About the Program

Doctoral (Ph.D.) Program  in Leadership Studies (DPLS)

Based on the Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person, the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies creates a space where critical thought and moral conviction meet the questions of humanity. For more than twenty years the program has promoted academic excellence and facilitated the strengthening of conceptual, scholarly, and professional competencies for use in leadership roles that serve others. With well over three-hundred graduates, the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies has achieved national recognition and international reach. The faculty come from diverse backgrounds and lend the program a rich experience base. Students of the program also represent a broad range of professions and cultures. Most recently the program has welcomed students from Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Zimbabwe as well as from the Spokane Native American Nation and several other indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest. The interdisciplinary Ph.D. degree program is designed for working professionals and welcomes students across a broad range of professions, including education, health care, social services, clergy, government, law enforcement, and business. Among other professional roles, graduates are teachers and professors throughout the world, healthcare professionals, international leadership consultants and trainers, members of research think-tanks, presidents of organizations, directors of universities, entrepreneurs, CEOs of major corporations, and leaders of profound influence in a wide variety of industries.

Most students are working professionals while pursuing the degree. They enter the program often already established in leadership positions.The program is instrumental in deepening the development of the students' leadership potential and personal growth.  The interdisciplinary design promotes students' development of scholarship and professional competencies while encouraging self-reflection and strengthening a commitment of service to others. Faculty, staff, and students work together to develop and sustain a learning community in which all members can nurture the personal qualities of self-knowledge, self-acceptance, a restless curiosity, a desire for truth, a mature concern for others, respect for human diversity and individuality, as well as a thirst for justice.