Leaders in Online and Professional Continuing Education

PCO Leader Certificate Program

Explore leadership within higher education at a new level by focusing on how to responsibly manage people, data, and ideas with the PCO Leader courses. Participants will learn how PCO leaders identify and explore opportunities in collaboration with campus colleagues and other professionals in the field. 

The UPCEA Professional, Continuing and Online (PCO) Leader Certificate program courses are perfect for current higher ed leaders as well as professionals on the cusp of a significant leadership role: Deans, Associate Deans, Directors of major institutional functions. Senior leaders in the field have crafted these courses for those aiming to be at the strategic leadership level in their institutions.

Hear what past participants have to say!

There are five courses in the UPCEA Leader Certificate program (see course descriptions below). Each course is four weeks long. Complete all five Leader courses successfully and receive the UPCEA Leader Certificate. Upon successful completion of each course, participants will be awarded an UPCEA-backed badge. Courses are designed to be taken in sequence as a cohort for the full certificate, however they may be taken individually and in any order, as long as they are completed within a two-year period (to earn the certificate). 


The next UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate cohort will begin in April 2024. More details coming soon!

  • Next cohort begins April 1, 2024
  • Application deadline: March 1, 2024
  • Program Cost: UPCEA Members: $1990; Non-members: $2,990

APPLY NOW

DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2024

--------------------


Leading with Diplomacy, Data, and Drive: The Unique Imperative of the PCO Leader 

Faculty Member

Dr. Kelly Otter, Dean, School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University

Description

What are the characteristics that produce success among professional, continuing, and online leaders? Effective leaders develop evolving strategies, negotiate often treacherous political mazes, oversee a variety of contributors in their organization, and constantly seek  evidence for action -- all in the pursuit of integrity and success. This course focuses on the key elements of leadership -- responsibly managing people, data, and ideas.

Topics Covered
  • PCO Institutional structures 
  • Examination of mission and vision 
  • Leadership competencies 
  • Leveraging data as a PCO asset 
  • Innovation and diplomacy 
  • Collaboration and bridge-building 
  • Motivational management 
Learning Objectives
  • Characterize the dynamic environmental context for PCO units and implications for leadership 
  • Explore critical leadership competencies suited for a complex and collaborative enterprise 
  • Identify the relationships between organizational missions, structure, and culture 
  • Develop skills in data storytelling
  • Explore the role of leaders in building a data-driven culture
  • Assess your unit’s current data strategy 
  • Understand the critical importance of diplomacy in the PCO context 
  • Recognize the decisions and structure necessary to innovate and implement in higher education contexts
  • Identify the leader’s role in creating conditions for success
Format and Schedule

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly coursework made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and a weekly one hour live class meeting via Zoom. There will be a total of five live sessions, one welcome and course overview and then one for each of the four weekly modules. The class will open for access on Monday, April 1, 2024.  Exact dates and times for live sessions will be shared soon.


The Role of Educator: Expanding Academic Horizons 

Faculty Member

Dr. Pamela Wimbush, Associate Dean, Program Operations and Support at California State University, Sacramento

Description

How do leaders in professional, continuing, and online education work within the values, mission, and constraints of the modern university to expand the academic portfolio and reach of their institutions? This course focuses on how leaders identify and explore opportunities in the context of, and through collaboration with, those throughout their universities. Unlike other academic leaders, the PCO leader is often less independent and shares educational programs and faculty with other schools within their universities -- so key partnerships are internal. The PCO leader educates and enlists colleagues on future possibilities

Topics Covered
  • Examining you “why” and seeing yourself as an educator 
  • Importance for leaders to be educators
  • Leadership self-assessment inventory
  • Exploring new initiatives 
  • Program development
  • Evaluating programs and faculty 
  • Marketing and recruiting students
Learning Objectives
  • Explore how leaders establish credibility as educators on campus and beyond. 
  • Develop skills to enhance leadership abilities as an educator. 
  • Explore how academic initiatives are initiated for viability and sustainability. 
  • Develop strategies as a PCO leader to identify potentially viable educational programs through external and internal means.
  • Explore how to design a curriculum through the program development process. 
  • Assess faculty suitability and contributions to program quality. 
  • Assessing and demonstrating ongoing academic integrity.
  • Explore strategies to improve the learner experience. 
  • Examine the development of marketing and recruiting campaigns.
Format and Schedule

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly coursework made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and a weekly one hour live class meeting via Zoom. There will be a total of five live sessions, one welcome and course overview and then one for each of the four weekly modules. The class will open for access on Monday, May 13, 2024. Exact dates and times for live sessions will be shared soon. 


