As members of the Class of ’23 were celebrating in The Quad after the graduate commencement in May, it was the first time some of them had set foot on campus. They earned their degree online.

Among them was Luke Lundstedt from Santiago, Chile, who is now Dr. Luke Lundstedt, having earned a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership (POL), one of CIU’s fastest growing programs.

Lundstedt will be helping the Far East Broadcasting Company bring the gospel into countries that are difficult to access by using various media including radio, mp3, podcasts and streaming. He says what he learned through the POL is essential to the work.

“I’ll be helping to facilitate partnerships across Central and Pacific Asia and East Africa,” Lundstedt said. “So, I’ll be doing a lot of partnership development and strategy development.”

The POL was developed by Dr. Brian Simmons, the vice president of CIU Global, the university’s online school. He developed the program by asking a series of important questions.

• How can I build a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership degree program with intentionality to guide students to know Him (God) and make Him known? 
• How can I build a doctoral program that would intentionally educate students from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ? 
• How can I design an academically rigorous, practical doctoral degree program that would build on CIU’s core value of the Authority of Scripture? 
• How can I design a degree program that would go beyond biblical integration to biblical immersion recognizing that all truth in every academic discipline including the field of organizational leadership is God’s truth?
• How can I best meet the needs of adult students?

The answer to those questions resonated with graduate Dr. Stephanie Carter-Green from New Jersey who has a leadership background in law enforcement.  

“This program allowed me to deepen my faith in the Lord because He is the ultimate leader,” Carter-Green said in The Quad with her degree in hand. “You have to be biblically-centered, Christ-centered to lead in an effective way.”  

For two decades Simmons has focused his attention on Christian higher education and more specifically online graduate Christian education. As he developed the POL, he asked a few additional questions.

• What hurdles do doctoral students face? 
• Why do many students get hung up as “ABD” (all but dissertation)?
• How can we change the traditional doctoral program paradigm of content courses, followed by portfolios, comprehensive examinations and finally the writing of the dissertation that can sometimes get bogged down and can stretch out over six years or more?

Simmons says a significant answer to those questions is a unique aspect of the POL — the pairing of students with mentors who walk with them from the beginning to the end of their academic journey. These mentors also serve as the chairs of the students’ dissertation committees.

For Lundstedt, his mentor was Dr. Rick Christman who would become CIU’s interim president by the time Lundstedt completed his doctorate.

“He was helpful, very helpful,” Lundstedt said. “He helped me across the finish line.”

Why does CIU’s POL focus on the preparation of organizational leaders?

“Because as leaders are transformed they can transform the organizations they lead,” answers Simmons. “CIU’s POL prepares effective leaders who put service over self-interest like Jesus did. We encourage these leaders to seek God’s purposes for all He has so graciously entrusted to their care, including the people and organizations they lead, with the understanding that we love and serve God by loving and serving others.” 

CIU is celebrating 100 years of its mission to “educate people from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ.” The university consistently ranks among the Top Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report, as well as a Best Value Regional University in the South. Apply now or request information on enrollment by contacting Admissions at (803) 807-5024 or admissions@ciu.edu.