USM to launch New England’s first doctoral program in ‘leadership studies’

Courtesy / University of Southern Maine Dan Jenkins is chairman of Leadership Studies at the University of Southern Maine.

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By Staff

The University of Southern Maine will launch a new doctorate in leadership studies in the fall of 2020, describing it as the first such program in New England.

The new program — which will be available online — will build on USM’s growing “Leadership and Organizational Studies” program that currently offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as minors and certificates.

“We will be unique, not only in the University of Maine System and the state, but the region as well,” said Dan Jenkins, chair of Leadership Studies at USM. “Other New England schools teach doctorates with elements of leadership — such as ‘organizational studies’ at Boston College. They are close in some ways, but they were not what we were looking for.”

Students throughout the USM program learn about the relationships between leaders and followers, examine theories and models and work to apply them in the real world. The doctoral program’s purpose is to prepare students for positions of executive leadership in business, government and nonprofit organizations. It will also prepare students who wish to teach leadership at the college level.

Nationally, interest in leadership studies has “skyrocketed,” Jenkins said.

“There were just under 1,000 leadership programs a decade ago,” he said. “Now we have close to 2,500 nationwide.”

USM has taught leadership since the late 1990s, eventually becoming the University of Maine System’s first online program as well.

The new doctoral program took three years to develop. The University of Maine System board of trustees approved the expansion at its Jan. 27 meeting.

For the third year in a row, USM is hosting the New England region’s Collegiate Leadership Competition on April 5 and 6. Visiting schools to the Portland campus will include the University of Maine, the University of Maine at Farmington, Southern New Hampshire University, the Maine College of Art and New York University.

USM won the national championship in 2016 and the New England Region championships in 2017 and 2018.