Jean Avnet Morse, who served for 13 years as president and CEO of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, will become the new Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), beginning in January 2010.
Jean Avnet Morse, who served for 13 years as president and CEO of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, will become the new Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), beginning in January 2010.
In this newly created position, Morse will oversee the quality and timeliness of the NYU-SCPS undergraduate, graduate, and continuing professional education programs, and guide programmatic innovation and collaboration across the Schools eight divisions. She will also oversee enhanced student academic support and counseling services. In addition, Morse has already helped create and will teach at NYU-SCPS a new Certificate in Quality Assurance in International Higher Education-a joint program with the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development-that will educate higher education practitioners in program design, development, and assessment.
During her tenure from 1996 to 2009 as head of Middle States-which accredits nearly 500 colleges and universities in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands-Morse was chief liaison to member institutions, government, and the general public, led in creating and revising the Commissions policies and programs, and directed its research and training activities. Her initiatives included creating new accreditation standards that emphasize student learning and that address distance learning and other non-traditional types of teaching and learning.
Before joining Middle States, she served as deputy to the president of the University of Pennsylvania and deputy associate dean and director of the College Office (the senior administrative dean) at Penns School of Arts and Sciences. Prior to that, Morse was associate dean for administration at NYU Law School, under then-dean (now NYU President) John Sexton.
There are few individuals in the landscape of American higher education better equipped than Jean Morse to assume this important leadership role within the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, said NYU-SCPS Dean Robert S. Lapiner.
Her experience and familiarity with the full range of higher education institutions, including her depth of knowledge and respect for the place of distance learning and continuing education, as well as traditional undergraduate, adult undergraduate, and graduate professional programs, are comprehensive and will assist NYU-SCPS in demonstrating the most rigorous standards as we innovate in our existing and future offerings.
I am delighted to be joining the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, said Jean Morse. The School has rightfully earned a reputation as a developer of leading-edge academic programs, and I am eager to help forward its important mission, which I believe is increasingly important and exciting in todays rapidly changing knowledge society.
Jean Morse began her professional career as a corporate attorney. She was a partner in two Los Angeles firms, Hufstedler, Miller, Carlson & Beardsley, and Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz and Selvin, before transitioning into a career in academia.
Morse has taught in the sociology and women studies departments at the University of Pennsylvania. While there she also served as acting assistant provost and strategic planning consultant to the School of Arts and Sciences committees on undergraduate education, graduate education, and lifelong learning.
Ms. Morse has published in the field of higher education quality assurance, and has frequently been a featured lecturer and expert consultant, nationally and internationally. She has served on several boards of directors, including the board of the International Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, where she headed revision of international guidelines of good practice for quality assurance agencies and also directed a World Bank project to create a program to train quality assurance professionals. She founded the Individual Rights Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Morse is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, where she earned a B.S in History with High Honors, and was both a Trustee Fellow and a Durant Scholar. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.
About the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies-Established in 1934, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) is among the several colleges and schools that comprise New York University, one of the largest private research universities in the United States. Through its faculty, curricula, and vibrant professional and academic networks, NYU-SCPS captures the expertise of key sectors where New York leads globally: Real Estate; Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management; Global Affairs; Philanthropy; Communications Media, Publishing, Design, and Digital Arts; Business, Marketing, and Finance; and the Liberal and Applied Arts, among others. Rigorous and timely programs in these and related areas attract undergraduate and graduate students immersed in university life, working professionals in 14 graduate degrees, and New Yorkers of all backgrounds enrolled in approximately 2,500 continuing education courses, certificate programs, conferences, and seminars annually. NYU-SCPS is widely considered to be the most complete example of NYUs founding commitment to be In and Of the City-and In and Of the World.