Interview with Esther A. Enright, Ph.D. and Maria Frankland, Ph.D. about The University of Maine's Online Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Leadership
About Esther A. Enright, Ph.D.: Esther A. Enright is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education and Human Development at The University of Maine (UMaine). As Associate Professor, Dr. Enright helps oversee the EdD in Educational Leadership, working with other faculty members within the College to provide mentorship opportunities to doctoral students, support students’ attendance and presentations at conferences, and offer guidance on students’ dissertation work. Dr. Enright teaches doctoral courses in qualitative research methods, as well as the ethical and social foundations of education leadership. As a scholar, she conducts research on professional development programs within higher education, and how a focus on equity can enhance the efficacy of these programs. In addition, she has studied the role of youth advocacy in effecting systemic change in rural contexts.
Dr. Enright earned a Bachelor of Science in History and Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Arts in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and both a Master of Arts in Higher Education and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Michigan.
About Maria Frankland, Ph.D.: Maria Frankland is the Area Coordinator for Graduate Studies in the College of Education and Human Development at The University of Maine. As Area Coordinator, Dr. Frankland supervises student advising and recruitment, faculty support, and course scheduling for the College’s graduate programs in education. She also teaches numerous courses within the EdD in Educational Leadership, covering topics such as educational supervision, stakeholder engagement, theories of educational leadership, school-based inquiry and evaluation, education policy analysis, organizational learning and behavior, and statistics for scholarly practitioners. She also collaborates with faculty within the College of Education and Human Development to continually improve graduate program course offerings and mentorship opportunities for students.
Dr. Frankland earned a dual Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Dallas. She also received a Master of Science in Human Relations and a Master of Science in School Counseling, both from Husson University. She completed her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from The University of Maine.
Interview Questions
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] Could you elaborate on your responsibilities within The University of Maine’s online EdD in Educational Leadership?
[Dr. Maria Frankland] As the Area Coordinator for Graduate Studies within the College of Education and Human Development at The University of Maine, my responsibilities include course scheduling (including teaching schedules), student advising and three-year planning, supporting students in scheduling their courses, verification of graduation requirements, outreach and marketing, and student recruitment and admissions. This work is not solo, however; ultimately, these are the things I sign off on, but I collaborate constantly with my fellow faculty for each of the aforementioned areas. For the EdD in Educational Leadership, I work with students on advising and coordination until they reach the dissertation portion of their program. At that point, that responsibility moves to the chair of their dissertation committee.
[Dr. Esther Enright] The leadership of the program is truly collaborative, and we rotate the responsibilities so that all faculty members are engaged in teaching, advising, and discussing and designing program improvements. Our EdD in Educational Leadership uses a closed cohort model. Students enter as part of a cohort, and one faculty member serves as the chief academic adviser and eventually the dissertation chair for that cohort. For example, I am currently the academic adviser for the cohort defending in spring 2026, while Maria is chairing the class of 2028. We find that this method works well for the cohort because it keeps the cohort’s cohesion strong throughout the entire dissertation process.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] May we have an overview of The University of Maine’s online EdD in Educational Leadership? How does this program prepare students to address problems of practice in diverse K-12 educational environments, as well as in settings such as outdoor education and community leadership? How is the program structured to empower students to enact positive change at the institutional, district, and systemic levels?
[Dr. Esther Enright] Our team takes a continuous improvement approach to all of our programming. Specifically with the EdD in Educational Leadership, we are coming up on graduating our third cohort [as of Summer 2025]. We make changes from cohort to cohort based on practitioner feedback from the program, our broader stakeholders and community members, our students who are in the program, and our graduates.
The program serves students primarily from Maine who are educational leaders or aspiring educational leaders, but also has students from as near as Massachusetts and Canada and as far as California. The degree is not connected to licensure certification, which provides flexibility. Students can come from various backgrounds, as long as their mission touches meaningfully on K-12 education — whether from inside a school or district, at the state policy level, or working with specific populations of students or teachers.
