Move opens new potential for expanding access to higher education

Albany, N.Y. (August 17, 2011) – Excelsior College has formed a new division, Extended Education, that brings together several programs that fall outside of traditional higher education. The move is designed to enable the nonprofit, distance learning College to more efficiently meet the needs of those who seek advanced educational credentials in new and innovative ways.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Excelsior has been a leader in higher education delivered at a distance and has awarded degrees to more than 141,000 graduates since 1971. The new division combines the College’s professional development efforts with its highly regarded credit-by-examination program and adds a new group that assists other colleges in moving academic programs online.

The new Extended Education Division will be led by Dr. Wayne Brown, formerly the vice president for information technology at Excelsior, who carries the new title of vice president for Extended Education.

“Excelsior has a strong, well-established reputation in the field of distance education,” said Dr. Brown. “Sometimes, what a person needs to advance their career is an educational credential other than a degree. And, for those on a degree path, seeking other advanced learning through our new division will boost their efforts. We firmly believe in the benefits online education brings, especially to working adults, and the Extended Education Division helps us provide access to higher education to as many people as possible.”

The Extended Education Division

Center for Professional Development (CPD)
Established in 2008, CPD offers 150 programs that can lead to certification in a variety of “mobile” careers. Of these programs, nearly two-thirds are qualified for veteran education benefits.

Center for Technology Leadership (CTL)
Launched in 2010 with the help of an advisory board comprised of higher education IT leaders from across the country, CTL’s programs are designed to equip aspiring industry chief information officers with the skills to succeed.

Center for Educational Measurement (CEM)
Since the its founding, the College has maintained a highly regarded assessment unit that develops and administers a credit-by-examination program, known as Excelsior College® Examinations, that meets the needs of students attending Excelsior and other colleges nationwide. With a new name and under the Extended Education umbrella, CEM will continue to support Excelsior’s needs while making its expertise available to organizations, both academic and non-academic, which seek a means to measure individual knowledge, learning, and competency in any field.

Hudson Whitman Press
Among its newest operations, Excelsior now offers its academic community the opportunity to submit books and manuscripts for publication, both in paper and electronically.

Educators Serving Educators (ESE)
The college’s most unique endeavor, ESE, offers a means for Excelsior to share its expertise with other colleges. ESE provides a menu of services that enable colleges to enter and expand their own online programming.

“Excelsior’s mission is and always has been that of expanding access to higher education,” said Dr. John Ebersole, Excelsior’s president. “Lifelong learning is a critical element in an individual’s personal and economic growth. By placing our more unique operations under one roof we can better meet the educational needs of students regardless of the path they need or choose. When most organizations rearrange their operations over time, the expected benefits are often not seen until well into the future. This is not the case for Excelsior,” added Dr. Ebersole. “On August 23 we will announce a collaboration with another major Capital Region college that demonstrates the immediate value of this new structure.”