The Role of Ambassador: Engaging Those in Business, Community, and Government

Faculty Member

Dr. Tonya Amankwatia, Assistant Vice Provost of Distance Education and Extended Learning at North Carolina A&T State University

Description

How do leaders in professional, continuing, and online education engage those beyond their institutions -- in corporations, government, professional associations, and community -- as partners and stakeholders?  This course explores the range of models for external partnerships as ways of exploring and securing new opportunities and markets.  Unlike other academic leaders, the PCO leader engages a wide array of industries and sectors in a variety of ways.

Topics Covered
  • Preparing for partnership engagements
  • Identifying favorable opportunities
  • Creating connections on and off campus
  • Negotiating favorable agreements
Learning Objectives
  • Align your unit’s current partnerships types, goal, and their relationship to the larger institution’s strategic plan
  • Gather and document the resources and support available to you at your institution for branding and partnerships
  • Reflect on skills assessments or strengths inventory results and create a plan to practice and further develop your skills
  • Describe how an entrepreneurial mindset benefits the PCO leader as ambassador
  • Align PCO challenges with appropriate partnership type
  • Devise an internal and external communications strategy aligned with partnership goals
  • Explore the professionalism and credibility challenges of PCO ambassadors
  • Map out negotiation goals, issues, parameters, and settlement options 
  • Explore negotiation expectations from pre-meeting to deal close
Format and Schedule

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly coursework made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and a weekly one hour live class meeting via Zoom. There will be a total of five live sessions, one welcome and course overview and then one for each of the four weekly modules. The class will open for access on Monday, June 24, 2024. Exact dates and times for live sessions will be shared soon. 


The Role of Innovator: Managing an Adaptive Agile Organization

Faculty Member

Sean Armstrong, Dean, School of Continuing & Professional Studies, Washington University In St. Louis

Description

How do professional, continuing, and online educators create and sustain a vibrant organization, with talented and motivated staff, working in unison towards common goals?  This course will focus on organizing a dynamic workforce -- since no leaders can be successful apart from their team. This course will explore resource management in the context of ongoing innovation.

Topics Covered
  • Identifying problems that require innovative solutions 
  • Defining an innovation framework 
  • Getting buy-in from stakeholders 
  • Managing Human Resources 
Learning Objectives
  • Identify a problem in your current work environment that you consider important to address.
  • Apply an innovation framework to your problem
  • Define how your solution is innovative
  • Develop an innovative solution to your problem
  • Produce a solution proposal that is ready to present to your employer should you decide to do so
Format and Schedule

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly coursework made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and a weekly one hour live class meeting via Zoom. There will be a total of five live sessions, one welcome and course overview and then one for each of the four weekly modules. The class will open for access on Monday August 5, 2024. Exact dates and times for live sessions will be shared soon. 


The Responsible Professional: Managing through Transparency, Integrity, Quality, and Accountability 

Faculty Member

Dr. Richard Novak, Vice President, Continuing Studies & Distance Education at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey

Description

How do professional, continuing, and online educators pursue excellence and success?  This course explores the ethical challenges, and often difficult choices, that emerge in balancing competing objectives.

Topics Covered
  • Character, integrity, and servant leadership 
  • Ethical decision making
  • Ethical dilemmas in the workplace
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Defining your core values 
  • PCO as a profession 
 Learning Objectives
  • Explain the importance of character, the standard of integrity and ethical decision in being an effective PCO leader.
  • Identify and articulate personal core values that animate their work as a PCO leader.
  • Identify moments in their professional career when they have not lived up to a standard of integrity.
  • Identify strategies for dealing with ethical dilemmas in the workplace as a PCO leader.
  • Explain the concept of servant leadership and articulate how it has a place within PCO leadership.
  • Explain the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion to the PCO leadership role.
  • Identify sources, influence and potential negative consequences of unconscious bias.
  • Reflect upon and identify personal blind spots and articulate a strategy of personal improvement for dealing with blind spots.
  • Develop an action plan with rationale for establishing a DEI Advisory Committee for one’s unit.
  • Present the merits of the argument of how and why PCO can be considered a profession.
  • Identify two or three specific steps that they will take to further their professional network and to deepen their involvement in their professional association.
  Format and Schedule

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly coursework made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and a weekly one hour live class meeting via Zoom. There will be a total of five live sessions, one welcome and course overview and then one for each of the four weekly modules. The class will open for access on Monday September 16, 2024. Exact dates and times for live sessions will be shared soon.