Dr. Dirk Messelaar, Dean of Corporate, Continuing, and Distance Education at UMass Boston, brings 33 years of experience in higher education to the UMassOnline management team. During his 30 years at UMass -- 22 years at UMass Lowell and the last eight years at UMass Boston -- he has collaborated with colleges, academic departments, local business / industry, government agencies, and professional societies to substantially increase the University's outreach capabilities. Specifically, Dr. Messelaar has been instrumental in developing the two campuses' many certificate programs, new degree options, distance learning capabilities, and corporate partnerships.
In addition to his experience as an administrator, Dr. Messelaar has taught English and technical writing for 30 years at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Having taught a web-based technical writing course on both the Lowell and Boston campuses for the past four years, he was among the first on-line teachers in the UMass system. He authored the manual An Instructor's Guide to Developing Web-based Courses, used to train UMass cyber faculty.
Dr. Messelaar is known nationally in the field of continuing higher education, having served on the University Continuing Education Association's Board of Directors and on the Editorial Board of the Continuing Higher Education Review. He has also been on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Education. Dr. Messelaar founded and chaired the UMass/Community College Network that resulted in many UMass courses being offered throughout the state's community college system. He also founded and served as President of the Massachusetts Council for Quality, linking UMass with 150 member companies.
Dr. Messelaar serves an a UMass administration representative on the team negotiating the UMass System's first distance learning contract with the Massachusetts Society of Professors (representing the Amherst and Boston faculty). He is also the UMass Boston administration representative on the Academic Affairs/Distance Learning Subcommittee of the Faculty Council.
Dr. Messelaar earned a bachelor's degree in English from UMassAmherst, and his master's and doctoral degrees in English Education from Boston University. |
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