UPCEA Updates

Your one-stop shop for the latest Association happenings, plus thoughts from the desk of CEO Bob Hansen.

Synchronizing Pathways: Advancing the National Dialogue on Credentials and Learning Mobility

July 29, 2025

Incubator grant supports critical work to align data practices and learning mobility frameworks to benefit today’s learners WASHINGTON July 31, 2025 – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, has launched a national initiative to advance credential transparency and learner mobility through improved data quality and institutional capacity-building. The project titled, “Synchronizing Pathways: Expanding Institutional…

UPCEA Recognizes 2025 Award Recipients at the Summit for Online Leadership and Administration Conference (SOLAR)

July 17, 2025

Association Award Recipients Highlighted at Event WASHINGTON (July 17, 2025) – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, is pleased to recognize the recipients of this year’s online and distance education awards. Award recipients will be showcased at the Summit for Online Leadership and Administration (SOLAR) Conference, July 22-24 in Portland, Oregon. The annual SOLAR…

Unlocking Opportunity: How Tax Policies Like Section 127 Can Drive Employer Partnerships

July 14, 2025

By Chelsea Miller, UpSkill America, and Amy Heitzman, UPCEA Partnership is a key driver to unlocking opportunity in America, which is why UPCEA and UpSkill America are so excited to come together to help academic institutions understand one particular priority for employers: leveraging tax policies to drive engagement (really!).  UpSkill America focuses on how employers…

Foreword by Bob Hansen Featured in The COLO Guidebook

July 10, 2025

We are pleased to share the foreword by UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen from the newly released Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education. The guidebook, now available from Routledge in paperback, hardback, and eBook formats, provides a comprehensive framework for today’s online learning leaders. Learn more and purchase…

UPCEA Announces Updates to Board of Directors

June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025 – WASHINGTON — UPCEA, the online and professional education association, announces recent updates to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Susan Seal, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Studies at Mississippi State University, has been appointed to serve as a Director At-Large, filling the remainder of the 2025–2026 term…

Results of Global Lifelong Learning Study Released

June 18, 2025

UPCEA supported the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL)’s comprehensive global study. WASHINGTON (June 18, 2025) – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, today announced the release of an international study, “Making lifelong learning central to university strategy,” conducted by the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) and CarringtonCrisp.  UPCEA (alongside EUCEN) is proud…

New Book Offers Strategic Blueprint for the Decade of the Chief Online Learning Officer

June 17, 2025

UPCEA and Routledge Publish Landmark Guide to Elevating Online Education Leadership WASHINGTON (June 17, 2025) – UPCEA, the online and professional education association, proudly announces the release of The Chief Online Learning Officers’ Guidebook: A Framework for Strategy and Practice in Higher Education (co-published with Routledge). This essential new volume, co-edited by two of the…

Celebrating the life of Dr. Pamela Wimbush

June 13, 2025

It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you of the passing of one of our own. Dr. Pamela Wimbush, a friend, mentor, colleague, and member of the UPCEA’s Board of Directors passed away Tuesday. She will be missed, most acutely by her family and the dear friends she has all over the…

Other Blogs and News:

COLO Compass | States Need to Know What Online Learning Costs Before Deciding What It’s Worth

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. Georgia put a question on the table that every state should be asking: What does online education actually cost? Earlier this year, Georgia’s state Senate proposed paying public colleges roughly 91 cents for every dollar of online instruction relative to campus instruction, meaning online…

How Institutions Build Strong Noncredit and Professional Education Portfolios

Noncredit and professional education has moved from the margins of the institution to the center of enrollment and workforce strategy. As traditional pipelines tighten and adult learners look for faster, skills-focused options, colleges and universities are rethinking what they offer beyond the degree. Yet a scattered collection of one-off courses often do not deliver lasting…

When Leadership Leaves a Mark: Moving Forward After a Difficult Institutional Experience

Leadership is not defined only by the circumstances we encounter, but also by how we learn from them and determine what comes next.  Higher education leaders often accept positions because they believe in an institution’s mission and see opportunities to make a meaningful difference. They bring experience, professional judgment, and a commitment to supporting students,…

UPCEA Announces Indiana State University as 2026 Jim Fong Grant Recipient

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 10, 2026 — UPCEA is pleased to announce that the 2026 Jim Fong Grant for Advancing Online and Professional Education has been awarded to Indiana State University. Indiana State’s project will use a landscape survey and regional data analysis to find where the university is best positioned to build stackable, non-credit-to-credit credential…

COLO Compass | Who Leads Next? Building the Pipeline of Online Leaders

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. Throughout National Distance Learning Week, I’ve written about how much online learning leaders are now expected to handle: AI governance, the financial case for online education, relationships with policymakers, financial aid fraud, and operations that extend well beyond their own units. The question for…

COLO Compass | The COLO’s Job Got Bigger. Has the Authority Kept Up?

COLO Compass: Evidence and practical direction for chief online learning officers. When UPCEA published its 2016 Hallmarks, online education was still moving from innovation to mainstream adoption, and a central challenge was legitimizing it. The 2026 Hallmarks of Excellence in Digital Learning Enterprises begin from a different premise. As Vickie Cook, a contributing editor of…