In March 2024, Antioch University welcomed a new group of social justice-minded doctoral students into the Graduate School of Leadership & Change (GSLC). When the Cincinnati-based Union Institute & University (UI&U) closed its doors for good, its flagship PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Studies–now known as the Union Cohort within the GSLC–found its new academic home right here at Antioch, through what is known as a teach-out program.
What the teach-out means for these students is that they are able to finish their doctoral degrees without loss of credit. Understandably, students were relieved and grateful to not lose their prior investments of time, energy, and funding. Just over ninety UI&U doctoral students have accepted the teach-out arrangement and now, after a tumultuous journey through UI&U’s final year, the Union Cohort students have settled in and become true Antiochians. Now in their second trimester at Antioch, they are working diligently toward completing the required coursework, as well as proposing and writing dissertations that have the potential to transform communities through exemplary scholarship. Not only are most of the Union cohort students on their way to becoming PhDs, but ten have already defended their dissertations during their first trimester at Antioch—nine of whom participated in the commencement exercises held on July 27 in Westerville, Ohio.
“We are extremely pleased to have reached safe harbor here at Antioch” said Union Cohort Director Diane Richard-Allerdyce, one of three former UI&U faculty who have joined the teaching faculty full-time at Antioch. Diane was formerly the Concentration Chair of Humanities & Culture as well as Associate Dean of the PhD Program at Union.
Yulia Tolstikov-Mast, PhD, formerly the chair of Union’s Concentration in Ethical & Creative Leadership, and Dr. Daniel Ogbaharya, PhD, formerly the chair of the Public Policy & Social Change, were also brought aboard as full-time teaching faculty within GSLC. Union PhD’s Program Manager, Monique Skinner, also a PhD student in the Union cohort, joined the team. In addition, eight affiliate faculty from Union were hired as dissertation committee chairs to support the Union Cohort—one of the many ways that GSLC Dean Amy Rutstein-Riley’s commitment to honor Union’s curriculum has continued to be fulfilled.
“Sometimes, it felt as if we were ‘building the airplane’ while flying it,” Amy said, referring to the many infrastructural elements that had to be put in place to honor that promise. GSLC Assistant Dean Jen Swartout was instrumental from the time the teach-out was announced in December 2023 and has continued to be central to the process of ensuring that all curricular requirements are offered within GSLC for the Union Cohort.
“We are very grateful to Antioch, to Amy, Jen and the whole GSLC community,” Diane has expressed multiple times. “Because of the teach-out agreement and the dedication of Antioch’s GSLC team, the Union Cohort students have a chance to fulfill their dream of earning PhDs. More importantly, they have a pathway toward answering their calling to serve as social justice scholar-practitioners in the world.”
The world needs their activism more than ever.
