ESU Receives Final Approval, Moves Forward To Launch Doctorate in Health Sciences in Fall 2019

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Posted by: Elizabeth Richardson on March 7, 2019, No Comments

East Stroudsburg University received approval from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) to move forward with its second doctoral program, a doctorate in health sciences (D.H.Sc.). The initial approval of this doctorate was announced on February 12, 2019 by Chancellor Daniel Greenstein, D. Phil., and the Board of Governors of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. MSCHE approval is the final step in the approval process for ESU’s the doctorate in health sciences, a 60 credit program. The first, Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration, was approved in Spring 2016. ESU expects to launch this new doctoral program during the 2019-2020 academic year.

The D.H.Sc. is a generalist degree with two concentrations: Health Management and Administration and Advanced Research Administration. Following completion of the common core, students will choose a concentration to complete the program. According to Denise Seigart, Ph.D., dean of the College of Health Sciences, the core courses will focus on communication, leadership theory, ethics, and advanced research methods.

Housed in the College of Health Sciences, the new doctoral program’s courses will be taught primarily by ESU faculty with supporting temporary faculty with specific industry specializations for certain courses. The nine-term schedule is followed by a dissertation on a health sciences topic of interest to the student and guided by program faculty and researchers in the student’s and faculty’s area of expertise.

The new doctorate will focus on seven essential areas intended to provide high impact to regional health science professionals: inter-professional collaboration, healthcare policy, organizational and systems leadership, mentoring and leadership in respective disciplines, clinically-based health promotion and disease prevention, scientific underpinnings for health sciences practice, and clinically-based scholarship and analytical methods for evidence-based practice.

MSCHE approval is a milestone for ESU, as the University is now approved to offer programs at this credential level without obtaining further MSCHE authorization.

For more information on the new doctoral program, please contact William Bajor, Ph.D., director of graduate and extended studies at (570) 422-3536 or wbajor@esu.edu.