SUNY Learning Network director tapped to head Penn State World Campus

Ken Udas, executive director of Penn State World Campus

University Park, Pa. -- Ken Udas, director of the State University of New York (SUNY) Learning Network, has been appointed executive director of Penn State World Campus.

As the new head of Penn State's online campus, which offers more than 50 online degrees and certificate programs, Udas will lead an experienced professional staff involved in providing education programs and services to adult learners worldwide. Currently, Penn State has more than 25,400 distance education enrollments. Udas will oversee World Campus program management, student services, marketing, finance and technology teams and guide the World Campus' future development. Udas will report to Gary E. Miller, associate vice president for Outreach and executive director of Continuing and Distance Education.

"We are excited to have Dr. Udas in this strategic leadership role for Penn State World Campus," Miller said. "The World Campus has become a very successful innovation in online education since its launch eight years ago. As we look to the future, I am confident his international experience and forward-looking vision for the use of technology will help ensure the World Campus remains a leader in University online education."

Udas brings to this role more than a decade of administrative and managerial experience in higher education, serving adult learners, as well as experience with information systems management and distance education. He previously taught and worked in higher education in Texas and New York and in Slovakia, Austria, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and New Zealand. He also is an adjunct associate professor in the Graduate Faculty of Management at the University of Maryland University College. As director of the SUNY Learning Network, a partnership of 40 SUNY institutions, he oversaw the network's operations in support of more than 100,000 student enrollments.

Among his accomplishments, Udas served on the team that created the online educational service of a major publisher; participated in curriculum development for an executive master of business administration in Slovakia; directed the Distance Learning Network, a consortium of 11 Central Asian universities; and co-founded Eduforge.org, a virtual collaborative learning and exploratory environment for educators.

Udas served as e-learning director for the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, whose mission is to provide access to higher education for all New Zealanders, with particular focus on remote learners in rural locations. In addition, Udas was involved in establishing the New Zealand Open Source Virtual Learning Environment collaborative, a consortium of eight higher education providers that grew to 20 institutions within a year. With competitive funding from the New Zealand Tertiary Higher Education Commission, the collaborative shares many types of educational resources, including an open source virtual learning environment.

Udas also is the author of a number of publications on education topics and has presented his research at numerous conferences worldwide.

Udas earned his bachelor of science in biology from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, a master of business administration in management from Salem State College and his master of science in management information systems and doctorate in higher education administration from Texas A&M University.