New Meridian University · Doctoral Programs
Academic Programs
Four schools. Fourteen doctoral specializations. One design: the research doctorate rebuilt for working leaders — 100% online, finished in one to two years.
A working doctorate, taken seriously
Fourteen specializations, one conviction: the people already doing the work are exactly the people who should be researching it.
The traditional research doctorate has an entry condition nobody prints in the catalog: stop your life for four to seven years. New Meridian was built for the professionals who would never accept that condition — the principals, program managers, agency directors, and systems executives who already hold the jobs the doctorate is supposed to prepare them for. Every specialization runs 100% online and asynchronous, moves through 60 credit hours in one to two years, and ends not in an abstract exercise but in a dissertation on a problem from your own practice.
What the programs share is a spine. Every specialization — from Project Management to Education Policy — runs the same five gates in the same order: the coursework, the Candidacy Qualifying Exam, the dissertation proposal, ethics review through New Meridian’s registered IRB, and the final defense. What separates them is the field, and each field’s page carries the evidence for why it matters now: the disengagement economy for leadership, the innovation pipeline for technology transfer, the teacher turnover crisis for education policy.
The shared path, regardless of specialization
Five gates between admission and the title — the same five for all fourteen specializations:
The coursework
Sixty credit hours online, paced around a full-time career.
The Candidacy Qualifying Exam
Command of the field and the research methods, confirmed in one sitting.
The dissertation proposal
Your question, defended before your committee before a word is written.
The ethics review
New Meridian’s registered IRB keeps the research publishable and credible.
The final defense
Your findings, your committee, and the conversation that ends with the title.
School of Business Administration
Ph.D. / DBA
The enterprise doctorates — projects, people, systems, strategy, and the leadership above them all. The research degrees for the people who own the P&L.
Project Management
Nearly the entire global economy now runs on projectized work. Learn to lead it with evidence — and to train the next generation who will.Explore the specialization →
Human Resource Management
A trillion dollars a year walks out the door with departing employees. Manage the enterprise’s largest investment like one.Explore the specialization →
Information Technology Management
The fastest-growing occupational group in the economy needs executives who read an architecture diagram and a balance sheet with equal fluency.Explore the specialization →
General Business
Research fluency across every function of the enterprise — the deliberate build for the future general executive.Explore the specialization →
Leadership
Only 20% of the world’s employees are engaged at work. Become the leader who moves that number — with evidence.Explore the specialization →
School of Technology
DTech/Ph.D.
Where governance meets engineering: enterprise systems, the security posture, and the pipeline that turns research into industries.
Information Technology Management
Technology governance at research depth — architecture, infrastructure economics, and security leadership for the executive layer.Explore the specialization →
Cybersecurity
The average breach now costs $4.44 million. Lead the defense with evidence, not slogans.Explore the specialization →
Technology Transfer
Thousands of university patents issued every year — each one a commercialization decision. Learn to make it well.Explore the specialization →
School of Public Administration
DPA/Ph.D.
The doctorates of public value — for the people who deliver the services trust depends on, and the analysts who prove what works.
Public Administration
Only 17% of Americans trust the federal government. Delivery is where that trust gets earned back — lead the delivery.Explore the specialization →
Public Policy
Every policy is a bet placed with the public’s money. Train to produce the evidence that makes it defensible.Explore the specialization →
Public Sector HRM
The federal workforce changed by the hundreds of thousands in a single year. Steward the public workforce through it.Explore the specialization →
School of Education
Ed.D./Ph.D.
The research degrees for the people who run schools, write the rules they live under, and build the technology reshaping them.
Educational Leadership
42% of principals have considered walking away. Become the school leader they keep.Explore the specialization →
Education Policy
Nine in ten new teaching positions exist to replace people who left. Study why — and write what changes.Explore the specialization →
Education Technology
A $187 billion industry that is still under 6% of global education spending. Build its evidence base.Explore the specialization →
Every specialization, at a glance
| Structure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Credits | 60 credit hours |
| Format | 100% online and asynchronous — no campus requirement, no fixed class hours |
| Time to completion | 1–2 years, paced around a full-time career |
| Dissertation | Original research on a problem from your own field, IRB-approved |
| Path | Coursework → Qualifying exam → Proposal → Ethics review → Final defense |
Questions, answered
Can I really finish a doctorate while working full-time?
Yes — that is the design, not a workaround. All fourteen specializations are 100% online and asynchronous with no fixed class hours, and most students complete the 60 credit hours in one to two years without pausing their careers.
How do I choose between specializations?
Start from the dissertation: which problem from your own career would you still want to be thinking about in year two? Because the early coursework and methods sequence are shared within each school, and faculty advise from admission onward, a choice made now can be refined before the proposal is defended.
Ph.D., DBA, or Ed.D.?
The Ph.D. is the scholarly research track. The DBA and Ed.D. are applied, executive-practice doctorates. The coursework is largely shared within each school, so you can settle the choice with your advisor once you see where your dissertation question pulls.
What do all fourteen programs have in common?
The spine: the same five gates — coursework, qualifying exam, proposal, IRB ethics review, and final defense — the same 60-credit, online, asynchronous structure, and the same expectation that your research comes from real practice.
Ready to begin?
Explore the specializations, then speak with faculty about your path from application to defense.