The second in a series of informational sessions on the inaugural California State University, Stanislaus Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership degree program will be held on Thursday, January 31 in Stockton.

The free session on the University's groundbreaking doctorate program, which will open in Fall 2008, is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Room 1014 of Acacia Hall at the CSU Stanislaus Stockton Center, 612 E. Magnolia in Stockton. The program is designed for educators who are interested in earning a doctorate to advance their careers in education. Directions and information are available by calling (209) 667-3364 or on the University website at www.csustan.edu/edd.

Additional informational programs are scheduled for February 28 at UC Merced, March 12 at Modesto Junior College, and April 3 at Columbia College. Programs are also lined up for 5 p.m. in Demergasso-Bava Hall's Room 118 on the CSU Stanislaus campus on January 24, February 20, March 18, and April 15.

Under the leadership of Dr. Steven K. Lee, Founding Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, the three-year program is designed to meet the need for highly trained educational leaders in the Central Valley. Two specializations will be offered -- one in leadership for preschool to grade 12 schools and the other for community college leadership.

Classes will be held in the evenings to accommodate working professionals, and registration for the charter cohort of students will be accepted after the California State University Trustees and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) provide final clearances this spring.

Seven CSU campuses launched Doctorate of Education degree programs for the first time in CSU history last fall after state legislation was enacted in 2005 that allowed them to join the University of California system and other four-year universities in the state to offer the degrees. CSU Stanislaus is one of five CSU campuses preparing to launch Ed.D. programs this fall and will be the first to do so without an already-existing partnership doctorate program through a separate doctorate-granting university.