Cal Poly Dean to Head National Continuing Education Organization

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Dennis “Skip” Parks, dean of Cal Poly Continuing Education and University Outreach, has been elected president of the Association for Continuing Higher Education. ACHE is one of the country’s oldest and largest organizations dedicated to promoting lifelong learning and continuing education.

Parks was named president on Oct. 30 at ACHE’s 68th Annual Meeting and Conference in Los Angeles. Previously, he had served as the organization’s regional chair, director-at-large and vice-president. Parks dedicated his one-year term to addressing the need for continuing education to take a greater role in promoting the community engagement and public service missions of colleges and universities.

Parks has been dean of Continuing Education and University Outreach since 2000. Prior to joining Cal Poly, he was associate dean of academic affairs at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies at the University of Virginia and has been coordinator for the Future of Higher Education Institute at the University of Edinburgh and the Summer Institute for Educators at the University of Oxford.

Continuing Education and University Outreach is a self-supporting unit within Cal Poly and offers a range of classes, certificate programs and online courses that serve between 3,500 and 4,000 individuals annually. In addition, the department administers the Cal Poly Adult Degree Program, which allows working adults to earn a Cal Poly bachelor’s degree; it also administers Open University, which enable the public to take academic classes without being enrolled as a student.

For more information on Cal Poly Continuing Education and University Outreach, call (805) 756-2053 or go to www.continuing-ed.calpoly.edu.

About ACHE
The Association for Continuing Higher Education was founded in 1939. Approximately 462 colleges and universities hold membership in ACHE, representing 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and six foreign countries. For more information on ACHE, visit www.acheinco.org .

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