May 4, 2005
DALLAS (May 4, 2005) Dr. Gerald Heeger, who is currently President of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), will become President of Whitney International University System on September 1.
"We are extremely pleased that Jerry Heeger will be leading our educational team at Whitney International University System. It is a significant step forward in the launch of this new network," said Randy Best, a board director of Whitney International. "Jerry Heeger is widely recognized as a leader in international education, education for the U.S. military and the use of on-line technology for college courses."
As head of Whitney International University System, Dr. Heeger will direct the organization of a new international network of higher education institutions and collaborations around the world.
"It's going to be a privilege to work with someone of Randy Best's caliber," Dr. Heeger said Wednesday. "Randy has pulled together a lot of bright, engaging people who are really passionate about this effort and the idea of working with such a group has captivated me."
"The project itself is an exciting, visionary challenge. As Tom Friedman of The New York Times is pointing out in his new book, The World Is Flat, we are in a new world where education is a global endeavor. To be involved in an innovative, international effort to create educational opportunities for more people is a tantalizing, almost mesmerizing prospect."
Dr. Heeger has served as president of UMUC since 1999. During his tenure, the UMUC online enrollments have grown to a record 92,000 students in 29 countries, making it one of the leading "virtual universities" in the world.
In addition to offering 34 degree programs on-line, Dr. Heeger supervised the addition in fall 2000 of more that 70 new certificate programs and the university's first doctoral program. He also established an on-line program to prepare former welfare recipients for the workplace.
UMUC also offers traditional classroom courses at 30 sites throughout Maryland, northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C., making it one of the largest metropolitan-Washington universities and the second largest in Maryland.
Dr. Heeger's 30 years in higher education have taken him around the globe as an educator and lifelong learner. Most recently, he served for eight years as dean of New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He previously was dean of the New School for Social Research and dean of University College at Adelphi University, where he subsequently served as both provost and executive vice president. He also has been a faculty member at the Woodrow Wilson Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia.
In the 1970's, as a political scientist specializing in the politics of South Asia, Dr. Heeger did research in India and Pakistan as a Fulbright-Hayes Senior Faculty Research Fellow. He was named Sesquicentennial Research Fellow for the University of Virginia's Institute for Advance Studies during his year in Pakistan.
Dr. Heeger often has been called on to advise national educational commissions – in July 2000 he was invited to testify before the bipartisan Web-Based Education Commission, established by Congress in 1998. He served on the University Argentina de la Empressa International Advisory Board in June 2000. Dr. Heeger also was elected to serve a three-year term as a commissioner of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, starting January 2002; later that spring he began his three-year term as a member of the Commission on Adult Learning and Educational Credentials of the American Council on Education. He also took on the chairmanship of the Service Members Opportunities Colleges and was appointed a member of the University Continuing Education Association's editorial board.
Dr. Heeger earned political science degrees at the University of California, Berkeley (BA), and the University of Chicago (MA, PhD). He calls himself a "very traditionally education academic," yet he identifies with the students worldwide – young and not-so-young – who are determined to use education to better their lives and the lives of their families."
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