Two years ago, education faculty at Ada’s East Central University saw a need to further the conversation around the unique issues of rural education. They decided to launch the research journal, the Chronicle of Rural Education.
Jerry Mihelic, ECU’s dean of education and psychology, said once that got off the ground, it sparked another idea for their “grassroots movement” to move the needle on rural education research and advocacy.
“What else can we do to impact rural ed? And the next step seemed, logically, to be a doctorate,” Mihelic said.
ECU announced Wednesday, pending accreditation approval expected next month, it would offer its first-ever doctoral program: a Doctor of Education in Rural Education.
“We feel that it’s who we are at East Central. The professors and the university are positioned in a rural area. Everyone that will be teaching in that role, that doctorate, has experience in rural education, either as a teacher or administrator, and have lived in rural areas,” Mihelic said. “And so it just felt like a natural fit of who we are and what our mission and passion was.”
ECU plans to start enrolling this fall for classes starting in January. The program will be fully online to accommodate working professionals. Courses are offered in eight-week terms, and students have five opportunities to enroll throughout the year.
Mihelic said rural education presents its own set of unique challenges the faculty aims to address in the doctoral program, including legislative advocacy, balancing the many roles required of rural educators in an often stretched-thin system and co-opting services to meet the needs of students and communities.
The degree ends with an applied dissertation for students to research challenges and solutions in their local areas.
“Our mission is that as you’re working on your dissertation, it’ll be something that will impact your community and you can impact it as you’re doing your dissertation,” Mihelic said. “And hopefully when your dissertations are done, you’re published in our journal. And so not only your community will receive a benefit from your research, but then we can broaden out through the rest of Oklahoma and then possibly the rest of the United States.”
Since the news release Wednesday, Mihelic said he received around 25 emails from interested potential students.
“There’s a definite interest,” Mihelic said. “And the reason we developed [the program] is, again, because we felt there was a need out there and it wasn’t being met.”
In setting up the program, Mihelic said the faculty modeled some aspects from other universities as a starting point, as well as looking to the National Rural Education Association and the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Combined with the backgrounds of ECU’s faculty, Mihelic said he thinks the program will offer something new and different.
“We have what I think is the expertise, because we’ve lived the experience of being in rural ed and lived in rural communities. And I think we understand the uniqueness that that presents,” Mihelic said. “And bringing [that into it], as we developed our curriculum for the coursework and what we plan on being part of that research with the dissertation.”
Offerings will include courses in rural education history and foundation, contemporary issues and advocacy, finance and special programs.
Over half of Oklahoma’s school districts are classified as rural, according to the U.S. Census, and according to the National Center for Education Statistics, about one-third of public schools across the U.S. are, as well. Rural communities often face unique issues that can present challenges to ensuring student success, such as health care deserts, food insecurity, and sparse internet connectivity.
Mihelic said he has high hopes for the program to equip educators in overcoming the demanding and nuanced circumstances rural education presents.
“It just sends chills when I think about the impact we could be doing for our rural communities,” Mihelic said. “When I was in the rural community, it felt like us against the world. … As you go through the program, you’re going to make connections with people. And we’re hoping that will connect to a huge impact in what’s happening for our students.”
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