Liberal Education

In many respects I am a classic example of a person who has had multiple careers -  faculty member and researcher, academic administrator, and President of a Tech Startup.  Each of these required very different skill sets.  My disciplinary education primarily served the first.  My liberal/general education served them all, so I am a big believer and supporter of the program.Academic programs must be built on and integrated with an equally dynamic liberal education program.  At Radford, FHSU and Mercy College I created the position of Director of Liberal Education and have mentored these directors through the creation of liberal education strategic plans and the redesign process for the general education program.  I also helped establish standing liberal education committees which were charged with the assessment of the program and ensuring that it adapted dynamically to the changing needs of our students and society.  As Vice Provost at Mercy I served as an ex-officio member on this committee for two years.  With my guidance and financial support this committee implemented the CLA+ assessment tool to gain an overall and benchmarked sense of how our students were performing on our general education outcomes.  While at Mercy I also created the Office of Educational Assessment and hired its director who worked with the faculty to develop and execute an assessment plan for the college.  This plan included more specific assessments of the Mercy Gen Ed (core curriculum) than could be accomplished with the CLA+ and led to significant improvements in the program..

To support the redesign and maintenance processes I have both sent or led faculty teams to AAC&U's summer General Education Institutes and encouraged the adoption of the AAC&U Value Rubrics and the Degree Qualification Profile, both of which, through faculty advocacy, are now the foundation of the program at both FHSU and Mercy.