PhD in Equity and Diversity in Special Education in Austin United States | University of Texas at Austin

The Special Education Department provides a Ph.D. program specializing in Equity and Diversity in Special Education (EDSE). This program examines how disability interacts with factors like race, ethnicity, language, socioeconomic status, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation within educational and societal contexts.
Students will learn to research and instruct on educational disparities related to these intersecting identities, while developing strategies to promote fairness and justice in schools for students and their families. The curriculum builds expertise in key areas including: educational disability studies, intersectional approaches, critical race theory, multilingual education, disproportionate representation, global education comparisons, and educational equity.
Participants will gain competencies for teaching university-level courses on diversity and inclusion in special education. The program also supports specialization in specific disability categories or policy domains, with a core mission of guaranteeing equitable access to special education services for children from all backgrounds.
Typically requiring four years of full-time commitment, this Ph.D. program allows students to create personalized study plans in collaboration with faculty advisors and graduate program coordinators.