OCC to offer doctoral program from St. John Fisher

ONONDAGA — St. John Fisher College today announced it will offer its doctoral program in Executive Leadership (Ed.D) at the Onondaga Community College (OCC) Regional Higher Education Center.

OCC interim president Margaret (Meg) O’Connell and St. John Fisher president Donald Bain formally signed the site agreement during a morning announcement.

The program will begin at OCC in September.

“This landmark agreement marks the first doctoral-degree program available at Onondaga,” O’Connell said during her remarks. “Incorporating a doctoral-degree program, such as this, affords citizens the ability to earn their associate’s, their bachelor’s, their master’s, and now, finally, a doctoral degree without ever leaving Onondaga’s campus.”

St. John Fisher’s Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education administers the accelerated doctoral program, OCC said in a news release.

“It studies executive leadership, what makes leaders, how they evolve, how they perfect their skills, how they select people to report to them,” Bain said in his remarks.

The program is designed for executives and managers in the education, health care, not-for-profit, business, military, and government sectors.

OCC is the second extension site for St. John Fisher’s Ed.D program. St. John Fisher partnered with The College of New Rochelle in 2009 for its first extension site, according to OCC. To date, the program has enrolled 11 cohorts and graduated 147 students. A cohort is a group of students working together through the same curriculum.

In this program, classes meet year-round in an alternate weekend format, and courses are offered sequentially, organized by topical themes, and aligned with state, national, and institutional standards.

In addition, the program includes professional-development opportunities, and experts in the field of leadership will conduct seminars.

Program information sessions are scheduled at OCC on May 22, June 19, and July 17.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com