The education department will offer the first classes in its new master’s program this fall.
The Higher Learning Commission accredited the residential program in January, which will serve up to 20 students per year.
“I am incredibly excited about this master’s program in classical education,” said David Diener, former headmaster of Hillsdale Academy and lecturing professor of Education at Hillsdale College.
Diener will become a full-time faculty member of the education department this fall. Diener said he hopes to bring his administrative expertise to the program.
“One of the greatest challenges that classical Christian schools and classical charter schools face today is finding qualified headmasters and administrators,” Diener said. “This program helps to meet the need for trained headmasters by providing administrative training as part of the offered coursework.”
The master’s program seeks to benefit teachers, administrators, and other candidates interested in classical education.
Chairman and Professor of Education Daniel Coupland said schools need leaders both inside and outside of the classroom to thrive.
“This includes a mentor teacher, a dean of students, an athletic director, all the way up to a headmaster,” Coupland said. “Leadership is the biggest need in education, but we’re not limiting the master’s program towards a particular group.”
Diener and the existing education professors will not be the only professors who teach the program’s students.
“We’ll be hiring at least one new faculty member,” Coupland said. “That search is ongoing right now. The idea is that as the program continues to grow, we’ll continue to add faculty.”
Some of the classes may also be taught by current faculty members outside of the education department, Coupland said. The classes will be spread out over two years: a core curriculum the first year and electives the second.
“At the graduate level, there will be a historical strand, a philosophical strand, and then a literary or humane letters strand. All students will take the same courses in their first year,” Coupland said. “This includes classes in the history of liberal and American education, the philosophy of education, and classical pedagogy.”
Assistant Professor of Education Benjamin Beier said the Humane Letters class will give students the opportunity to read the Great Books of the Western tradition through the teaching practices of classical education. The class will enable the students who have taught previously to experience classical education from the student perspective.
In addition, several hands-on opportunities will be available to graduate students.
“There will be a teaching apprenticeship, where a teacher will work closely with another teacher,” Coupland said. “We’ll also have an administrator apprenticeship class where students will shadow an administrator and help with tasks.”
The second year of the master’s program will also offer topical classes in addition to the apprenticeship.
“There’ll be a pedagogy and curriculum class, and then there will be a sequence of classes for those who are interested in being school leaders,” Beier said. “There will also be some topical classes, including classes on the trivium and quadrivium.”
Diener said Hillsdale is the “perfect institution” to offer a graduate degree in classical education because the program aligns with the college’s identity as an institution, its mission, and the classical education program already offered to undergraduate students.
“I believe that Hillsdale College can offer a program that becomes the industry gold standard,” Deiner said.
