GSE announces new EdM program in educational culture, policy and society

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) has added a new graduate program to its academic offerings this year. The educational culture, policy and society EdM program is designed for students interested in exploring the role that education plays in larger society, with a focus on how institutions, policies and practices can both facilitate and limit individuals’ well-being and social, economic and educational outcomes.

Offered in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, the program will allow students to examine education in broad-based social, cultural, political and historical contexts in the U.S. and other nations, and the cross-national differences in educational policies and practices related to the teaching profession, teaching and learning. Attention will be directed toward studying the educational policies and practices of underserved populations — including but not limited to historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. — and populations with limited financial resources.

The EdM program aims to prepare students for versatile career pathways in higher education settings, K-12 schools, international development agencies and governmental or non-governmental organizations.

Jinting Wu, associate professor of educational leadership and policy, is program director.

“The program offers a bird’s-eye view of the role education plays in reproducing or mitigating social inequality,” Wu explains. “It answers the need for big-picture thinking in a challenging time when education is besieged by growing social, economic and learning disparities.

“Students have ultimate flexibility in designing their own program of coursework,” she says. “Coursework will be interdisciplinary in nature, and draw from multiple departments, such as Educational Leadership and Policy, Sociology, Anthropology, History, and Gender and Sexuality Studies, amongst others.”

The program has enrolled its first cohort of students for this upcoming spring semester. It is offered on campus and can be completed in three full-time semesters.

The educational culture, policy and society EdM program reflects GSE’s mission of providing rigorous and supportive teaching and learning environments that prepare the next generation of practitioners and researchers. GSE is committed to ensuring that students are provided with the very best experiences in terms of their academic programs, co-curricular experiences, advising and research opportunities.

Students interested in learning more about this degree can visit the program page, or contact the GSE’s Office of Graduate Admission at 716-645-2110 or gse-info@buffalo.edu.