Interview with Tony Peffer, D.A., About Fairfield University's Online EdD in Educational Leadership Program

About Tony Peffer, D.A. Dr. Tony Peffer is Interim Director of Fairfield University’s online EdD program in Educational Leadership, which is housed within the School of Education & Human Development. He oversees all aspects of the program in collaboration with the faculty, including program review, the Student Handbook, recruitment and orientation of part-time faculty, training of dissertation chairs and readers, student orientations and support, course scheduling, partnering with graduate admissions staff, meeting with prospective students, assessment of student learning, engagement with library and other academic support staff, ensuring the program’s academic and innovative excellence, and liaising with the Dean of Education and Human Development, the Provost’s Office, and other administrative personnel. Dr. Peffer teaches in the program as needed and regularly serves as a dissertation reader. Oversight of the EdD program is his only administrative responsibility.

Dr. Peffer earned his doctoral degree in History from Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds master’s degrees from San Francisco State University (History) and Gateway Seminary (Divinity) as well as a bachelor’s degree (History) from Morehead State University. He has published multiple scholarly works in Asian American History and is past editor of the Journal of Asian American Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press) and the Journal of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness (Pennsylvania State University Press). Having shifted to academic administration after earning tenure and senior rank as a History professor, he has overseen the development of many successful undergraduate and graduate programs of distinction and brings fourteen years’ experience as a chief academic officer to the position.

Interview Questions

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] Could you please provide an overview of the online EdD in Educational Leadership at Fairfield University? How is the program structured, and what are its key learning outcomes? How does the curriculum and the two concentration options in Teacher Leadership and Higher Education Administration prepare students to tackle contemporary and future challenges in diverse education settings?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] The Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership prepares empowered leaders to positively address matters of equity, diversity, and oppression for the purpose of improving classrooms, schools, districts, and higher education communities. The program’s signature pedagogy, informed by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, promotes critical reflection, collaboration, advocacy, and action that is rooted in social justice, equity, and access. As a Jesuit institution, we have thus rooted our program’s focus on social justice, equity, and belonging in the foundational bedrock of an educational practice now nearly a half-millennium old. Centered on action research, Fairfield’s EdD develops leaders with the skills needed to realize a career of “helping.” The program is ideally suited to professionals in PK-12 and higher education who aspire to senior-level positions while maintaining a close connection to the process of teaching, learning, and student success.

The curriculum reflects both the guidance gleaned from our research and our own understanding of best practices to offer a challenging and relevant educational experience tailored to the needs of leaders serving in either PK-12 or college and university settings. The Program of Study requires students to successfully complete 54 credits of coursework that include the Dissertation in Practice. A full-time student completing all courses in keeping with the prescribed framework should satisfy this requirement in three calendar years, including summers.

The Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership prepares empowered leaders to positively address matters of equity, diversity, and oppression for the purpose of improving classrooms, schools, districts, and higher education communities. The program’s signature pedagogy, informed by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, promotes critical reflection, collaboration, advocacy, and action that is rooted in social justice, equity, and access… The program is ideally suited to professionals in PK-12 and higher education who aspire to senior-level positions while maintaining a close connection to the process of teaching, learning, and student success.

The sequence of courses follows a fixed order for all candidates within a cohort-based structure. The degree offers two concentrations: 1) Teacher Leadership (TL) and 2) Higher Education Administration (HEA). There is no foreign language requirement for the EdD Program, and submission of GRE scores is not required.

Classes are online and asynchronous, with individual courses including some synchronous elements as well. Students will also participate in a synchronous orientation (presently virtual in format) and a pair of 3-day, on-campus residencies in the second and third summers of their program of study.

All EdD students complete a dissertation shaped by their critical review of the extant scholarly literature and their independent research on a problem, challenge, or opportunity (a “Problem of the Practice”) related to educational leadership. Our practice scholars begin collaborating with their Dissertation Chair in the Fall semester of Year 2. The Dissertation Chair advises the candidate in planning, researching, and writing the dissertation. A second (and perhaps a third) member joins the Chair in the Fall of Year 3, forming the Dissertation Committee.

