Carducci will provide academic leadership for Elon’s newest graduate degree program, with the inaugural cohort to enroll in the full-time, two-year program this fall.
Following a national search, Elon University has selected Rozana Carducci as the graduate director of its new Master of Arts in Higher Education Program. She begins her new role on July 1, 2018, with the program’s first students to enroll in fall 2018.
Carducci comes to Elon from Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts, where since 2013 she has served as assistant professor in the Department of Secondary and Higher Education and coordinator of the Higher Education in Student Affairs graduate program. For nearly two decades she has dedicated herself to the practice and study of higher education leadership, and brings that wealth of knowledge and experience to Elon.
In her role coordinating the graduate program at Salem State, Carducci has managed recruitment, admissions, curriculum development, faculty selection and evaluation, student professional engagement, program communications and alumni relations for the 75-student program.
“I am excited at the prospect of drawing upon my extensive academic leadership experience to help launch Elon’s Higher Education graduate program and I am confident my program management knowledge will allow me to make an immediate contribution,” Carducci said.
Carducci will oversee Elon’s newest graduate course of study, with the Master of Arts in Higher Education Program launching this year to help educate the next generation of institutional leaders. This full-time, two-year program prepares students for a wide range of leadership positions in the major administrative areas of colleges and universities, as well as for other post-secondary positions such as nonprofit agencies.
The program’s innovative curriculum is designed to prepare graduates to be highly effective professionals in higher education, with students completing a rigorous course of study, a paid apprenticeship and two internships. Their Elon graduate degree will lay the groundwork for their work in areas including student and academic affairs, global education, university advancement, diversity and inclusion, and many administrative and co-curricular programs.
“Dr. Carducci brings a strong record of scholarship, extensive graduate teaching in a variety of programs, professional work experience and involvement in professional organizations that will be valuable as our inaugural director,” said Ann Bullock, dean of the School of Education. “Her belief and focus on cultivating adaptive, socially responsible leaders and organizations aligns with the mission of the Master of Arts in Higher Education program at Elon.”
Carducci has a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in college student personnel from Miami University in Ohio and a doctorate in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was also awarded a dissertation year fellowship.
Prior to joining Salem State University in 2013, Carducci was an assistant professor at the University of Missouri in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis, where she was named the University of Missouri College of Education Graduate Instructor of the Year in 2012.
Along with her role as program coordinator at Salem State University, Carducci developed and facilitated graduate seminars on student affairs administration, the history of higher education, administration and organizations in higher education and professional capstone while advising 50 graduate students. She was nominated in 2016 and 2017 for the Salem State Distinguished Teaching Award.
As a scholar, she has published a broad range of journal articles, book chapters, book reviews and magazine articles along with three books and monographs. Primary themes across her scholarship have been higher education leadership, student affairs administration and qualitative methodologies. Carducci is also actively engaged in numerous higher education research and professional organizations.