Course of Study
Program participants are introduced to the formal study of leadership and doctoral-level scholarship in Leadership Studies (TL600), and then take four additional “first year” foundational courses. Also, during the first year in the program, students begin formulating plans for dissertation research. Through the rest of the core and elective coursework, students gain a better understanding of an interdisciplinary approach, one that empowers students to address complex issues in broader ways than a simple disciplinary framework may suggest. Students take the Doctoral Seminar (TL710) in their final term of coursework and then proceed to formal dissertation research and writing, which takes a minimum of one year, although students may require more time, depending on the topics they choose and the time they devote to their projects.
All courses are three (3) credit courses unless otherwise noted.
Leadership Core Courses 33 credits
The first five courses should be taken during the first year:
TL600 Leadership Studies
TL625 Social Critiques
TL630 Research Seminar
TL715 Leadership and the Creative Imagination
HM775 Leadership Through Writing
BA740 Mastering and Guiding the Process of Change
TL605 Collaborative Leadership
TL615 Transforming the Public Agenda
TL705 Transformation Through the Arts
TL710 Doctoral Seminar
TL850 Internship
Elective Courses 15 credits
Students are required to choose five (5) electives:
BA730 Program Assessment and Evaluation
BA745 Scenario Planning and Game Theory
BA750 Organizational Health
BU720 Managing Financial and Human Resources
BU725 Law, Ethics and Decision-Making
BU735 Policy Analysis and Organizational Change
BU755 Appreciative Inquiry
HM765 Cross-Cultural Communication
HM770 Arts and Learning
HM780 Presidential Leadership
HM771 Politics and Poetics
TL620 Organizational Planning
TL635 Qualitative Research
TL652 Topics in Leadership
TL730 Inferential Statistics
TL852 Internship (Elective Second Internship)
TL699 Independent Study
TL799 Independent Study
Dissertation 12 credits
Taken in sequence, one course per term, following TL710 Doctoral Seminar:
TL901, TL902, TL903 and TL904 Dissertation
Total Credits 60
Note: Students requiring more than five terms of dissertation work are required to register for TL 090, Dissertation Continuation, each and every term until the completion of their dissertation. The continuation fee is $500 per term.
Course Descriptions
All courses are three (3) credit courses unless otherwise noted.
BA730 Program Assessment and Evaluation
This course explores the theories and methods of planning, implementing and evaluating programs and interventions in order to assist individuals and groups to meet the needs and goals of the organization. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are used to evaluate both the need for and the outcomes of programs.
BA740 Mastering and Guiding the Process of Change
This seminar examines culture and culture change from a social science perspective. Leadership requires an in-depth understanding of "other" cultures and a vision of the benefits and challenges of cultural diversity. This course develops skill in critical thinking, an increased awareness of the diversity in the world around us, and the impact of leaders on the change process.
BA745 Scenario Planning and Game Theory
This seminar examines two interrelated sets of tools for economic and organizational strategy-building, scenario planning and game theory. Scenario planning is a methodology to increase our understanding of an uncertain future. Game theory is the investigation of strategic behavior in the context of interdependent action. Used together, they form a powerful approach for planning and leadership.
BA750 Organizational Health
The course is designed as an intensive introduction to the theories, methods and tools for building wellness concepts into the strategic planning process of organizations. The class will define the future of wellness in the workplace. At the completion of the course, students will have an understanding of ways to institute a new wellness paradigm into organizational design.
BU720 Managing Financial and Human Resources
Superior leaders appreciate the conversion of ideas into action and consequence, and recognize that power is needed to drive this conversion and to find it in research, service, and resources, such as finance. The activities of finance are based on beliefs, values, and concern for all stakeholders including company stockholders, employees, consumers, and members of the community.
BU725 Law, Ethics and Decision-Making
Effective leaders are those that can both understand and meld legal, cultural, and ethical issues in such a manner as to provide true leadership. This course blends an examination of law, culture, and ethics to enable and promote leadership in the decision-making process.
BU735 Policy Analysis and Organizational Change
This course is set in the context of a belief that all institutions exist within increasingly complex and entrepreneurial environments. The public’s need for choice, quality, and accountability has given rise to a complex system of policies. Effective leaders must function as entrepreneurs, policy administrators, and community organizers for their organization to be responsive to this dynamic environment.
BU755 Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry was originally conceived as a method for large-scale organizational development change initiative; it is now used in the following ways: as a method to improve relationships and team performance, as a program assessment tool, as a research method, and for building communities. This will be a hands-on learning experience.
HM765 Cross-Cultural Communication
This seminar provides a framework for developing the interpersonal communication and interaction skills necessary for a more valuable engagement of global knowledge and experience. Students learn to identify cultural aspects of verbal and nonverbal behavior of persons from different cultures, and gain a deeper understanding of the cultural differences that cause difficulties in global communication.
HM770 Arts and Learning
This course is designed to provide students with the arts leadership skills necessary for
designing, implementing, assessing, and sustaining arts integration models in diverse
school or organizational settings. The course focuses on the multiple roles of the arts as
mediational tools and provides theoretical and applied knowledge of learning in, with,
and through the arts.
HM771 Politics and Poetics
Leadership can emerge quietly from ideas deposed on a page, simple words functioning
as pedagogical tools. This course explores the thoughts of minorities expressed in
poetry, speeches, journals, letters, songs and stories that have changed society. The
works of writers such as Julia Kristeva, Susan Sontag, Harriet Jacobs, Beau Sia, and
Mahnaz Afkhami are examined.
