Ph.D. in Human Sciences with a Specialization in Leadership Studies

The interdepartmental doctoral program in human sciences with a specialization in leadership studies is designed for individuals interested in studying leadership and leadership development theory and practice. It is ideal for those interested in becoming a leadership scholar in a faculty role or in a variety of other contexts, including communities, government agencies, non-profit and private sector organizations.

The Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication Division faculty and graduate students are internationally recognized for teaching, research, and outreach. We strive to develop close student-faculty relationships based on strong mentoring experiences.

The faculty encourages students to take classes from several departments campus-wide. Moreover, this program is one of the few doctoral-level leadership scholarship programs in the country.

Students will have considerable flexibility when they develop their programs of study with their doctoral advisory committee to fit their learning needs. Once admitted to our graduate study, students will consult with their advisor to prepare a formal program of study. Core program courses will focus on two main elements, 1) Leadership Scholarship and 2) Research Methods.

1. Leadership scholarship refers to understanding the field of leadership from a research perspective, which includes leadership models & theories, leadership development & training, and leadership from several perspectives (e.g. motivation, power & influence, cultural diversity, etc.)
2. Research methods refers to developing the skills necessary to conduct research related to leadership. We want our students to be able to contribute to leadership scholarship through research. This aspect of our program really explores how we know what we know about leadership, and how we effectively contribute to that knowing through evidence-based processes.

Additionally, students will be able to include courses within their programs that focus on:

• Teaching, learning, and program development
• Organizational behavior and management
• Higher education administration
• Social sciences (communication, psychology, sociology, & community development).

Students may select courses from several departments across the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, including Educational Administration; Psychology, and Sociology.

• GRE (required):  GRE scores provide our faculty reviewers valuable information about your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills. We only accept GRE scores that are valid per the GRE testing site.  Click here to view more information about GRE testing scores.  GRE waivers are only granted in rare circumstances (e.g. GRE is not available in your country of residence). If you would like to request a waiver, please email your request to the ALEC Graduate Student Support, Christina Franklin at 402-472-8738 or email at cfranklin3@unl.edu.
• Curriculum Vitae or Resume (required):  Your vitae should include a complete account of your academic and professional history along with your community activities, service, accomplishments, and awards.
• Personal Statement (required):
  1. Describe 1 to 3 personal and professional goals or objectives, and how this degree will help you achieve them.
  2. Describe how your past experience (work, volunteer, research, etc.) provides you a context for studying in this field.
  3. Describe how your interests align with research, extension, and/or creative activity of each of the ALEC Graduate Faculty you list in the Faculty section of the application.
• Academic Research Experience (required):  As part of your application, our faculty would appreciate you sharing any specific experience you have engaging in research. Within the program, you will be engaging in social science research (leadership, education, and communication), and there are several types of experiences we would encourage you to highlight in this section of the application. Specifically, it would be helpful if you can share any of the following with us:
  • A list of your publications (if any). For each publication, please articulate your contributions (e.g., analyzed data wrote the literature review).
  • Any specific social science research you've conducted (by yourself or as part of a team, if in a team, please articulate your contributions specifically)
  • Any program/project evaluation experience you have
  • Quantitative research methods experience
  • Coursework or training in statistics and/or math
  • Any project (for class or work) where you engaged in data analysis (either quantitatively or qualitatively)
  • Experience engaging in life sciences (e.g., biology, animal science, plant science) and/or physical sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry) research
  • Qualitative research methods experience
  • Experience conducting interviews
  • Experience coding/analyzing audio, video, or written materials.

It is not expected that you have any and certainly not all these experiences, but we wanted to provide some examples to help you answer this question.

• Faculty (required):  Review current ALEC Graduate Faculty and their research areas. Please identify at least one and a maximum of three faculty members in this division with whom you would like to work. Also, address faculty interest alignment in your Personal Statement. Please pay close attention to ALEC Graduate Faculty who are accepting new students, as not all ALEC Graduate Faculty are accepting new students.
• Letters of Recommendation (required) (min 3; max 5):  One letter should speak to your capacity to be a successful student (e.g. from a faculty member); one letter should speak to your professional capacity (e.g. from a supervisor), the remaining letter can speak to anything you believe makes you an ideal candidate for our program (e.g. commitment to research capacity, teaching and training experience).
• Writing Sample (required):  Please provide a writing sample that demonstrates your scholarly writing ability, for example a term paper, thesis, grant submission or published article.
• ALEC Assistantship Interest (optional):  The Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication Division (ALEC) has the privilege of providing graduate assistantships at the master’s and Ph.D. levels. ALEC graduate assistantships include a stipend, tuition remission, and partial health insurance. We review applications on a rolling basis, and to be eligible for an assistantship, you must be admitted to an ALEC graduate program (M.S. in Leadership Education or Ph.D. in Human Sciences with a Leadership Studies specialization).

Students in conjunction with their advisors and supervisory committees will develop a Program of Study that is suited to their professional goals and scholarly interests. This program will contain a set of coursework and experiences that are common to all students in the program, as well as coursework and experiences that are unique to students' professional goals and scholarly interests and needs.

Courses listed here represent the minimum requirements in each area. It is expected that programs will exceed the minimum requirements in areas needed to support students' academic needs.

A background in basic research methods and statistics is assumed. Students who are deficient in one of more of these areas will be required to remove these deficiencies through appropriate coursework. Courses taken to remove deficiencies cannot be counted toward the minimum requirements below.

AND at least one advanced research/statistics course to be selected in consultation with your advisor to meet the specific research and career-related needs of the student.

See http://cehs.unl.edu/edpsych/quantitative-qualitative-psychometric-methods/ for suggested courses.

The Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication Division (ALEC) has the privilege of providing graduate assistantships at the master’s and Ph.D. levels. ALEC graduate assistantships include a stipend, tuition remission, and partial health insurance. We review applications as positions become available, and to be eligible for an assistantship, you must be admitted to an ALEC graduate program (M.S. in Leadership Education or Ph.D. in Human Sciences with a Leadership Studies specialization).

Graduate Assistantship selections are a separate process from our graduate admissions process. If you are interested in being considered for an assistantship, you will need to apply for admission to an ALEC graduate program and indicate in your application that you have an interest in an assistantship.

ALEC Graduate Assistant Travel Funding

The ALEC Graduate Assistant Travel Funding assists eligible ALEC M.S. & Ph.D. students traveling to international or national conferences and/or seminars to make presentation on behalf of the Agricultural Leadership, Education, & Communication Division. The grant is not intended to support students attending courses at other schools, research travel, general educational travel or professional development.

For information, contact Christina Franklin, Graduate Student Support at 402-472-8738 or email cfranklin3@unl.edu.