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Program Overview

This Ph.D. program is rooted in a tradition of engaged scholarship that recognizes the inseparability of environmental and social challenges, as well as the interdependence of cultural and biological diversity. Anchored by the wisdom and experience of a global community, the TLCS program is made up of practitioner scholars who embody relational leadership and knowledge generation practices rooted in lineages and traditions that stand for love, relationship, reciprocity and solidarity.

The TLCS program is accessible to students and emerging scholar-leaders from the United States and abroad. The distance-learning model allows students to stay rooted in their home communities and organizations. Each student addresses research questions that are relevant to these complex and uncertain times. 

Who is this for?

• Community-based practitioners and organizational and social movement leaders who are committed to applied scholarship at the intersection of environmental/social issues
• Leaders who want to build a rigorous and collaborative scholarly knowledge production practice across community, organizational and/or social movement settings to address complex challenges from a place of creativity.
• Individuals seeking a career in academia and/or who are committed to bringing these knowledge production practices more fully into their communities and professional spheres.

Distinctive features

• Practice-based and relationship-centered
• Rooted in sustainability, decolonization, solidarity, ecological/systems thinking and change, and creativity
• Rigorous, innovative, and applied humanities and social sciences approach
• Rooted in epistemic freedom and multiple ways of knowing
• Distance-learning/online design

Want to learn more? or register for an The next one is February 13th!

Curriculum

The Ph.D. in TLCS curriculum provides an opportunity for students to develop depth and competency in the theories, frameworks, and practices associated with the program's core content areas. 

The Ph.D. requirements include the completion of rigorous original research that contributes new scholarly knowledge while addressing complex challenges from a place of creativity:

• 75 total credits needed (can include grade-bearing, transfer, or research credits)
• Up to 24 credits transferred from Masters (leaving 51 additional credits)
• With masters degree: Minimum 15 grade-bearing credits
• Minimum 20 dissertation credits

Deadlines

We are currently accepting applications for Fall 2025!
Mid-February: first-round of application review
Late-February - July: ongoing rolling admissions and monthly application review/decisions based on enrollment capacity

Admissions

The TLCS program curriculum requires a 15-credit prerequisite sequence that is also the foundation for our Master's in Leadership for Sustainability (MLS). We often recommend that individuals who have not completed the MLS program consider starting with this sequence which can be completed as a 1-year fellowship before entering the Ph.D. program. Please reach out to Drusilla Roessle if you have any questions about the application process or program.

Admission Steps

1. Complete the Online Graduate College Application 
2. Select Ph.D. in Transdisciplinary Leadership and Creativity for Sustainability as your program choice.
3. Follow upload requirements.

Application Timeline

• Now accepting applications for Fall 2025!  
• Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Rolling consideration for internal scholarships.  
• Mid-February: First-round review of applications
• Late February through July: Ongoing rolling admissions and monthly application review/decisions based on enrollment capacity
• Late August: Program begins with a 3 credit week-long intensive

Application Requirements

• Graduate College Application
• Statement of Purpose
• Leadership Portfolio
• Three letters of recommendation
• College transcripts
• Resume or C.V.
• TOEFL scores for those whose native language is not English, and who have not earned a degree from a U.S. institution or an institution in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, or an English-speaking institution in Canada, Ghana, Kenya or Nigeria.

Statement of Purpose Prompts

In your statement of purpose (~1,000 words), please address the following questions:

• What attracts you to this Ph.D. program? What is motivating your desire to participate in the program?
• What questions, learning edges, and/or methods might inspire the focus of your Ph.D. inquiry?

Leadership Portfolio

Please submit a portfolio that reflects the bodies of work and lineages that have influenced your leadership, creative practices, and/or knowledge-generation efforts. This portfolio should speak to what motivates your work and the experience that you will draw upon for your Ph.D. research. While the portfolio may include documents and links, we also encourage a summary statement that provides an overview of the content included (not to exceed 500 words).

Letters of Recommendation

Applications will require three recommendations sent to the Graduate College (this most frequently holds up the application review process; start early to make sure your application is reviewed on schedule). We recommend that you choose letters of recommendation that can speak to these three criteria:

• Your leadership experience and creative practice
• Your ability to create the conditions, structure, and self-motivation to successfully complete a multi-year research/scholarship initiative
• Your willingness to engage with ambiguity, complexity, and tension in service to learning

We would love to hear from you! Please reach out to share what brings you to our program and any questions you may have. You can email Drusilla Roessle with any questions and/or to set up a time to connect by phone.

Outcomes

Program Learning Goals:

1. Apply ecological, systems change theory, leadership, and creative practices to complex contexts/conditions in service to an equitable and sustainable future;
2. Express advanced skillfulness in a suite of inquiry-based practices and methods for generating knowledge and responding to relevant leadership questions;
3. Situate their scholarship, leadership, and creative practice in relationship to their theoretical and ontological perspectives and a robust power analysis;
4. Contribute original research/scholarship that is relevant and useful to their own leadership practice and the complex challenges facing their communities, organizations, environment and social movements;
5. Make explicit connections between their scholarship, creativity, and leadership as invited by the promise of transdisciplinary practice.

Costs and Funding

The TLCS program holds financial accessibility as a top priority and is committed to creatively addressing and supporting student participation.

There are many ways to fund your graduate education through scholarships, aid, grants, and more.