ELHE
Educational Leadership & Higher Education
ELHE
Educational Leadership & Higher Education
Fulfilling our social justice mission, our Educational Leadership and Higher Education programs develop agents of cultural change—reflective practitioners committed to making schools more equitable.
The department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education prepares administrators and leaders of educational institutions ranging from pre-schools, to K-12, public, Catholic, charter schools to universities, to post graduate institutions.
Graduates are prepared to bring perspectives from sociology, psychology, history and philosophy, as well as social justice and public policy to their analysis and articulation of educational issues.
Course work and field-based learning experiences develop reflective practitioners who integrate theory with practice.
Courses in the department encompass these primary themes:
Courses in the various programs of study explore how economic, societal, political, and global forces change the way people think about schooling, educational leadership, and post-secondary administration.
To keep up with the constantly changing world there have been broad shifts in the knowledge and skills required of educational leaders today:
These shifts have been reflected in courses throughout the Educational Leadership and Higher Education programs.
Students engaging in Educational Leadership and Higher Education programs benefit considerably from the location of Boston College. Boston as a city is one of the richest post-secondary environments in the world, and offers a diverse range of educational environments.
The Boston College O'Neill Library has an excellent collection of books and journals in higher education and educational leadership resulting from decades of focus in the field. The university offers strong supporting faculty in education, management, and the social sciences, and a strong tradition of collaborative scholarship.
Close relations with other academic institutions in the area mean extensive opportunities for internships and research around the metropolitan area. Boston College's Jesuit identity also offers an underlying concern with social justice issues that is unique among education programs, and of course the program benefits from the Jesuit tradition of rigorous intellectual discourse.
Designed to develop professionals who have the knowledge, intellectual disposition, professional skills, ethical sensibilities, and leadership potential to make a difference in the lives of all schoolchildren.
Develop a deep understanding of the science of child development and the policies and systems that intersect with children, families, and communities.
Assume a leadership role in educational systems serving students, families, and communities.
Designed for superintendents, this program is anchored in values of social justice, community, and school reform and results in superintendent licensure.
Develop the skills to use policy creatively and effectively to advance organizational goals and educational change.
Designed to develop professionals who have the knowledge, intellectual disposition, professional skills, ethical sensibilities, and leadership potential to make a difference in the lives of all school children.
Develop the skills, mindsets, and technical knowledge to match the changing pace of higher education in this program designed for experienced professionals.
Develop expertise in student affairs, administration, international higher education or Catholic universities in one of the first higher education graduate programs in the country.
Emerge from this dual degree program ready to share your skills with universities and policy-making organizations in financial management, resource planning, and technology management.
Prepare for a career in teaching or research in the field of higher education with a focus on equity and social justice.
Deepen your understanding of global higher education models and critical issues impacting higher education around the world.
The Dual Degree M.A. in International Higher Education offers bilingual students (Spanish/English) the opportunity to combine courses offered as part of the Boston College M.A. in Higher Education with courses offered as part of the M.A. in International Higher Education at the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) in Mexico.
Use legal and educational expertise to become an advocate for social justice and promote quality education for all.
Boldly advance equity in schools and enact a systemic response to confront the barriers students face.
Educational Leadership
For practicing school and district-level leaders interested in socially just leadership and system-level change.
For those interested in pursuing academic or research careers focused on K-12 educational leadership, organizations, and policy.
Higher Education
For mid-career practitioners interested in cultivating agile and socially just leadership.
For research-focused training on social justice issues in higher education.
Internationally recognized faculty integrate interdisciplinary theory with the most current evidence-based practices.
Department Chair, Educational Leadership & Higher Education
Program Director, Educational Leadership and Policy, M.Ed.
Academic Director, Center for International Higher Education
Program Director, Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) / Professional School Administrator Program (PSAP)
Program Director, Higher Education, Ph.D.
Managing Director of the Center for International Higher Education
Academic Director, Center for International Higher Education
Program Director, Higher Education, Ph.D.
Program Director, Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) / Professional School Administrator Program (PSAP)
Department Chair, Educational Leadership & Higher Education
Program Director, Educational Leadership and Policy, M.Ed.
Education:
Beth Godett's experience spans across the education and law sectors, with her research interests lying in the intersection of schooling and policy. Having served in both assistant superintendent and superintendent roles, Godett also has experience working as an adjunct professor of law at both Fairleigh Dickinson University and Rider University in New Jersey.
Godett recently published a new book, titled "Exploring Administrative Decision-Making in Public Education: The Negligence Evolution." The book speaks to how elements of negligence apply in the world of public education, and particularly what school administrators should consider today and in the future that they may not have considered in the past. Her first book, "Toward the Bigger Half: Equity in Public Education," brings stories from law and history to give voice to those in the classroom and beyond.
Education:
At Boston College, Bridget Gough’s doctoral dissertation focused on the perceived influence of social justice leadership on the job satisfaction of novice teachers. Currently the superintendent of the Walpole Public Schools, she focuses on theories of educational leadership and how those theories are authentically enacted in schools and organizations in order to lead and implement change.
Previously, Gough served as an assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction. She has 30 years of experience in the field of education, which included roles as a middle school principal, assistant principal and English teacher.