The curriculum is structured around theoretical spaces that are deeply connected to practitioners’ work. For example, Maria teaches an adult learning course focused specifically on working with teachers, coaches, and other adult learners who are professionals in the education space. The course borrows from social psychology and examines how to navigate larger groups in theoretical conversations.
[Dr. Maria Frankland] The curriculum intentionally scaffolds both dissertation skills and the application of theory to practice. For example, the adult learning course is followed by an advanced educational supervision course that applies the adult learning concepts from class to educational contexts where students are leading adult learners through challenging times and new paradigms of education.
[Dr. Esther Enright] The coursework guides students through not only developing a strong theoretical foundation, but also applying this foundation to their place of practice in the interest of improving education outcomes. That is what makes our course sequence so powerful. Students within a cohort take the same coursework in the same sequence together, where they explore interdisciplinary theories, develop tactical research skills, and connect their doctoral-level knowledge and training to their work as practitioners. Students learn how to structure and communicate strong arguments, collect data utilizing appropriate research methods, and have a conversation with that data in a way that is understandable, transparent, and deeply connected to their problem of practice.
Students start formulating their potential dissertation research question in the first year of the program, and we encourage them to formulate and reformulate their dissertation question or problem of practice as they progress through their coursework.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] The University of Maine’s online EdD in Educational Leadership requires the completion of a Dissertation. Could you explain how the program’s coursework supports students both before and during their Dissertation journey? What kinds of problems of practice have students tackled through their Dissertation work, and how does the Dissertation serve to advance their careers in education leadership?
[Dr. Esther Enright] The EdD in Educational Leadership uses an embedded dissertation model. The first two years focus on core coursework while students develop their dissertation topics. The second two years involve a sequence of structured dissertation coursework with specific targets:
- Writing the Proposal
- Data Collection Methods
- Moving Through Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval
- Analyzing Data and Forming Conclusions
Students meet weekly with their dissertation chair and participate in Critical Friend Groups throughout the process. This structured approach helps avoid what I call the “shame spiral” that doctoral students suffer, where you did not work on something for a month and now you do not know where or how to get back into it.
[Dr. Maria Frankland] Right now, my cohort is moving out of the data collection phase into the data analysis phase. The coursework is designed such that students move through these phases together, and while there is independent work involved too, it is coupled with meaningful check-ins and class-based skills work. Students meet with their dissertation chair every week. I talk with my students every single week. The Critical Friend Groups that Dr. Enright mentioned allow students to learn from each other and grow as a community of scholarly practitioners. The Critical Friend Groups create a space that is earmarked from the beginning for them to work together every week. They cultivate strong relationships, give and receive feedback, and get comfortable asking questions frequently without judgment.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] What is the process students undertake to assemble their dissertation committee and connect with their dissertation chair?
[Dr. Esther Enright] We created a system that works very well for our students. We have eliminated the awkward “dating ritual” of students meeting potential committee members on their own, and then choosing faculty they feel match their research topic. As mentioned previously, one faculty member serves as the dissertation chair for an entire student cohort, and this chair helps each student build their committees from within (and outside of) our faculty team.
We have two members of our faculty team who focus on leadership, and two people who serve as our primary dissertation readers. We also pull from other departments and colleges within The University of Maine, depending on our students’ research needs. Sometimes we will ask practitioners with doctorates or scholars from outside of UMaine. For example, a colleague of mine from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializes in math education, and he is on the committee for one of our students because their dissertation benefits from his topical expertise.
At a place like UMaine, with a small faculty team, we are all Swiss army knives. We specialize in a broad range of areas that complement each other, but we are not hyper specialists. As a result, the moment a student cohort begins in the program, we are thinking about the composition of our cohort’s research interests, and who would be best situated to work with that cohort. For example, all of my students in my cohort happen to be doing qualitative dissertations. But if they wanted to do a sophisticated quantitative design, I would connect them to Dr. Frankland and encourage them to have her on their committee as the methodologist.
We actively guide students through the process of assembling their committees, as we identified that early on as a major stressor. Asking our students to do their own research and choose committee members and a faculty chair when they are running schools, overseeing school districts, working in departments of education, or otherwise handling massive professional responsibilities, was not benefiting their dissertation experience. As faculty members, we have the scholarly connections and a strong understanding of how a committee can serve students’ research endeavors.
As a result, we wanted to support students at this crucial stage in their dissertation, so that they can focus on their jobs and not try to devote their time determining what professors and other experts would best serve their research process. Students are welcome to add members to their committee if they know someone they really want, but we are there to provide as much structure and guidance as possible during the committee assembly process.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] What are some examples of dissertation topics students have explored recently?
[Dr. Maria Frankland] I had one student who was interested in developing an extended learning opportunity program for his high school students. An extended learning opportunity is a mini-internship that requires community partnerships between the school and local businesses. Extended learning opportunities provide high school students with a chance to step into the workforce for a time and learn key professional skills while gaining an introduction to a particular field.
The question our EdD student had concerned developing these community partnerships, and how businesses and other local organizations could be incentivized to participate in these programs. There are multiple factors that draw organizations to extended learning opportunity programs, and they depend on context. In my student’s case, his area was quite rural, and he investigated what was important to community members of small rural communities.
[Dr. Esther Enright] There was another student in Maria’s cohort who was particularly interested in the relationships between superintendents and principals. He had been noticing a lot of turnover amongst principals in her district, and wanted to understand how they could slow the principal churn — which is a significant issue in Maine schools — by looking at the communication and connection between principals and superintendents. He conducted qualitative interviews asking both superintendents and principals about what worked for them and what did not work for them in their daily work, and he asked them to really get descriptive about their experiences.
[Dr. Maria Frankland] We also have a student who asked a research question about how prescribed curricula can affect teachers’ sense of self-efficacy, and consequently teacher retention. A lot of themes run through our different cohorts. One thing that I really appreciate about our faculty team is that we help make intentional connections between different cohorts. We have people at different stages who are still completing their coursework and thinking about their dissertation question, students who are writing their dissertation proposal, and students who are already engaging in their research. What that does is it creates a local network of conversations that allow students to share what they are learning with one other and deepen the work they are doing.
[Dr. Esther Enright] Something that characterizes Maine that makes the EdD in Educational Leadership unique, and the research these practitioner scholars do particularly important, is that we exist in a research desert. People rarely look farther north than the Boston, Massachusetts area for research. So when our students investigate a local Maine educational issue, they are not only building a local discussion around education theory and topics, but they are also setting the foundation so that people can pick up and build upon their research. Students can discuss with peers in their cohort, as well as alumni, “What have we learned from the past local research on this issue? How can we expand or deepen research on this topic?”
Our student networks are not only deeply committed to their spaces of work as practitioners. They are also deeply committed to learning from the research of their peers. Through this collective research and discussion, students help improve the local educational systems in Maine. This is important because we want to foster educators’ development in Maine. We do not want to lose them. We want Maine’s education practitioners to be happy and whole and empowered as they navigate leadership.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] The University of Maine’s EdD in Educational Leadership is offered fully online. In addition to the faculty mentorship opportunities that students have, how does the program foster student community in an online environment?
[Dr. Esther Enright] We have co-curricular experiences that occur throughout the program that pull students together in-person. For example, we require students to present at a conference in order to graduate from our program. We allow students to choose any conference, whether it is in the state of Maine or out-of-state, and encourage students to coordinate their conference attendance with each other so that they can connect with their classmates in-person. As faculty, we offer extensive support in helping students select conferences and prepare for their presentations. We noticed that, similarly to the dissertation committee assembly process, the process of independently finding and submitting a proposal for a conference can be stressful for our students. We therefore provide individualized guidance on how to navigate the conference proposal submission process, and use this conference requirement as an opportunity to bring members of our cohort closer together.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] For students who are interested in The University of Maine’s online EdD in Educational Leadership, what advice do you have in terms of submitting a competitive application?
