Adams State University is proud to be Colorado’s premier higher education institution designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Adams State is a comprehensive liberal arts university that distinguishes itself with caring professors, small classes and a diverse community, located in the San Luis Valley, an area rich in Spanish and Indigenous cultural heritage. With an enrollment of nearly 50 percent minority students, our community is committed to all students’ success and especially success of our students of color.
Adams State’s Leadership in Education Administration & Development (LEAD) program offers graduate courses in Educational Leadership focusing on K-20 professionals.
Originally the Higher Education Administration & Leadership (HEAL) program, which focused only on postsecondary education leadership, LEAD has been revamped to include the entire K-20 educational leadership pipeline. We offer a master’s degree with two cognates (HEAL & Superintendent Licensure) as well as stackable certificates for both K-12 and postsecondary.
Through the generous support of a US Department of Education FIPSE grant, HEAL matriculated its first cohort in 2010 with a specific focus on “Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders at the Nation’s HSIs”. In only its 3rd year, HEAL was recognized by Excelencia in Education in 2013 (and again in 2024) as a model for Latino/a graduate student success. With the expansion to include the entire K-20 pipeline in the LEAD program in Fall 2024, we are excited to be able to offer even more opportunities to professionals who serve our Latino/a populations.
We offer a fully online program designed with working professionals in mind. Benefits of the program include:
Joining a national leader in online learning since 1989
A K-20 educational leadership focus
Affordability and convenience
An innovative curriculum
A focus on equity, social justice, and cultural competency
Nationally recognized faculty with experience in K-20
A cohort model
Experiential-based learning
Networking and mentoring opportunities
Holistic advising
We boast an alumni network that is 63% Latino/a and 67% minority overall. Our current cohort is 75% Latino/a. Our alumni fill key positions throughout the United States, from senior campus leaders to attorneys to nonprofit leaders to government officials and leaders in private industry. Several of our alumni have gone on to receive PhDs or are presently in doctoral programs. Our current students work in a variety of positions within higher education and have received promotions since beginning the program.
The following testimonials highlight the successful experiences of HEAL participants:
“The Higher Education Administration and Leadership (HEAL) program at Adams State helped me find a lifelong mentor and my tribe. Prior to joining Cohort A, I’d thought that the issues of inequity at my Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and in my community were unique. Turns out they are not, rather they present in different forms and have been my personal call to action to use my career and talents for impact and change. The HEAL curriculum, faculty, and mentors have equipped me for how to tackle questions of inequity in grant proposals, and to share my authentic story.” --Jonathan Macias, Cohort A
“HEAL was life-changing for me. The cohort brought lifetime friends and colleagues that we still support in our career goals. The HEAL small cohort and consejos really brought out the familia approach that I yearned for in higher education. HEAL allowed me a space to learn and stretch to whom I am today, a doctoral candidate in a Ph.D. program, the Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity at Colorado State University Pueblo, and a proud mother.” –Victoria Obregon, Cohort B
“HEAL helped me understand how important it is to learn the history and impact of Higher Education in society and recognize my duty as an educator for future generations. Whatever decision I make must benefit the students. With HEAL, I can make sure to apply the best approach, especially when working with marginalized communities.” --Alma Olivas Aquinas, Cohort G
“The HEAL program taught me how to make impactful changes in the higher education system, and also taught me the history from which we all must learn and avoid past mistakes. My HEAL degree has opened an ocean of opportunities that I was not aware of and taught me how to open these doors for my personal and professional growth. The curriculum provides you with a broad and general education in best practices. The professors are very knowledgeable and very understanding. Plus, the long-life contacts and relationships that you create are meaningful and very supportive. I know I made the right decision when I decided to pursue my HEAL master’s degree at Adams State University!” –Brenda Figueroa, Cohort H.
About the authors
Melissa L. Freeman, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Educational Leadership Department and LEAD program. She is also the founding director of the HEAL program where she secured a nearly $300K grant from the US Department of Education, FIPSE fund to provide the seed money to start the program in 2009. She also served as a Project Director on the Title V PPOHA grant from 2014 to 2020. Dr. Freeman has presented and authored numerous presentations and publications related to Latino/a Student Success including her co-edited monograph “College Completion for Latino/a Students: Institutional and System Approaches” in New Directions for Higher Education.
Curtis L. Garcia, Ph.D., is a Professor and Director of the School of Education. Dr. Garcia joined the faculty of Adams State in 2014 and has served as project director a number of federal and state grants - totaling more than $7M focused on teacher recruitment, retention and quality. He also founded Project SERVE, a program aimed at supporting early recruitment of diverse educators in southern Colorado. Dr. Garcia’s research focuses on teacher mentoring and evaluation, issues in rural education, and issues related to multicultural education and equity in schools.
