Cindy Elliott Email and Phone Number

Reporting to the Vice President for Administration and Finance, I continued to identify university and corporate partners, negotiating and writing Memoranda of Understanding and launching win-win initiatives that generate new revenue for the University. A primary focus is maintaining complex, dual-degree partnerships in China with 4,000 students which is one-third of the total University enrollments with 50 on-site faculty. Other innovative initiatives have produced essential revenue for degree and non-degree students. In addition to the operations of our partners, I have led and managed staff for international recruitment activities, exploring new avenues.

Developed transfer and articulation agreements with community colleges and universities. Organized and led Faculty Advisory Committees. Expanding the growth of the University through off-campus, cross-border and distance learning has been the key focus of this position. Growth has been accomplished through partnership development with international universities, military, corporate, and training partners, all generating student credit hours or revenue for the University. Functions include: identifying new and emerging markets; investigating and negotiating partnership opportunities; establishing protocols and practices; implementing financial reporting and accountability; and assessing and modifying partnership relationships based on results. On the international side, through my leadership, the University has achieved two major cross-border partnerships in mainland China, and many active studies abroad partners throughout Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Developed transfer and articulation agreements with community colleges and universities. Organized and led Faculty Advisory Committees. Expanding the growth of the University through off-campus, cross-border and distance learning has been the key focus of this position. Growth has been accomplished through partnership development with international universities, military, corporate, and training partners, all generating student credit hours or revenue for the University. Functions include: identifying new and emerging markets; investigating and negotiating partnership opportunities; establishing protocols and practices; implementing financial reporting and accountability; and assessing and modifying partnership relationships based on results. On the international side, through my leadership, the University has achieved two major cross-border partnerships in mainland China, and many active studies abroad partners throughout Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

FHSU established the Virtual College in 1998 to serve students off-campus and through e-learning and hired me as its inaugural Dean to provide leadership to the academic and operational units, growing enrollments from 600 to 5,000 students in all counties in Kansas, and 48 of the 50 states. As a result of an introduction of the University through my network of relationships in higher education, the Chinese Ministry of Education approved the first dual bachelor’s degree. This accomplishment required full-time attention and thus I transitioned to Assistant Provost in August 2004. As Dean of the Virtual College, I identified opportunities for growth, negotiated and implemented new endeavors, trained and supervised staff and re-engineered and developed new policies. Oftentimes I acted as a change agent for the University helping faculty and administrators evaluate opportunities for growth.

In this leadership role, I provided executive collaboration to develop an academic unit for distance learning, resulting in over 85 distance learning courses and enrollments of nearly 4,000 students within three years; launched and directed the technology, marketing and training for a newly established university-wide distance learning initiative and program; worked with faculty to re-purpose synchronous and asynchronous courses delivered via interactive video compression, ITFS, video and teleclasses, online learning and CD-ROM courses; established and led the South Florida Distance Learning Hospital Consortium for graduate and undergraduate courses. FIU representative for: IBM Global Campus; Hispanic Education Telecommunications Service (HETS); International University Consortium (IUC); National University Technology Network (NUTN); Florida Institute of Public Post-Secondary Distance Learning; State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities Advisory Board.

MDC is the largest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the most highly regarded colleges in the nation for its innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. I was in the forefront for what is today called distance education by managing a unit that marketed the multiple million dollar productions of telecourses for adult learners. My position was instrumental for the development of marketing strategies, researched and identified national and international target markets, investigated product competition, and developed revenue and expense projections and pricing for 35-telecourse portfolio and supporting educational resources. Led and participated in over 15 trade shows annually to market telecourses and other educational technologies; obtained funds in a highly competitive environment from outside resources including the U.S. Department of Commerce NTIA/PTFP to develop a countywide distance learning telecommunications system linking universities, colleges, public libraries, and K-12 schools. Managed successful $1.2 million NTIA-PTFP grant, hired vendors for constructing the network, managed federal grant budget, work plan, timeline, and reporting responsibilities.

This facility is a professional wholesale trade center for product lines in many different categories. I helped to open the Miami Expo/Center and initiated the launch of the successful Monday Market Days campaign for Latin American buyers. Directed all aspects of an in-house advertising and public relations department, including budgeting and personnel matters; organized and incorporated an in-house advertising agency; developed direct mail, promotions, publications, press releases, special events and media advertising; coordinated news items with trade, radio, television and newspaper media; designed and produced four annual Mart directories and eight semi-annual show books, including advertising; initiated production of directories via computer databases.