History and Current State of Doctoral Preparation Programs

Higher education and student affairs (HESA) doctoral programs might not be keeping pace in preparing leaders for the challenging roles they will occupy in the future. Curricula may lack relevance to leadership practice, and doctoral programs might emphasize research excellence and preparing future faculty over leadership development and administrative career paths. Previous efforts to make HESA graduate programs more relevant to leadership practice have focused on the development of standards or guidelines. But that approach relies on a static document to address a fluid problem. The complexities of postsecondary leadership suggest the need for a fluid and ongoing process of leadership development, where faculty and doctoral students can learn about and practice leadership in real‐time in response to emerging challenges in the field. This article explains how HESA doctoral programs can create dynamic feedback loops that generate real‐time learning about leadership. As these feedback loops generate new knowledge about leadership, HESA program faculty can incorporate these insights into the curriculum, learning environment, and research experiences for doctoral students.