With more than a decade of experience as a speech-language pathologist and assistive technology professional, Katie Threlkeld found Rockhurst University’s Online Doctorate in Education and Leadership with a concentration in Higher Education to be the right fit for her goals. The program’s flexibility and personalized approach gave her the tools to balance teaching responsibilities while conducting meaningful research on telepractice. Through her capstone, she continues shaping the next generation of clinicians to thrive in an evolving healthcare landscape.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

My name is Katie Threlkeld. I'm in the online Doctor of Education program at Rockhurst University.

The online convenience is amazing because I work full-time. I am an assistant clinical professor at a program where I needed the flexibility.

The reason I chose Rockhurst was the immediate connection I had with the support staff as well as the faculty. They were very supportive, open to conversations about my research interests, and about things that I wanted to learn more about, really shaping the program to my own personal and professional interests. I've never felt so supported in pursuing my passion in this area.

Broad coursework has prepared me for leadership by having leaders in place in the program that modeled what that looks like as a professor and as a leader in higher education in terms of coursework. It was a really good balance of what I was learning in terms of assessing students and creating curriculum, but then also having these leadership conversations around higher education, especially knowing the evolving landscape of higher education. All of that is going to prepare me as I move forward.

I really enjoy the cohort model to have so many people from different backgrounds. I think of it as a very positive aspect. I come from speech pathology, but I also had members in my cohort who were physical therapists. I had members in my cohort who were from different areas of healthcare or from K through 12 backgrounds, and having their input in different discussions and projects helped me learn from them. There is such diversity in our backgrounds. You will find someone who maybe is in your niche area or has pursued the research that you're interested in.

Having the Ed.D. program at Rockhurst provided me with the support to really think about how I can impact the future of my field and speech pathology through higher education.