HM775 Leadership through Writing
An intensive program to prepare participants to assume leadership positions in and
through writing, through reflection and understanding of the power of the written word in
communication and influence. Students analyze their own writing and the writing of
others, develop research and writing projects and build success through effective written
communications.
HM780 Presidential Leadership
Within the context of the presidency, this course explores questions of leadership: Is
transformational leadership possible? What historical circumstances, personal qualities,
or tactics have produced transformational change in the United States? What is the
relationship of leaders to followers? Of ideals, vision, and results? What are our public
values? How is presidential leadership tied to these values?
TL600 Leadership Studies
An introduction and orientation to the Doctor of Arts degree program in Leadership at
Franklin Pierce University. Provides an overview of the Doctor of Arts curriculum,
leadership studies, and includes orientation to and practice at reading, writing and
research activities required by members of the Doctor of Arts faculty.
TL605 Collaborative Leadership
This course is designed to provide an in-depth examination of theory and critical skills
necessary for collaboration in all settings. The course will emphasize the exploration of
major concepts related to leadership with an emphasis on developing partnerships and
collaborative relationships. Themes of collaborative leadership identified during this
course will frame the focus of coursework.
TL615 Transforming the Public Agenda
This course examines significant case studies of transformational change that did not
always produce the outcomes originally envisioned. By studying transformative processes
in commerce, technology, organizations, social institutions and social movements,
participants consider salient factors that influence public agenda transformation,
undertake original research on such transformations and develop insights that may be
useful in their own leadership careers.
TL620 Organizational Planning
The goal of this course is to familiarize students with major conceptual frameworks,
debates, and developments in contemporary organization theory. The course focuses on
both internal processes and the external economic, institutional, and cultural contexts
that organizations face. The course makes use of an interdisciplinary approach to inquiry
and a variety of planning and research strategies.
TL625 Social Critiques
This course examines the role of knowledge in leadership and moral and social
responsibility as it pertains to power and authority. Social sciences are often found at the
juncture between history and humanity. Examination of various social philosophies and
critical research will serve as a point of departure for examination of leadership in the
civic arena.
TL630 Research Seminar
This course presents an overview of the process and application of developing,
implementing, and evaluating research. Focusing on a possible dissertation topic, the
student will conduct a descriptive analysis of initiating an inquiry, gathering data, recording
and analyzing data and evaluating a research project. Disciplinary, interdisciplinary,
qualitative, and quantitative approaches will be explored.
TL635 Qualitative Research
Qualitative research arising out of the traditions of Anthropology, Sociology and Critical
Theory holds ethical principals as the basic tenet rather than objectivity and methodology.
This course focuses on the multiple opportunities available to conduct research into the
meaning of behavior and subsequent interpretive analysis. Prerequisite TL630.
TL 652 Topics in Leadership
This course provides students the opportunity for further study in selected areas of
leadership. Topics may include, but are not limited to: advanced quantitative and/or
qualitative research methods or in a subject area of faculty expertise, and would provide
additional interdisciplinary concepts and practices. Students are allowed to take up to
three (3) TL 652 courses providing they are not duplicating a previous course.
TL705 Transformation Through the Arts
What is a conception of art that captures or grasps it in the making? What are the
implications of this conception for a notion of “change?” What might this mean for
something called “leadership?” The problems and issues of defining these concepts and
their related practical experiences will be considered contextually and critically within a
variety of theoretical frameworks.
TL710 Doctoral Seminar
This seminar prepares students to enter the dissertation phase of the program by focusing
on (a) the development and submission of the capstone essay and (b) the preparation of
the dissertation proposal. As the final course before the dissertation sequence, students are
expected to be prepared in doctoral-level writing and research, and to have a defined question
for advanced inquiry.
TL715 Leadership and the Creative Imagination
A survey of interdisciplinary sources that reveal the creative imagination as an operative
dimension in offering leadership.
TL730 Inferential Statistics
This course introduces graduate-level statistics. The course encourages students to think
critically about data analysis and research design. Students are expected to critically examine
research reports, calculate statistics, and complete a research design. DA students are
required to submit a supplemental project to receive doctoral-level credit. Prerequisite: TL630
and permission of program director. Cross-listed with NR530.
TL699 and TL799 Independent Study
Independent studies enable students to explore topics not covered in other doctoral courses
as preparation for dissertation research. An independent study must be designed with and
supervised by a member of the faculty, approved by the student’s academic advisor, and
normally done in the final year of coursework. Prerequisite: permission of Academic Director.
TL850/852 Internship
Internships enable students to take advantage of opportunities for individual development
while contributing to the wider community beyond their doctoral courses. Internships must be
designed with the student’s academic advisor and then submitted to the Academic Director for
final approval prior to beginning the experience. Internships are generally done in the final
year of coursework.
TL 901, 902, 903, 904 Dissertation*
The dissertation is a substantial work of independent original research that makes a
contribution to the current body of knowledge in a scholarly field. It may be presented in a
traditional dissertation format, or an alternative format, such as a creative work accompanied
by a research report. The dissertation courses are taken sequentially, with the proposal
presented during TL901, and material submitted to the dissertation committee during TL902,
TL903, and TL904. Students who do not complete their dissertation during TL904 are required
to register for TL090 and pay a continuation fee each term beginning in the second term
following TL904. Prerequisite for TL901: permission of Academic Director.
