Cypress, CA (PRWEB) November 12, 2014

Trident University International (Trident) is proud to announce that effective Monday, November 3, 2014, Dr. Heidi Gilligan has been appointed as the Program Director of their new Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership (Ed.D. EL) program.

Dr. Gilligan has previous experience building an Ed.D. program from the ground up, having been instrumental in the successful launch of the Educational Leadership Program at California State University, Long Beach in 2006. She has taught several Ed.D. classes at CSU Long Beach, including Research Methods, Survey Methods, and Inferential Data Analysis. She will report to Dr. Holly Orozco, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and College of Education.

“The addition of Dr. Heidi Gilligan to run our new Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program is an important one for Trident due to her involvement in the successful launch of a similar program at CSU Long Beach. Her background – including extensive research and data analysis experience – will complement and enhance the already stellar academic experience at the university,” says Dr. Holly Orozco, Dean of the College of Health Sciences and the College of Education.

Dr. Gilligan earned an Ed.D. in Community College/Higher Education Leadership from CSU Long Beach and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Diego State University. Her research interests include the financial literacy of college students, college student success in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors, and college access for unrepresented populations.

A native Californian, Dr. Gilligan was raised in San Diego. She is a middle distance runner and plays in a women’s recreational soccer league. She has been playing since the age of four.

The Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership begins instruction in the Winter 2015 session and enrollment is open now. This is the only 100% online Ed.D. program accredited by the Western Association of Schools & Colleges(WASC).

For any media inquiries, please contact Daniel Sloan at daniel.sloan@trident.edu.

About Trident University

Founded in 1998, Trident University International (Trident) is a leading online postsecondary university serving adult learners. Trident developed the Trident Learning Model, which employs case-based learning in an online setting to teach real-world relevant critical thinking skills to enhance the lives and careers of students. Trident offers high-quality bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs, led by a qualified faculty team, over 80% of who have doctoral degrees. Visit http://www.trident.edu, Trident’s Facebook page, or call at (855) 290-0290 to learn more about Trident’s wide range of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs.