SFSU’s Educational Leadership Doctoral Program
A leader well versed in academic administration and curriculum development, Mary E. Streshly serves as the senior advisor and acting executive director of Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Academy. Concurrently, Mary Streshly is the executive director for educational services at the San Mateo County Office of Education. Mary Streshly is a part-time professor and lecturer in the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program of San Francisco State University (SFSU), the institution where she earned her doctorate in educational leadership.
The mission of SFSU’s EdD Program is to prepare educational leaders for social justice reforms in California’s public education system. Students must complete a three-year curriculum. Each year is marked by a program milestone that the students must pass to be awarded the doctorate of education in educational leadership.
During the first year, the students are exposed to the major issues in educational leadership. To advance to the second year of the program, students are required to submit the qualifying exam, the first year’s program milestone. The qualifying exam is a written assignment where the students must describe a problem of practice and evaluate relevant empirical and theoretical literature.
In the second year, the students will take courses such as education policy, budgeting and administration, and advanced leadership strategies, among others. During this year, the students work on their dissertation by reading literature and narrowing down and framing their interests, defining their topics, and developing their research proposals. To proceed to the third year, the students must pass the Dissertation Proposal Defense, the second year’s program milestone.
In year three, the students receive support and guidance as they proceed with their dissertation research and writing. They work closely with their dissertation chairs until they reach the third year’s program milestone, which is the dissertation defense. During the dissertation defense, the students must satisfy their dissertation committee with the quality of their dissertation. The students who pass this program milestone become candidates for the doctorate of education in educational leadership.