[Dr. Maria Frankland] What we are looking for is not necessarily someone who knows exactly what they want to study. But we want someone who understands the importance of equity in education, and the importance of continuous improvement and a student-focused perspective. We look for applicants who can articulate these elements well enough to tell us what they are thinking about.
Applicants must write a 750-word essay describing a problem of practice in K-12 education that they are interested in studying. While few students end up writing their dissertation on their initial proposed topic, this essay gives insight into how they will perform as scholarly practitioners.
[Dr. Esther Enright] There are two critical elements we look for in their essay:
- Leadership implications in their problem of practice
- Evidence they will have access to the data they want to study
The leadership implications do not have to be fully fleshed out in their essay, but they should be present. For example, if an applicant writes their application essay on a curriculum and literacy issue that does not have a clear connection to leadership practice, that applicant might be better served at a program that focuses on literacy or curriculum development, rather than education leadership. Similarly, as our program has a strong K-12 focus, if an applicant submits an essay that is clearly higher education focused, we would refer them to a higher education doctoral program since our EdD in Educational Leadership would not optimally serve their research interests.
As mentioned above, students must also indicate that they have access to the data they wish to study. An applicant who has no ties to any school or district, yet writes their essay on a problem of practice that is highly specific to schools and districts, will find a lot of logistical challenges to investigating their research question. If we cannot track any way to connect their application essay to their professional background as illustrated through their CV and letters of recommendation, then we do not believe we can serve them well.
The program welcomes diverse leadership perspectives — not just administrators, but also teachers, school counselors, and librarians. However, we screen carefully for extreme deficit views. Negative blanket statements such as “schools are failing” or “parents are responsible for children failing” or “poverty is the reason for poor student learning outcomes” are not constructive because they do not ask questions or seek improvement. We look for applicants who discuss problems of practice in a way that is curious, hopeful, and actionable.
For letters of recommendation, we prefer specific examples of how recommenders have worked with the applicant rather than generic praise. We want to understand how candidates will work with others and approach the dissertation process with curiosity. Letters of recommendation that simply state, “This person is perfect. They are the best person I have ever worked with. They are amazing,” tell us nothing about how this individual works with people and approaches problems. We look for recommendations that give us a clear idea of how the applicant will work with research peers, and whether they will be successful in the dissertation process.
[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] What makes The University of Maine’s online EdD in Educational Leadership unique and a particularly strong graduate degree option for students? How does this program prepare students for advanced and impactful careers as agents of change in diverse K-12 academic and organizational contexts?
[Dr. Maria Frankland] The power of the cohort model cannot be understated. The faculty embrace this model, and our advisors are with students from day one through the end of their program. We become a big family. We go through a lot of ups and downs together and the cohesion between the group is something we do not take for granted, and which we work very hard to develop and maintain.
[Dr. Esther Enright] The diversity within our cohorts — from teacher leaders to superintendents to those in non-traditional leadership roles — creates rich learning opportunities. Students learn from each other’s perspectives and experiences with leadership, including the challenges. The collaborations and discussions within and between our student cohorts allows them to normalize the idea of working through difficult challenges both individually and as part of a team. This mindset of welcoming and working through challenges empowers students to excel in the program and beyond.
Our program also recognizes students are working professionals with competing demands. We maintain high standards while providing understanding and grace. We work with each student individually and our cohort as a whole to ensure that any synchronous meetings we have accommodate students’ work schedules and personal obligations. Each cohort has a set meeting night for the entire four-year program, allowing students to plan their professional commitments accordingly.
Our faculty team is what makes the EdD in Educational Leadership truly special, as we bring our dedication, empathy, and scholarly expertise and connections to our work with every student in our program, helping them establish a strong and versatile leadership foundation to tackle problems of practice in their places of work long after they graduate. Our emphasis on education challenges that are local to Maine is also unique, and we are proud of the scholarly community that we have built that continues to foster innovation and improvement for our current and future student cohorts.
Thank you, Dr. Maria Frankland and Dr. Esther Enright, for your insight into The University of Maine’s equity-focused and innovative online EdD in Educational Leadership!