Defense of the dissertation proposal, or prospectus, typically takes place in late March or early April of Year 2, and the full dissertation defense about halfway through the Spring semester of Year 3. Those who complete the prescribed coursework in keeping with the established cohort schedule should find it manageable to finish the dissertation and graduate within three years, but each student may take up to seven years from the initial enrollment date to earn the degree.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] Fairfield University’s online EdD in Educational Leadership is offered online, utilizing a combination of asynchronous and synchronous instruction. Could you please elaborate on the online learning technologies that this program uses to deliver course materials and facilitate interactions between students and faculty?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] Fairfield’s doctoral program in Educational Leadership utilizes Banner™ and Blackboard™ as the core learning management tools for asynchronous study, with both Zoom™ and Microsoft Teams™ readily available to support synchronous virtual engagement. Such tools as Zotero™ (for citations), Qualtrics™ and Key Survey™ (for quantitative and qualitative survey research), databases (for published scholarship and documents), and style guides (for APA standards) are only a few of the tools that may be accessed online through the DiMenna-Nyselius Library whenever needed. While centering coursework in asynchronous modalities, we build limited opportunities for synchronous and in-person engagement into the program to enrich the learning experience by strengthening relational connections that effectively transfer from the in-person to the online environment.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] While coursework for the EdD in Educational Leadership is delivered fully online, the program incorporates two three-day summer residencies that students are required to attend. Why are these residencies an important aspect of students’ experience within the program? What activities do students engage in and what kinds of mentorship opportunities can they access during these residencies?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] Fairfield’s summer residencies take place in mid-July of a student’s second and third year. Together, they afford EdD students the opportunity of sustained in-person interaction with each other, the leaders of the EdD program, university and community leaders, faculty members teaching in the program, individuals who may serve as the chairs of dissertation committees, and support staff who offer critical services to assist their studies.

Fairfield’s summer residencies take place in mid-July of a student’s second and third year. Together, they afford EdD students the opportunity of sustained in-person interaction with each other, the leaders of the EdD program, university and community leaders, faculty members teaching in the program, individuals who may serve as the chairs of dissertation committees, and support staff who offer critical services to assist their studies… students also gain experience in presenting their still-forming research projects as well as in offering constructive criticism to each other. Such varied relational connections enrich the learning experience, play a critical role in developing our practice scholars into a mutually supportive academic community, and help to foster successful completion of the degree.

In addition to participating in a series of sessions designed to clarify expectations of the dissertation, provide special instruction on the selection and interpretation of research methodologies, and explore the role of action research in advancing both the professional setting and the community of practice scholars, students also gain experience in presenting their still-forming research projects as well as in offering constructive criticism to each other. Such varied relational connections enrich the learning experience, play a critical role in developing our practice scholars into a mutually supportive academic community, and help to foster successful completion of the degree. In surveys of our alumni and students nearing graduation, respondents often cite these residencies as essential contributors to their advancement.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] For their culminating experience in the program, students research and write a Dissertation in Practice. Could you elaborate on the Dissertation, and the support structures the EdD in Educational Leadership provides to students as they investigate their chosen problem of practice? Do students have a Dissertation chair and faculty committee that evaluate and provide feedback on their work?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] Following successful defense of the dissertation proposal (prospectus), students enroll in a fall-spring course sequence, “Dissertation I” and “Dissertation II,” in which they complete the Dissertation in Practice and prepare for their final defense. In this embedded model, a student’s Dissertation Chair serves as the instructor for each course, and one or two colleagues contribute their expertise and counsel as part of the Dissertation Committee.

The members of this collaborative team are drawn from the faculty and executive staff of the university as well as executive leaders of PK-12 school districts, other colleges and universities, and community organizations, with the intent of providing the mentorship of experienced professionals whose skills relate closely to the focus of each student’s dissertation research. Classmates enrolled in the two dissertation courses also bring to this learning experience the encouragement, accountability, and counsel of their colleagues–strengthened by the in-person interactions of their residencies, the shared coursework in their cohort (most particularly through their collaborative engagement in the second year’s “Action Research I” and “Action Research II” course sequence) and the “chat” groups through which they have been routinely sharing ideas and concerns since the early days of their program.

Through successful completion of the Dissertation in Practice, students demonstrate their achievement of the following Learning Outcomes:

  • Realized expertise in identifying and articulating a problem, challenge, and/or opportunity emerging from their professional setting.
  • Realized expertise in synthetically and comparatively analyzing the extant scholarly literature relevant to a selected problem, challenge, and/or opportunity emerging from their professional setting.
  • Realized expertise in selecting, implementing, and interpreting one or more research methodologies appropriate to the study of a selected problem, challenge, and/or opportunity emerging from their professional setting.
  • Realized expertise in explaining the results and positive impact of appropriately selected action research applied to a problem, challenge, and/or opportunity emerging from their professional setting.
  • Realized expertise in identifying and articulating the broader implications of an action research project emerging from their professional setting and its contributions to advancing practice scholarship in Educational Leadership.
  • Realized completion of a work of practice scholarship accepted for presentation and/or publication by a professional organization related to Educational Leadership.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] What role does faculty mentorship play in Fairfield University’s online EdD in Educational Leadership? How can students make the most of these mentorship opportunities and support systems while in the program?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] Fairfield’s EdD Program Director, a member of the full-time faculty, serves as the primary liaison to graduate admissions staff and as the initial advisor for all applicants and students. Another faculty member who teaches in either the Teacher-Leader or the Higher Education Administration track also reviews application materials and joins the Director in advising all students accepted into the program. Both of these individuals continue to advise and mentor students throughout their enrollment in the program.

