. Beginning in the 1960's, the Student Dean Program gradually expanded to include higher education administration. At about the same time, the program became co-educational and shifted its emphasis towards scholarly research. The Student Dean Program, no longer an appropriate description of an ever expanding department, was changed to the Higher Education Program to reflect an ever-expanding range of study. The important work of the Student Dean Program continues through the higher education/student affairs masters program.
We offer both a Masters of Science and a Doctorate in Philosophy.
Master of Science:
Students enrolled in the Master's program will obtain a solid foundation on how to apply theories of student development, learning, and persistence to a administration, programming, advising, faculty roles, and policy-making on behalf of students from diverse backgrounds at differing institutions of higher education.
For more information about the Master's degree program please visit:
http://soeweb.syr.edu/academics/grad/higher_education/masters.cfm
Doctorate of Philosophy:
The Doctoral program focuses on the application of theory and research to the study of higher education and to change efforts that seek to enhance the education and success of all students. Our commitment is not merely to study theory and research, but to apply what we know from theory and research to the improvement of education for all students.
Students pursuing the Doctorate should have a commitment to research, writing, and teaching in college and university settings and have had significant prior full time leadership positions in higher education prior.
For more information about the Doctoral degree program please visit:
http://soeweb.syr.edu/academics/grad/higher_education/doctoral.cfm
The Higher Education program has a rolling admission policy, but students are strongly advised to submit application materials for admission for the Fall semester no later than February 1st. Because of high numbers of applicants, admission to the program is closed by the end of the Spring semester and applicants applying later are placed on a wait list.
For detailed information about Admissions and Financial Aid, please visit:
http://soeweb.syr.edu/academics/grad/higher_education/admissions.cfm
Our faculty and students are engaged in a variety of funded research projects and a range of national efforts to improve higher education. These projects and grants include:
- The Pathways to College Success Project
- The National Survey of Programs and Initiatives that Enhance Academic Life
- Students' Learning and the Transition from High School to College
- School of Education Research and Creative Grant
For more information please visit:
http://soeweb.syr.edu/academics/grad/higher_education/research.cfm
Check out the news and current events from the higher education program. Please visit for news, events and book contributions as well as a copy of current and past program newsletters.
For more information please visit:
http://soeweb.syr.edu/academics/grad/higher_education/newsevents.cfm