The Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education (JRCoE) at the OU Schusterman Center in Tulsa seeks a passionate, innovative, dynamic individual with practical and scholarly experience to be part of a well-established program and academic community at the Tulsa Campus. We invite applications for a full-time, tenure-track advanced assistant or associate professor of educational leadership. This position will build upon our department’s already strong reputation for advancing impactful scholarship on educational thriving and improvement and preparing top scholar/practitioners to meet the critical needs of schools and communities in Northeast Oklahoma, the State, and beyond. This position responds to a growing need to transform preK-12 school and district leadership practice in ways that respond to pressing community and societal needs and challenges.

The Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies (ELPS) consists of three programs: Educational Administration, Curriculum and Supervision (EACS), Educational Studies (EDS), and Adult and Higher Education (EDAH). Each of the three programs offers the M.Ed. and Ph.D. degrees. In addition, the Ed.D. is offered by the EACS program. From training future school administrators, student life leaders, or educational theorists, ELPS offers graduate students in the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education an option for academically rigorous interdisciplinary learning, pragmatically designed to suit their own individual gifts, backgrounds, and goals as educators. 

The University of Oklahoma is a Carnegie-R1 comprehensive public research university known for excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement, serving the educational, cultural, economic, and healthcare needs of the state, region, and nation from three campuses: the Schusterman Center in Tulsa, the Norman Main Campus, and the Harold Hamm Health Campus in Oklahoma City. OU enrolls over 34,000 students and has more than 2,700 full-time faculty members offering nearly 500 different graduate and undergraduate degree programs on three campuses (Norman, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa).

 The OU Schusterman Center in Tulsa is a nationally recognized center for higher education offering a wide range of 30+ undergraduate, Master’s, and Doctorate level degrees, as well as graduate certificates. Programs include architecture, engineering, education, nursing, public health, occupational and physical therapy, library and information studies, organizational dynamics, public administration, social work, human relations, clinical mental health counseling, as well as medicine and physician assistant through the OU-TU School of Community Medicine. Since 1957, the OU Schusterman Center in Tulsa has provided higher education to NE Oklahoma and has been involved in the Tulsa community. The JRCoE began offering education programs in 2006. Many of our degree programs place heavy emphasis on community engagement -- in fact, some of them were created to align with community needs.

The Leadership and Policy Center for Thriving Schools and Communities (THRIVE) imagines schools and communities as social environments that nurture innate human vitality and agency. Our integrated work situates leadership preparation and development within the domains of social science and policy research. The purpose is to construct within communities theoretical, empirical, and practical knowledge relevant to the leadership of social systems which nurtures the development and success of schools and communities.

The Oklahoma Center for Education Policy (OCEP) is committed to producing and disseminating educational research that informs policy in Oklahoma. The Center’s mission reflects the belief that data-driven insights are essential for tackling the complex challenges facing Oklahoma’s PK-12 schools. The Center’s research emphasizes educational access, accountability, and outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

The position requires active scholarship and productive teaching and mentoring in the Tulsa Master’s, Ph.D., and Ed.D. programs. Tulsa programs follow an inquiry-based model where scholarship, teaching, and service are interwoven and focus a wide array of topics relevant to quality leadership work in schools, school districts, community organizations, and policy contexts. Programs build knowledge and competencies related to human and group thriving, organizational improvement/improvement science, teacher and leader supervision and instructional leadership, school climate and working conditions, school finance/law, and/or the cultivation of authentic research-practice-partnerships with communities and community organizations. This model also aligns with the central mission of the Tulsa-based Leadership and Policy Center for Thriving Schools and Communities (THRIVE), and the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy (OCEP).

Required Qualifications

• An earned doctorate or international equivalent in educational leadership, education policy, or a related field;
• A commitment to teaching, research, and public service activities appropriate to the rank to which the candidate is applying.
• For the advanced assistant level at a research-intensive institution, the candidate should have:
  • an emerging scholarly line of inquiry and a commensurate scholarly record demonstrating readiness for tenure and promotion within the next few years;
  • evidence of successful teaching and some experience advising/supervising doctoral dissertations;
  • established academic collaborations and research partnerships as well as engagement in professional and other communities.
• For the associate professor level at a research-intensive institution, the candidate should have:
  • evidence of an established, externally-funded research program;
  • a strong publication record that advances useful knowledge in the field;
  • evidence of successful teaching and advising/supervising doctoral dissertations;
  • evidence of established academic collaborations and engagement in professional and other communities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior administrative/leadership/teaching experience in a preK-12 educational setting;
• Experience teaching similar course offerings to those in the OU leadership programs;
• Evidence of or potential to sustain and expand existing community-based partnerships;
• Demonstrated capacity to achieve local, national, and international recognition for research that responds to quality and performance challenges in educational systems.

Application review will begin October 26, 2026 and continue until the position is filled. This is a 9-month position with an anticipated start date of August 2027.

Applicants must submit a letter of application, a current CV, and names and contact information for three references. Letters of application should address interest in this position and describe how the candidate’s qualifications and experiences match the key responsibilities, required, and preferred qualifications. OU is using Interfolio to conduct this search. All application materials should be submitted electronically through Interfolio using the following link: https://apply.interfolio.com/194624.

Questions may be directed to:

Dr. Timothy G. Ford, Search Committee Chair

Email: [email protected]