When a student enters the program’s second year, the Dissertation Chair initiates and develops the mentoring relationship that will continue through (and typically beyond) graduation. Those assigned to the role of Dissertation Committee Member also provide support, guidance, and the benefit of their expertise. Beyond such formal relationships, the Graduate Student Success Coach offers career counseling while ensuring that students connect with the resources needed to assist their learning experience. Librarians assist with writing literature reviews; developing effective search strategies; accessing the best resources for mastering APA standards; using its Zotero™ software for locating, downloading, and properly citing sources and building bibliographies; and answering a host of other research questions. One of the university’s librarians is assigned specifically to the EdD program.

Fairfield’s Writing Center offers writing support from trained peer tutors on any part of the writing process, from brainstorming to editing. Although focusing primarily on support for undergraduates, they are happy to help doctoral students as well. Among all of these critical resources, perhaps the most valuable are the classmates in a student’s cohort, who build quite strong, collaborative professional relationships–and sometimes personal friendships–through participation in their summer residencies, shared learning experiences in their cohort’s coursework, and the chatgroups they faithfully maintain.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] For students interested in Fairfield University’s online EdD in Educational Leadership, what advice do you have in terms of submitting a competitive application?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] The guiding impetus of Fairfield’s EdD program is drawn from foundational commitments forged in the mid-sixteenth century. These commitments to social justice and advocacy for those who are underrepresented in the chambers of political, economic, and societal authority–demonstrated through an educational approach aimed at producing graduates skilled at “helping,”—had been proving their authenticity and positive impact centuries before the creation of the terms represented in acronyms like “DEIB.”

Thus, while in practiced harmony with the principles of “diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” the program does not use adherence to these terms as a litmus test for admission. Instead, we are looking to admit students who wish to develop the skills that will enable them to effect positive change throughout their professional careers and lives, and who aim to create more equitable opportunities for all members of their professional setting, community, and society.

The guiding impetus of Fairfield’s EdD program is drawn from foundational commitments forged in the mid-sixteenth century. These commitments to social justice and advocacy for those who are underrepresented in the chambers of political, economic, and societal authority–demonstrated through an educational approach aimed at producing graduates skilled at ‘helping,’—had been proving their authenticity and positive impact centuries before the creation of the terms represented in acronyms like ‘DEIB.’

Regardless of the terms they use, applicants should express their vision for how completion of Fairfield’s EdD can help them to serve as a better agent for positive change and improved opportunity wherever they work and live. We are a university founded on unapologetically idealistic imperatives to take action for the betterment of others, and most especially for those belonging to groups that, for whatever reason, continue to be afforded less opportunity than others.

[OnlineEdDPrograms.com] Why is Fairfield University’s online EdD in Educational Leadership unique and a particularly strong option for students who want to step into leadership roles and advocate for both DEIB and social justice in diverse educational contexts?

[Dr. Tony Peffer] Ignatius Loyola, in the mid-sixteenth century, envisioned the process of teaching and learning in five steps that collectively inform Fairfield’s distinctive interpretation of the Dissertation in Practice. “Context” and “Experience” initiate one’s engagement in articulating both the local and broader elements that focus attention on a specific problem, challenge, and/or opportunity (Chapter 1). “Reflection” identifies and interprets the scholarly and practical literature that informs the study of this subject (Chapter 2). “Action” injects the effort with purpose by designing and implementing a plan for improving the impact of this issue on the lives of people (Chapter 4). And finally, “Evaluation” considers how this positive change realized in a local setting might be expanded for the greater good and enhance the community’s capacity for helping in the future (Chapter 5). The Fairfield EdD’s dissertation thus employs nearly a half-millennium’s educational methodology to guide the translation of each graduate’s research into action that betters the lives of others within the sphere of one’s ability to “help.”

Fairfield University’s EdD students will engage in research imbued with the purpose of effecting positive change toward solving a problem, meeting a challenge, and/or seizing an opportunity. This “Action Research” does not conclude with identifying and describing what ought to be done but reaches further to engage in the work itself within the context of one’s professional setting. As expressed by the School of Education & Human Development’s Dean, Dr. Evelyn Bilias Lolis, at a recent EdD residency, Fairfield students must conduct research that “helps”—that implements a course of action informed by thoughtful, contextually gathered data; assesses the impact of this action; and analyzes how colleagues working in similar settings might apply/adapt this approach in seeking to realize positive change.

Thank you, Dr. Peffer, for your excellent insight into Fairfield University’s online EdD program in Educational Leadership, including its concentration options, key learning outcomes, thoughtfully designed course content, and dedicated mentorship for students as they work on their Dissertation in Practice!