Innovation and Impact

Professional and educational associations, such as the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate (CPED), create and offer awards that recognize the accomplishments of individuals, programs, and institutions. In this edited book, W. Kyle Ingle and Harriette Thurber Rasmussen focus on CPED’s Program of the Year (POY) Award, examining its history, purpose, submission requirements, its committee structure, activities, and outcomes. Faculty members from CPED’s award-winning institutions have been invited to discuss their innovative programs, how these innovations were developed, how they pursue social justice, and how these innovations have been sustained since winning the award. Furthermore, the award’s role in facilitating the diffusion of innovative and effective practices among CPED member institutions is examined. The book and its chapters are framed through the lens of innovation diffusion theory. Popularized by communication theorist Everett Rogers (1967, 2003), innovation diffusion theory has spread widely across the social sciences. In his seminal work, Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers defines an innovation as “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” (2003, p. 12). Innovation diffusion is the process by which an innovation spreads among the members of a social system, in this case the internal and external communities of Ed.D.-granting institutions. The book includes dual components: (1) innovative programs that drive social justice and (2) how these institutional innovations were developed and sustained. The latter component will shed light on three self-study processes related to these award-winnng programs: The process of creating the featured innovative program; The process of applying for the program of the year award; and The process of writing the journey and considering the impact of the program of the year award on their institution, including any reinvention/adaptations.  Taken together, readers will examine and understand “process[es] by which alteration occurs in the structure and function of a social system” (Rogers, 1995, p. 6) in pursuit of social justice goals through programmatic innovation. Perfect for courses such as: Program Development & Assessment in Higher Education; Instructional Planning for Student Learning and Achievement; Performance Improvement; Instructional Design and Development; e-Learning Design and Development; College Teaching; Supervised Experience in Higher Education; Special Problems in Educational Leadership; Professional Projects in Higher Education; Organizational Improvement in Higher Education