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UPCEA Announces 2026-2027 Leadership Team for Council for Chief Online Learning Officers

UPCEA, the online and professional education association, announces the 2026-2027 leadership team for the Council for Chief Online Learning Officers (C-COLO). The association extends its gratitude to the 12 member volunteers serving in leadership roles for this body. 

The Council for Chief Online Learning Officers (C-COLO) and its members focus on leveraging the strategic potential of digital learning to transform higher education and society. Each UPCEA member institution may designate a chief online learning officer—the primary leader for an online, digital, or technology-enhanced postsecondary enterprise—to represent them on C-COLO.

Institutional delegates can attend the annual C-COLO Convening, held as part of UPCEA’s Summit for Online Leadership and Administration (SOLAR), and participate in exclusive content and engagement opportunities inclusive of this year’s 2026 SOLAR Pre-Conference Session, Online Learning by the Numbers: An Enterprise Data Institute for Chief Online Learning Officers, hosted in collaboration with MIT Professional Education

C-COLO is led by a volunteer leadership group composed of delegates from UPCEA member organizations. The 2026-2027 C-COLO Leadership is:

Jay O’Callahan, Kean University (Co-Chair)

Minh Virasak, Santa Clara University (Co-Chair)

Chris Foley, Indiana University Online

Asher Haines, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Daria LaTorre, Duquesne University

Teresea Madden, The University of Texas at Arlington

Beth Brunk, University of Texas at El Paso

Dan Horn, Johns Hopkins University

Shawn Miller, Rice University

Anthony Piña, Illinois State University

Caleb Simmons, University of Arizona

Melissa Vito, The University of Texas at San Antonio

“C-COLO plays a critical role in advancing how institutions think about and scale online and digital learning,” said Julie Uranis, Senior Vice President for Online and Strategic Initiatives at UPCEA. “This leadership team brings deep experience and a strong commitment to collaboration, and I’m excited to see how they will continue to shape the future of postsecondary education.”

Interested in getting involved with UPCEA as a volunteer leader? Fill out this form.

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