Announcement: CU Denver is Celebrating 50 Years
Whether you’re an alumnus, current student, member of the faculty and staff, donor, or neighbor, you’re a valuable part of the CU Denver community. Help us celebrate the last 50 years and a future that works for all.
Learn More
Explore CU Denver Programs
Use the search tool below to discover degree and certificate programs offered by CU Denver. If you are unable to find a program that is right for you, please contact Admissions or a school or college for more information.
Program Overview
Prepares leaders to see opportunities in the range of complex challenges facing the education system. Graduates of the program will have the aptitude to properly serve diverse and urban student populations in P-12, post-secondary, and nonprofit educational systems. The program hones the skills needed to work within communities and address issues to lead systems change.
Urban communities are complex and diverse. Unfortunately, they're often represented in oversimplified ways in modern literature and the media. CU Denver's Doctor of Education (EdD) concentration in urban and diverse communities prepares practitioners in P-12, post-secondary, and community settings to lead for impact and change through:
- A complex and contextualized view of urban and diverse communities
- A strengths-based understanding of the experiences of families, children, and their communities
- An understanding of policies and practices in housing, employment, urban development, and education
- An understanding of the cultural and historical realities and identities of diverse communities
- An understanding of relevant and applicable critical and social theories
- A disposition to work alongside, and with, local communities
- The leadership skills for supporting systems development and change
- The experience of completing a doctoral research project dissertation.
Choose CU Denver's School of Education & Human Development;
The program strives to provide an education that prepares students for excellence in their career as a leader. Graduates will be keenly aware of the value, complexities, and unique opportunities of urban and diverse communities. The School of Education and Human Development (SEHD) are recognized for preparing leaders of distinction who value educational excellence and social justice. Additionally, SEHD is counted among U.S. News & World Report's “Best Graduate Schools,” making us one of the top education schools in the country.
Courses
The 54-credit program begins each summer.
The curriculum includes a combination of on-campus, hybrid, remote, and online courses each semester.
Every student must be available to attend on-campus courses each semester.
The curriculum includes the following elements:
- 12 hours in EdD core courses within equity, leadership and learning core areas (four 3-credit courses)
- Nine hours in the research core (three 3-credit courses)
- 12 hours in the concentration areas (four 3-credit courses)
- Six hours of elective courses (two 3-credit courses)
- 15 hours of seminars and the completion of a doctoral research project
The program strives to expose students to context-specific best practices, interdisciplinary connections, and applied research. This is all set within an environment that stresses the application of theory to practice. The EdD program has been designed to enable students to complete program requirements in three or five years.
Why the Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Urban and Diverse Communities at CU Denver?
Flexible option for working professionals
Most of the students in our cohort-based program are working full-time. To accommodate this, all courses are taught in the late afternoon, evening or online. This 54-credit-hour plan of study may be completed in a three-year or five-year track through blended-learning courses that use online activities coupled with face-to-face sessions.
Dissertation-in-practice
EdD students culminate the program with a dissertation-in-practice. During this final phase, you’ll engage with faculty and our district and community partners on problems of practice and policy. This includes opportunities to learn with the support of leaders of the Center for Practice Engaged Education Research (C-PEER) and developers of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as you work with real data and engage in authentic inquiry. We prepare you to problem-solve, innovate, and improve learning outcomes for preschool – higher education environments.
Commitment to diversity and social justice
CU Denver resides in the center of a thriving urban setting, creating a diverse university community. Our EdD students are prepared for the real world. This program partners with diverse, urban schools and community organizations. Many of our faculty members speak Spanish. This knowledge and skills enhance our student’s ability to serve culturally diverse and underrepresented individuals and families.
Executive coaching
Our alumni receive executive coaching services for up to one year after graduation for a reasonable fee delivered by qualified faculty focused on your success after program completion.
