Leaders in Online and Professional Continuing Education

UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate in Online and Professional Education

Elevate your leadership in higher education with the UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate—a transformative program designed to empower you to manage people, data, and ideas with purpose and precision. Dive into the strategies that leaders in online and professional continuing education use to seize opportunities and foster collaboration with campus colleagues and industry professionals. 

Tailored for current and emerging leaders, these courses are ideal for Deans, Associate Deans, Directors, and Senior Instructional Designers poised to take on strategic leadership roles. Developed by senior leaders in the field, the program equips you with the insights and tools needed to drive impactful change at your institution. 

Enrollment is now open for the February 2025 UPCEA Leader Certificate cohort, with a deadline of February 7, 2025. Don’t miss your chance to join a vibrant peer learning community where you’ll connect with professionals across the national academic landscape, exchange ideas, and gain actionable knowledge to advance your institution and your career.

Hear what past participants have to say!

The UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate program consists of five courses, each lasting five weeks. Participants who successfully complete all five courses will earn the prestigious UPCEA PCO Leader Certificate. Additionally, an UPCEA-backed badge is awarded upon the successful completion of each individual course. While the courses are designed to be taken sequentially as part of a cohort, they can also be taken individually and in any order, provided all five are completed within a two-year timeframe to qualify for the certificate.

  • Next cohort begins September 15, 2025
  • Enrollment deadline: February 12, 2025
  • Program Cost: UPCEA Members: $1990; Non-members: $2,990

Click Here to Enroll Now

"The UPCEA Leader Certificate Program was an invaluable experience that deepened my understanding of what it means to be a leader in professional and continuing education. The program encouraged me to think multidimensionally—covering everything from program development and policy to personnel management and self-reflective leadership. One of my biggest takeaways was the emphasis on servant leadership, recognizing that our work is ultimately in service to learners, colleagues, and the broader educational community. This program provided the tools and perspectives needed to lead effectively, and I highly recommend it to anyone involved in continuing education." Gregory Ketcham, Assistant Dean, SUNY Oswego


"This program has been a breath of fresh air, making me feel less alone in facing the challenges unique to Continuing Education. The valuable insights and collegial feedback have led to improvements in my department. I can always rely on UPCEA for the professional support I need, from conferences and coffee chats and webinars, research, and networking." Phyllis Watson, PhD, Florida A&M University


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Organizing and Motivate Online and Professional Education Enterprises: Getting the Work Done

Start Date: September 15, 2025

Faculty Member

Dr. Nancy Coleman, Dean, Harvard Extension School and Continuing Studies at Harvard University

Description

The success or failure of a professional, continuing and online (PCO) enterprise is determined by its people – who they are and how they are organized, engaged, and managed.  What is the best way to organize the human resources of an PCO unit?  What are some of the structures employed in designing a PCO unit, and their pros and cons? How are teams assembled when designing and launching new programs? How do you integrate and work with those elsewhere in the university and outside entities (vendors, partners in business and government)? How can you maintain high performing operations that encourage agility, continuous improvement, and ongoing innovation?  

This is an opportunity to step beyond a single institution or organizational model, and consider the vast array of organizational structures and ways to recruit, manage, and motivate professionals towards common strategic goals. Organized around a team model, participants will engage with colleagues from other institutions to develop a dynamic understanding of the issues. 

Topics Covered
  • Structure and Leadership
  • Organizing for Agility
  • Teams and Remote Work 
  • Strategic Outsourcing, Advocacy, and Change
  • Culture and Inclusion

Learning Objectives

  • Identify the ways in which a PCO unit can be organized
  • Appreciate the complexity of faculty and stakeholder engagement
  • Optimizing remote work for teams
  • Understand how change affects PCO units
  • Identify methods to break down internal barriers to change


The Role of Educator: Expanding Academic Horizons 

Start Date: October 20, 2025

Faculty Member

Dr. Tatum Thomas, Dean, DePaul University School of Continuing and Professional Studies

Description

How do leaders in online and professional continuing 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 online and professional continuing education leader is often less independent and shares educational programs and faculty with other schools within their universities -- so key partnerships are internal. The online and professional continuing education 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 an online and professional continuing education 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

The Role of Innovator: Managing an Adaptive Agile Organization

Start Date: January 5, 2026

Faculty Member

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

Description

How do online and professional continuing 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

Leading with Diplomacy, Data, and Drive: The Unique Imperative of the Online and Professional Education Leader

Start Date: February 16. 2026

Faculty Member

TBD

Description

What are the characteristics that produce success among online and professional continuing education 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
  • Institutional structures 
  • Examination of mission and vision 
  • Leadership competencies 
  • Leveraging data as an asset 
  • Innovation and diplomacy 
  • Collaboration and bridge-building 
  • Motivational management 
Learning Objectives
  • Characterize the dynamic environmental context for online and professional continuing education 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 online and professional education 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


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

Start Date: March 30, 2026

Faculty Member

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

Description

How do online and professional continuing 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 
  • Online and professional continuing education as a profession 
 Learning Objectives
  • Explain the importance of character, the standard of integrity and ethical decision in being an effective online and professional continuing education leader.
  • Identify and articulate personal core values that animate their work as an online and professional continuing education 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 an online and professional continuing education leader.
  • Explain the concept of servant leadership and articulate how it has a place within online and professional continuing education leadership.
  • Explain the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion to the online and professional continuing education 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 online and professional continuing education 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.