Education:
Leslie Patterson began her career as a math teacher at Newton North High School before accepting a role as associate principal at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (L-S), where she eventually moved into her current role as director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
At L-S, Leslie has shepherded a variety of initiatives and gained significant experience in the areas of student support, family engagement, supervision/evaluation, high expectations teaching, strategic planning, school culture, and professional development. Additionally, Leslie has embraced various leadership opportunities that support a positive racial climate.
Leslie earned a B.A. in mathematics and music from Williams College, an Ed.M. and C.A.S. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and an Ed.D. from Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Recently, while pursuing her interest in HR, Leslie received the SHRM-SCP certification. Leslie lives in Stow, MA with her husband and twin boys.
Emeritus Professor of the Practice; Distinguished Fellow, Center for International Higher Education
Our faculty and community take research to the next level by actively engaging in committees, contributing to groundbreaking research and innovation, and delivering impactful presentations at conferences around the world. Here are some examples of our faculty and graduate students in action this year.
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June 24-25, 2025
Total results: 13
While it is widely agreed that higher education contributes to the public dimensions of society, the public benefits of higher education are untheorized, poorly defined and not readily measured. As a result, higher education tends to be undervalued and under-financed. This project takes a comparative approach to considering this tension, using contrasting case studies from ten countries around the world. The project is coordinated by colleagues at the University of Oxford (UK). The Center for International Higher Education is responsible for conducting the US case study and for contributing to the overall comparative analysis.
The onset of COVID-19 brought myriad challenges to educational systems and the students they serve. Our study set out to explore specifically how the pandemic influenced students’ college-going processes. Using the conceptual model of student college choice by Perna (2006) and the school counseling equity framework by Savitz-Romer and Nicola (2021), we examined students’ college-going processes through the perspectives of school counselors, who are professionals uniquely positioned to speak to students’ college-planning behaviors and the institutional changes that directly affect students. Findings suggest that students’ college-going and planning was directly compromised by challenges from the pandemic and indirectly by changes in their college access support landscape.
Motivated by growing concerns about inadequate support for students' mental health and postsecondary transitions due to challenges brought on during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study captures school counselors' experiences during the crisis, including what they are learning about students' needs and the opportunities and constraints facing their practice.
While career and technical schools have offered short-term credential programs for more than a century, a proliferation of new digital badges, bootcamps, and other so-called micro-credentials have emerged in the past decade. A 2021 Credential Engine report identified approximately 550,000 short-term credentials offered by non-academic organizations. These new programs target adults seeking a streamlined path to in-demand jobs. How states envision their regulatory role in this authorization space remains largely understudied. Using a qualitative, multiple-case design, we provide an overview of how California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Washington regulate these entities. Our study combines analysis of key legislative and policy documents and semistructured interviews with 22 leaders from 14 distinct agencies/organizations, including representatives from authorization agencies, other public higher education system offices, and private organizations (e.g., boot camp providers, a digital badge platform provider).
Project DetailsIdentity and Internationalization in Catholic Universities explored the relationship between Catholic identity, mission, and internationalization in Catholic universities of different types and located in different contexts. This project included sixteen case studies from Latin America, the United States, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. The resulting book also included chapters on regional perspectives on Catholic higher education, as well as more specifically Jesuit higher education, the global network of La Salle universities, and internationalization in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific region, and Europe.
Project DetailsCurrent measures of financial/loan literacy, financial attitudes, and financial well-being are inadequate. Using rigorous psychometric methodology, we will develop a series of survey measures for various aspects of the NEFE Personal Finance Ecosystem. These measures will capture the nuance and complexity of these constructs for prospective/current undergraduate and graduate students. These measures could be used in national cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, evaluation studies of financial well-being interventions, and smaller scale research studies.
Project DetailsCatholic schools in the U.S. are going through a period of crisis and transformation. Many people are reconsidering the ways that Catholic elementary schools are organized or governed. There have been serious questions raised in the field about the effectiveness of the parish-based model that has traditionally been employed to govern local Catholic elementary schools. This study is designed to investigate how systems level educational change works within the Catholic sector, using governance as a primary lens for our organizational analyses.
Project DetailsThis project identified family-owned or managed higher education institutions on all continents ranging from well-regarded comprehensive universities and top-level specialized institutions to marginal schools and analyzed their unique characteristics, as well as their role in the global higher education landscape.
Project Details
This multi-year, mixed-methods research project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada will identify innovative practices in response to the ongoing crisis and expand a network of international scholars and practitioners dedicated to exploring future possibilities for sustainable, ethical and equitable internationalization.
Project Details
This project follows 135 Black and Latinx adults who participated as youth in a NASA-sponsored program, the Institute for Climate and Planets. Housed at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, ICP involved students and high school teachers in the Goddard scientists' research teams.
Fulfilling our social justice mission, our programs develop agents of cultural change—reflective practitioners committed to making schools more equitable.
Harvard Unversity, Dean of Students
University of Houston, Director of Assessment and Planning
Salve Regina University, President
uAspire, Senior Director of Program Design
Kyung Hee University, Policy Analyst
University of Miami, Director of Enrollment Marketing and Operations
University of Connecticut, Assistant Professor
Merrimack College, Associate Professor
Elms College, President
The 14-course Executive Ed.D. in Higher Education features faculty and guest lecturers from around the world, online coursework integrated with summer residences in Boston and Dublin.