Doctor of Social Leadership (DSL)

A practical doctorate designed to prepare professionals for service in religion and society to lead social change and solve social problems

The Doctor of Social Leadership (DSL) degree is a practical doctorate designed to prepare professionals for service in religion and society to lead social change. The program contains coursework in sociology, leadership, and Christian worldview studies. The degree is similar in scope and purpose to a Doctor of Ministry degree but designed for religious leadership in the social professions.

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Omega Graduate School’s Doctor of Social Leadership Degree Program is not just about earning a degree, it’s an experience that empowers leaders to lead social change.

 
Who can benefit from a Doctor of Social Leadership degree?
  1. Faith-oriented social workers
  2. Social service agency case workers and administrators
  3. Educators, counselors/therapists, and others in service professions
  4. Leaders of community agencies
  5. Government workers, public administrators, and community organizers

Our DSL Degree Program Is

  1. Affordable

  2. Accredited

  3. Practical

  4. Flexible

  5. Faith-Integrated

  6. Personalized

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Social Leadership with an Emphasis on Action Research and Applied Sociology

 

 

  • The major of our DSL degree is Social Leadership.
  • Doctoral Action Research Project is focused in an area of professional interest.
  • Flexibility to drive studies toward personal and professional goals.
  • Interdisciplinary, faith-integrated, and practitioner-oriented.

A Practical Doctorate to Empower to Leaders to Advance Social Change.

The Doctor of Social Leadership (DSL) degree is a subset of the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD/DPhil) degree offered by Omega Graduate School. The DSL degree is an optional pathway/track to a practical/professional doctorate as an alternative to the research doctorate.

In place of advanced courses in research design, statistics, and dissertation writing (upper third of the PhD/DPhil), DSL students diverge to complete a practicum project utilizing Action Research.

Earn a Doctor of Social Leadership (DSL) Degree in as little as 36 months for as low as $250/month.

Our DSL is a Not Just a Degree Program,

It’s a Life-Changing Experience.

 

More than a Degree: An Empowering Experience

As a result of academic study, students develop and exhibit the following skills and outcomes:

  1. Competency in action research methodology
  2. Ability to gather evidence and synthesize findings
  3. Competency in developing practical solutions to social problems
  4. Clarity of English in both speech and written communication
  5. Leadership to transform social and organizational problems

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DSL Program Requirements

 

  1. 36 semester hours
  2. Five core sessions including multiple interfaces with professors
  3. Opportunity for European reading and research trip – an annual tradition since 1981 (hosted bi-annually)
  4. Opportunity for Library of Congress reading and research trip
  5. Action research project
  6. Completion time:  2-4 years

The DSL program is not designed to lead to any particular profession, job, or career. It is meant to enhance existing professions and assist managers, leaders, and professionals to increase their understanding of leading social change.

DSL candidates will develop a solution to a practical problem in society by applying leadership, social science, and Christian worldview perspectives in creative and constructive ways. 

What does “DSL” mean?

The Doctor of Social Leadership (“DSL”) is similar to a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP); it is a “practitioner” doctorate designed to equip leaders to implement social change in their professional and societal context. DSL graduates may transition into the PhD/DPhil program at a later time.

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Doctor of Social Leadership Required Courses (36 Semester Hours)

Core 1 Course SH
PHI 800-12 Transformative Learning and Adult Education 2
LDR 807-12 Transforming Self-Concept for Leader Development 2
COM 803-12 Hermeneutics and Communication 2
SR 953-12 Research for 21st Century Scholarship 2
     
Core 2 Course  
PHI 815-22 History of Integration of Religion & Society 2
PHI 805-22 Faith Learning Integration and Interdisciplinary Studies 2
COM 822-22 Persuasive Communication 2
SR 968-22 Sociological Methodology: Interpreting Changing Cultures 2
Core 3 (DSL) Course  
LDR 815-22 Transforming People Problems 2
SR 950-32 Clinical and Applied Sociology 2
PHI 923-32 Contextualization for Social Change 2
PHI 943-32 Orthodoxy and Orthopraxis 2
Core 4 (DSL) Course  
LDR 810-42 Cross Cultural Dynamics 2
LDR 813-42 Organizational Dynamics 2
SR 890-52 DSL DSL: Action Research Project Prospectus 2
Core 5 (DSL) Course  
PHI 801-63 Ethics in Global Society 2
SR 920-56 DSL Action Research Project 2
SR 802-42 DSL Library of Congress Reading and Research 2

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DSL Program Outcomes

  1. Apply Christian worldview, social science, and critical thinking skills to discern social trends, issues, and problems in their professional fields (whether in family, church, or community) that can potentially be transformed by the positive influence of religious truths, values, and principles.
  2. Analyze trends, issues, and problems that need the transforming impact of Christianity applying a Christian worldview, social science, and/or critical thinking skills to clarify the nature and significance of questions at stake.
  3. Identify historical precedents of Christianity’s positive and negative social impacts for guidance in the sociologically integration of religion and society in order to advance constructive changes in a needy, contemporary world.
  4. Apply information management skills to a variety of sources (eyewitness, textual, or electronic) in order to research inquiries.
  5. Use advanced learning skills in reading and writing to accurately interpret and critically evaluate research sources.
  6. Integrate biblical truths with knowledge from relevant disciplines to develop a Christian worldview of a subject, academic discipline, or societal issue.
  7. Develop a transformed self-concept through identifying, healing, and replacing dysfunctional self-beliefs liberated by biblical truths and interdisciplinary insights.
  8. Advance leadership ability through a transformed self-concept by linking awareness of Christian vocation with providential preparation to become a social change agent in an existing family, church, or community influence sphere.
  9. Contextualize Christian interdisciplinary research insights with persuasive communication methods for positive impact on those in personal and professional spheres of influence.
  10. Develop global awareness and cross-cultural skills through interdisciplinary insights and methods from Christian missiology related to analyzing and interacting with different cultures, religious traditions, and ideologies.
  11. Assess a social trend, issue, or problem from a biblical moral perspective and identify appropriate ethical individual or social responses.
  12. Analyze a legal trend, issue, or problem from a Christian worldview perspective in order to respond appropriately as a Christian citizen.
  13. Produce constructive changes in family, church, or community through applying transformational biblical leadership principles to counteract non-Christian leadership principles that ruin the world.
  14. Demonstrate understanding of organizational dynamics and personnel dynamics in organizations in order to contribute constructively to improving a professional sphere of influence.
  15. Transform people problems in groups or organizations through applying personality assessment, conflict resolution, or coaching/mentoring skills.
  16. Improve the orthopraxis of truth discovered through Christian interdisciplinary research to change the world in its ethical and social dimensions.
  17. Assess applications of Christian interdisciplinary research in order to reveal obstacles to personal or social orthopraxis.
  18. Develop a solution to a practical problem in society by applying leadership, social science, and Christian worldview perspective in creative and constructive ways.