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Education Administration, Ph.D.

College of Education

Prepare for an advanced administrative leadership position while honing your research skills. Choose from two career-focused concentrations: PK-12 school administration or higher education administration.

Join our traditional doctoral program, and gain the knowledge and leadership skills that will prepare you to reach your education administration career goals. The program's two concentrations present a variety of leadership opportunities in institutions and agencies related to the emphasis of your studies.

Program Highlights

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    A Notable Faculty

    Learn from faculty members who are research scholars and experts in their field.

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    Authentic Experiences

    Faculty members have served as teachers, principals and superintendents and in a variety of higher education roles.

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    Expand Your Network

    Our faculty members are influential leaders in educational administration locally, nationally and internationally.

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    Personal Attention

    Enjoy close student-faculty relationships and the opportunities that come with a specialized cohort model.

What You’ll Study

Advance your communication skills, and conduct research related to your goals. Education administration students prepare for PK-12 leadership roles. Higher education administration students prepare to work as university administrators or in policy. Both tracks prepare graduates to become college faculty members.

Program WebsiteDegree DetailsAdmissions Info

Building Skills

Gain the professional and personal intelligence it takes to have a successful career.

  • Planning and Strategy

    Developing and implementing a comprehensive and effective approach to achieve specific goals

    Leadership

    Inspiring and guiding others to achieve common goals and reach their full potential

    Intercultural Competence

    Developing the skills to communicate effectively and work collaboratively across cultures

  • Innovation

    Introducing new ideas, methods or products to improve performance or achieve a specific goal

    Critical Thinking

    Analyzing and evaluating information to make informed decisions or judgments

    Research

    Gathering and analyzing information to increase knowledge or solve problems

Using your degree

Make your college experience the foundation for a successful future.

Learn how alumni use degrees with outcome data from Gamecock GradStats, a service of the University of South Carolina Career Center.

Potential Careers

  • Researcher
  • Administrator
  • Superintendent
  • Principal
  • Faculty Member

Job Titles of Alumni

  • Assistant Principal
  • Principal
  • Superintendent
  • President
  • Associate Professor
  • Assistant Professor

Average Alumni Salary

Five to 10 years after graduation without additional education $102,037

Workplace Settings

  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Nonprofits

Employers of Alumni

  • University of South Carolina
  • The Citadel
  • Wofford College
  • Richland School District Two
  • SC Technical College System
  • Winthrop University

I have always been driven by data and fascinated by research. While I was using this in my day-to-day, I wanted to be able to increase my own ability to explore questions in my field, truly understand the outcomes of that research and to critique and challenge other research that was occurring.

Sara Marie Easler
Portrait of Sara Marie Easler

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