Experts at Empire State College

Meg Benke
Dean, Center for Distance Learning
Saratoga Springs, NY

Expertise

• Distance and online education
• Quality and outcomes of online education

Profile

Meg Benke, Ph.D.,of Saratoga Springs, is dean of the Center for Distance Learning at Empire State College, State University of New York.

Dr. Benke has been in distance learning for 25 years. She has been at the college for the past 17 years overseeing the Center for Distance Learning, which is the largest provider of online education in New York state, and one of the largest programs in the country.

Dr. Benke was recognized for the Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Learning by an Individual, by Sloan-C, a national consortium for distance learning providers in 2007.

Benke has worked with Empire State College to build partnerships with unions, corporations and the military to promote college degrees for employees. She has been instrumental in programs with the military and organizations such as the AARP employee program, and several other programs to increase access to college educations for technical employees.

She began her career at Ohio University and Antioch College. Benke’s early work was dedicated to increasing access to higher education for adult learners through distance education. Benke was particularly interested in increasing employability of graduates, and worked to ensure that the outcomes of an online education matched traditional educatioin from a quality perspective. She also consults nationally on how universities provide student services in online education programs, and has served on a variety of national efforts to create standards for quality in online education. In the business area, Dr. Benke has done research employability and on downsizing in organizations and the impact on mid-level employees.

Benke holds a Ph.D. in student personnel from Ohio University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in business from Youngstown State University. In the graduate and undergraduate programs of Empire State College, she teaches in the areas of human systems and behavior, performance measurement, learning organizations, organizational change and training and development.

Dr. Benke serves on the board of directors for Sloan-C, and for the 2007 and 2008 years served as the national conference chair. She previously directed the Best Practices area in student satisfaction for Sloan. In New York State, Dr. Benke serves on the board of directors for the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York.

For more information on the Center for Distance Learning, please visit our web site: www.esc.edu/cdl.