UW-Extension: David Schejbal serves as UPCEA president

Contact: Sandra Kallio, sandra.kallio@uwex.uwc.edu, 608-890-3558

UW-Extension continuing education dean announces three national priorities

MADISON, WI — UPCEA, the Washington, D.C.-based association for university leaders in professional, continuing and online education, welcomed David Schejbal as the association’s 2015-16 president during the 100th UPCEA annual spring conference in Washington. Schejbal is the dean of Continuing Education, Outreach and E-Learning at University of Wisconsin-Extension.

As president of the UPCEA board of directors, Schejbal is working to address three critical priorities: increasing our collective voice in the national higher education conversation to ensure that professional and nontraditional students are at the forefront of higher education policy; establishing UPCEA’s position regarding alternative and micro-credentialing; and building access to higher education for everyone who wants it whenever they need it and in whatever formats work for them.

“For the first time since the GI Bill, education for adult and nontraditional students is a critical, national priority,” said Schejbal. “We as continuing and online education professionals and as members of UPCEA are uniquely positioned to lead our institutions and the national conversations to address this critical need.”

Schejbal has close to 30 years of experience in continuing education, including five years as a lecturer in philosophy. He joined the University of Wisconsin-Extension in 2007, and oversees a budget of $100 million, the Higher Education Location Program (UW HELP), Independent Learning and an array of online, competency-based, and face-to-face credit and noncredit programs. The division of Continuing Education, Outreach, and E-Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Extension works with all 26 campuses in the University of Wisconsin and with UW System Administration to increase access to programs, classes and degrees. Prior to coming to Wisconsin, Schejbal spent eight years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was associate vice chancellor and director of Continuing Education.

“David’s national leadership role in advancing innovative initiatives such as competency based education provide the vision we need to begin UPCEA’s second century of reinventing higher education,” said UPCEA CEO Bob Hansen. “Federal policy, alternative credentialing and access are important priorities not only for the field, but also for the larger societies we serve.”

Schejbal has served on the board of directors for UPCEA, chaired the UPCEA Annual Conference Planning Committee and the Professional Development Committee, and received one of the association’s most prestigious awards, the Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership.

Schejbal is a graduate of Iowa State University, and received both his masters and doctorate from the University of Connecticut.