Michael A. Owens, PhD

After presenting at the Oxford Education Research Symposium in March, our department got inspired to make a departmental coat of arms incorporating our own history and mission. 😄

Department of Educational Leadership
Our Mission
The Department of Educational Leadership empowers individuals to challenge the future by preparing professionals for leadership based on research of best practices. We help individuals to see a better future and develop a future-focused role for leaders. The department prepares leaders to invent their future and the future of others, and it influences individuals to realize what could be. We also prepare people for an uncertain world, prepare leaders to realize a better future, and apply theory to practice. https://www.umt.edu/education/departments/edlead/

Relevant to higher education among other facets of life in the US this year

Every Illegal Act Trump Committed in 2025 (So Far) We documented all 200 Trump Illegal actions committed in 2025, so you don't have to. 📰 Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Try Ground News today and get...

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

SMH

Education Dept. asks hundreds of fired employees to temporarily return The federal Education Department is asking hundreds of staffers in the Office for Civil Rights to temporarily return to help clear a backlog of cases.

Happy holiday wishes from the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education! It warmed my heart that the Teacher Education Services staff used some of my snowflakes as part of their decor.

Latest co-authored publication with Dr. Shaun M. Black and colleagues -- "An Examination of Turnaround Leadership: A Case Study of Superintendent and Principal Leadership"

An Examination of Turnaround Leadership: A Case Study of Superintendent and Principal Leadership - Shaun M. Black, Michael A. Owens, Willie L. White, Brod Boxley, Coby W. Fletcher, Lamont O. Repollet, 2025 Improving low-performing/failing schools in the United States, especially in urban areas, has been a focal point of policymakers since the 1960s. Turning around...

Successful teams aren’t necessarily about star talent, but more often depend on “Glue” employees—the quiet leaders who make everybody else look good and rarely get rewarded for their contributions.

🔗: https://on.wsj.com/482fVqR

Jeffrey Epstein’s Inbox Reveals His Deep Ties to Prominent Researchers In emails between the disgraced financier and researchers he supported, they asked for funding, expressed gratitude, and sought advice on how to deal with sexual-misconduct allegations.

Trump Administration Continues Efforts to Dismantle the Education Department Grant-making programs that support college access and student success will be outsourced to the Department of Labor under a new deal.

A Foreign-Enrollment Downturn Isn’t Coming. It’s Already Here. Also, the State Department takes over Fulbright-Hays and other international-ed programs, and more from the “Open Doors” report.