SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA MA PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL

SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA MA PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETAL CHANGE ELWB – Raising Successors!

Introduction The mission of the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Societal Change program is to provide graduate-level students with the broad interdisciplinary knowledge, research skills, and practical experience for cuttingedge leadership in the all-inclusive world of education, locally, nationally, and internationally.

The meaning of Soka A Japanese neologism meaning “to create value” first coined in 1930 by the Japanese educator, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Film Clip

Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Schools Founder “The ultimate goal of Soka, or valuecreating, education is to foster people of character who continuously strive for the ‘greatest good’ of peace, who are committed to protecting the sanctity of life, and who are capable of creating value under even the most difficult circumstances” (Ikeda, 2001: 115).

The box is your friend How is it possible to think outside of the box without necessarily leaving the box or creating a new, no less isolated, box of one’s own?

The answer? Value Creation Value-creating educational leaders are not waiting around for the ideal conditions to make a difference; nor do they find it is necessary to engineer those conditions into existence before such a change can be made. “Creation, ” as Makiguchi said, “reworks the ‘found order’ of nature into an order with special benefits for humanity. ” The “found order” confronting any principal or school superintendent in any country and under any political system is not an a priori “given” but his or her working materials for the challenge of value creation.

SOKA UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA MA PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETAL CHANGE PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

In the course of their studies students: • Analyze past and present models of administrative leadership for their effectiveness in promoting equality of educational opportunity and greater workplace democracy;

They: • Gain a foundational knowledge of the historical and philosophical underpinnings of education in general;

They: • Learn to utilize networks and coalitions for broad-based, popular initiatives and reforms;

They: • Learn to promote meaningful collaboration among and between parents and school administrators;

And they: • Develop and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to create and maintain learning environments that value diversity, continual knowledge acquisition, instructional leadership, innovative and ethical decision-making, and the successful achievement of all

Their Accomplishments Classes of 2016 and ’ 17 organized the first WORLD SUMMIT OF EDUCATORS June 13, 2016 Sponsored by the MA Program

Thoughts on education toward global citizenship. Retrieved from http: //www. columbia. edu/cu/buddhism/document/tc 1996. pdf

Their Accomplishments The Class of 2018 CIES 2017 ICPEL 2017 TESTIMONIALS

At CIES Atlanta with Rosemary Papa!!! Professor of International & Comparative Education and Leadership Soka University of America

ICPEL 2019 AT SOKA! See you all there!