To celebrate the launch of their new doctoral program in education leadership, the Harvard Graduate School of Education held a ceremony yesterday in honor of the first class of 25 students accepted in the program.

The ceremony featured a student panel during which three members of the inaugural class spoke about their experiences prompting them to apply for the graduate program.

Billed as the first of its kind, the tuition-free Doctorate in Education Leadership Program was envisioned by Ed School Dean Kathleen McCartney when she was serving as acting dean in 2005.

The first new degree program the Ed School has offered in 75 years, the Ed.L.D. Program is taught by faculty from the Ed School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Kennedy School, and combines an interdisciplinary curriculum with real-world practice.

“Education reform will require more than simple change,” McCartney wrote in a letter about the program’s launch this fall. “It will require transformation.”

The curriculum features a practice-based approach.

Core curriculum the first year is devoted to a series of modules—including units such as family and community engagement, group relations, and remaking educational policy—that place the program’s students in leadership roles.

The second year will consist of electives from across the University. And during the third year, students will join partner organizations in year-long paid residencies and complete a “capstone project”—an alternative to the regular dissertation that an Ed.D. program would require.

The multidisciplinary approach is designed “to develop domain knowledge of the education sector, critical skills in leadership management, and an understanding of learning and teaching,” according to the pamphlet published this week describing the program.

The 25 students chosen from more than 1,000 applicants were selected for their academic rigor, experiences in leadership, and “entrepreneurial spirit.”

The average age of the students accepted in the first class is 34, and each participant on average already had about a decade of experience, according to yesterday’s panel discussion.

Diane A. Robinson, who spoke at the panel, was a corps member for Teach For America before becoming the national director of recruitment and selection for the KIPP Foundation, a network of charter schools.

Robinson said that her call to teaching came from the realization that by educating she “could have such an impact in such a short amount of time.”

Nancy B. Gutierrez, who most recently worked as a middle school principal in Calif., said during the panel discussion that she chose to enter the teaching field after realizing that change would occur first and foremost through education.

“True political action takes place in the classroom,” Gutierrez said.

David Rease Jr., who also spoke at the panel, said he was motivated to teach when he realized the insufficiency of the public education system.

“I’m hoping to leave here more informed and better prepared to impact...and transform,” Rease said.

—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.