Edward D. Klonoski, president of the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC), an organization that promotes online collaboration in eLearning solutions for public and private institutions of higher education in Connecticut, has been named president of Charter Oak State College, an institution in the Connecticut state college system. Klonoski succeeds Merle W. Harris who is retiring after serving as Charter Oak president for the past eighteen years.

Klonoski will also serve as Executive Director of the Board for State Academic Awards (BSAA). The BSAA governs both the CTDLC and Charter Oak State College. The College was created by the Connecticut Legislature in 1973 to assist adult learners in achieving their educational goals.

It was concurrently announced by BSAA Board Chair, Astrid T. Hanzalek, that Shirley M. Adams, Charter Oak’s Vice President of Academic affairs since 2002, has been appointed to the newly-created post of College Provost. Both Klonoski and Adams will assume their new duties on February 15.

Klonoski was instrumental in the creation of the CTDLC, an organization he has headed since its inception in 1998. Prior to taking the CTDLC reins, he had served as Charter Oak’s Director of Information Technology. He had previously been Director of the Advanced Educational Computing Project and Coordinator of Information and Instructional Technology Training at the University of Hartford, the institution from which he received his master’s degree and at which he taught for 19 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut.

In reflecting on his new responsibilities and the challenges they present, Klonoski said he intends to build on the positive influence Charter Oak has had on online education. “I embrace the power of collaboration and eagerly look forward to working with other colleges and universities, organizations and the business community in building an educated workforce,” he said.

Adams, who also serves as the BSAA’s Deputy Executive Director, came to Charter Oak five years ago from the University of Scranton where she had been Dean of Dexter Hanley College, the

University’s undergraduate college for adult students. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Dean at Drake University’s College for Continuing Education. She earned her Ph.D.at Iowa State University.

Charter Oak’s distance learning (online) degree completion program is designed to help students pursue their learning objectives while continuing to meet career and family obligations. The only institution in the state of Connecticut that provides higher education solely at a distance, Charter Oak has long been respected for its expertise in the assessment and validation of student learning occurring outside the college classroom and has earned national recognition as the college that offers “degrees without boundaries.”

Read the article at The Hartford Courant