Kristin Kellen Appointed as Director of Southeastern’s EdD Program
Mary Asta Halvorsen | August 01, 2024
Southeastern Seminary is excited to announce the appointment of Kristin Kellen as director of the EdD program. Associate professor of biblical counseling at Southeastern and an alumna of the PhD and EdD programs, Kellen has faithfully served as the associate director of EdD studies for the past two years.
“Dr. Kellen is an incredible blessing to Southeastern,” said Southeastern President Danny Akin. “She is a wonderful colleague and friend. She is an excellent teacher and gifted administrator. I believe she is the right person to lead this important program, and I am excited about its future under her leadership.” 
Kellen has been teaching since 2016. After receiving her PhD from Southeastern, she went on to pursue an EdD in order to better serve her students as a professor. Kellen has distinguished herself as an excellent teacher and leader, and she is eager to continue the work that she and Tate Cockrell, former director of the program, have furthered in the EdD studies.
“Dr. Cockrell has done a phenomenal job leading the DMin program, and so it was very helpful for the EdD to come up under him and be steered in a very similar direction,” Kellen said, expressing her appreciation for Cockrell’s leadership over the past two years. “He has grown the program tremendously. He’s made a lot of great decisions, and they’ve had a huge return on investment.”
As Kellen assumes leadership, Cockrell shared his excitement about her new appointment, stating, “I am thrilled at the promotion of Dr. Kellen to director of EdD Studies. It has been a privilege to work alongside her as she demonstrates academic excellence, administrative giftedness, and a passion for students. She has distinguished herself in the role of associate director, and I know she will do the same as she leads the EdD program into the future.”
As a terminal professional degree, the EdD equips experts in their fields to skillfully teach and communicate their knowledge. Building on the solid foundations of the directors before her, Kellen is eager to see the EdD continue to grow and expand as it equips leaders in all seasons of life.
“The EdD is unique in that it walks the middle line between an academic-focused PhD and a practice-focused DMin,” Kellen explained. “As a professional degree, it produces both solid academics and solid leaders and educators.”
As a professional degree, it produces both solid academics and solid leaders and educators.
In addition to training academics to teach professionally, the EdD is particularly primed to equip leaders in non-academic organizations and institutions who will inevitably find themselves teaching others.
“In order to lead, you have to be leading someone,” Kellen explained, “which means you have to relate to people and relate to people well. You have to understand what motivates them, you have to understand where their gaps in knowledge are, and you have to understand how to get them from point A to point B. That’s learning theory. That’s education.”
Kellen also noted the EdD program’s unique position to prepare missionaries as teachers, providing them with a strategic access point into countries historically closed to many.
Upon Kellen’s appointment as director, Provost Scott Pace shared his excitement to have Kellen leading in this role: “Dr. Kellen is a gifted administrator, teacher, and practitioner with academic expertise and ministry experience,” Pace said. “Her versatile set of gifts and skills, combined with her passion for students and the Great Commission, are perfectly suited to direct this strategic program that equips our students for a variety of ministries and leadership opportunities.”
To learn more about how Southeastern’s EdD program trains leaders that teach, equipping them to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission, visit sebts.edu/edd.