Mount Olive Educator Debra J. Martin Earns Doctorate in Educational Leadership at College of Saint Elizabeth

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Mount Olive educator Debra Martin successfully defended her dissertation and will receive her doctorate from the College of Saint Elizabeth.

MORRISTOWN, NJ (03/28/2011)(readMedia)-- Mount Olive educator Debra J. Martin, a resident of Morris Township, N.J., has successfully defended her dissertation at the College of Saint Elizabeth (CSE), 2 Convent Road, Morristown, N.J., to earn her doctorate in educational leadership. Martin's dissertation is entitled, Professional Learning Communities: A Multiple-Case Study of Four Elementary Schools.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the Ed.D. Program at Saint Elizabeth's," says Martin, central board administrator and director of educational programs/school design with the Mount Olive Township Public School District. "The focus of the program in servant leadership and the small cohort approach is what really attracted me and has had a significant impact on my approach as a leader."

Martin resident has held positions in both urban and suburban school districts including principal, assistant principal, reading specialist, English teacher, elementary classroom teacher, and county college adjunct professor. Her dissertation explores the relationship between teachers' and administrators' perceptions about professional learning communities and their attributes in four elementary schools in a suburban school district in New Jersey.

The doctoral program at CSE, which is dedicated to preparing leaders who are committed to social justice and ethical practice, began in August 2007. "Integrated into all course work and learning activities are the central values and beliefs necessary for school leaders to function as morally purposeful stewards for their school communities," states Dr. John Crews, Ed.D., CSE educational leadership program chair. "This philosophy of servant leadership represents a major shift from the traditional paradigm of school leaders as managers of resources, which is so prevalent in today's practices."

Sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, New Jersey, the College of Saint Elizabeth enrolls more than 2,100 full- and part-time students in more than 25 undergraduate, 10 graduate and one doctoral degree programs. For information on other activities or programs, visit the College of Saint Elizabeth web site at www.cse.edu.