Program Description
Urban communities are complex and diverse. Unfortunately, they're often represented in oversimplified ways in modern literature and the media. CU Denver's Doctor of Education (EdD) concentration in urban and diverse communities prepares practitioners in P-12, post-secondary, and community settings to lead for impact and change through:
- A complex and contextualized view of urban and diverse communities
- A strengths-based understanding of the experiences of families, children, and their communities
- An understanding of policies and practices in housing, employment, urban development, and education
- An understanding of the cultural and historical realities and identities of diverse communities
- An understanding of relevant and applicable critical and social theories
- A disposition to work alongside, and with, local communities
- The leadership skills for supporting systems development and change
- The experience of completing a doctoral research project dissertation.
Choose CU Denver's School of Education & Human Development;
The program strives to provide an education that prepares students for excellence in their career as a leader. Graduates will be keenly aware of the value, complexities, and unique opportunities of urban and diverse communities. The School of Education and Human Development (SEHD) are recognized for preparing leaders of distinction who value educational excellence and social justice. Additionally, SEHD is counted among U.S. News & World Report's “Best Graduate Schools,” making us one of the top education schools in the country.
Courses
The 54-credit program begins each summer.
The curriculum includes a combination of on-campus, hybrid, remote, and online courses each semester.
Every student must be available to attend on-campus courses each semester.
The curriculum includes the following elements:
- 12 hours in EdD core courses within equity, leadership and learning core areas (four 3-credit courses)
- Nine hours in the research core (three 3-credit courses)
- 12 hours in the concentration areas (four 3-credit courses)
- Six hours of elective courses (two 3-credit courses)
- 15 hours of seminars and the completion of a doctoral research project
The program strives to expose students to context-specific best practices, interdisciplinary connections, and applied research. This is all set within an environment that stresses the application of theory to practice. The EdD program has been designed to enable students to complete program requirements in three or five years.
Why the Doctor of Education in Leadership for Educational Equity, Urban and Diverse Communities at CU Denver?
Flexible option for working professionals
Most of the students in our cohort-based program are working full-time. To accommodate this, all courses are taught in the late afternoon, evening or online. This 54-credit-hour plan of study may be completed in a three-year or five-year track through blended-learning courses that use online activities coupled with face-to-face sessions.
Dissertation-in-practice
EdD students culminate the program with a dissertation-in-practice. During this final phase, you’ll engage with faculty and our district and community partners on problems of practice and policy. This includes opportunities to learn with the support of leaders of the Center for Practice Engaged Education Research (C-PEER) and developers of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as you work with real data and engage in authentic inquiry. We prepare you to problem-solve, innovate, and improve learning outcomes for preschool – higher education environments.
Commitment to diversity and social justice
CU Denver resides in the center of a thriving urban setting, creating a diverse university community. Our EdD students are prepared for the real world. This program partners with diverse, urban schools and community organizations. Many of our faculty members speak Spanish. This knowledge and skills enhance our student’s ability to serve culturally diverse and underrepresented individuals and families.
Executive coaching
Our alumni receive executive coaching services for up to one year after graduation for a reasonable fee delivered by qualified faculty focused on your success after program completion.
Program Features
Apply by December 1
Application deadline
Summer
Starting semester
3 or 5 years
Time to complete
The 54-credit program begins each summer
Credit hours
Useful Links
Learn more
Learn more about the program and apply
Alumni Success Stories
Spencer studied educational equity in urban and diverse communities. He completed a dissertation on school ethnic racial socialization in May of 2021. Spencer is a school counselor at Overland High School in Aurora. Spencer is the director of the Denver Journal of Education and Community, and a Senior Research Associate with the Right 2 Learn Dignity Lab. The EdD program at CU Denver taught Spencer how to critically consume the systems, settings, and relationships that he experiences daily in schools, and perhaps more importantly how to think critically about his own socially constructed identity. What's more, and specifically through his relationships with his brilliant professors, Spencer continues to learn about community and education rooted in love and dignity.
Spencer Childress
EdD in Leadership for Educational Equity, Urban and Diverse Communities
(May 2021)
Overland High School, School Counselor
CU Denver graduates earn more, build community, and make connections. Take the first step toward your future and join an inclusive community of learners while gaining the skills of tomorrow, today.