2020 William C. Hine Awardee | Elizabeth Kane

Elizabeth Kane is a professional in the area of adult pedagogy and the delivery of courses in non-traditional formats. Upon leaving her first career, Ms. Kane served as an advisor, mentor and director of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies (SPCS) at Saint Peter’s University for less than one year before being promoted to Dean in 2007.

Among her many accomplishments, she was responsible for moving the school from trimesters to 8-week hybrid terms, a model which is still in effect today. Her vision was, and continues to be, to facilitate degree completion by offering the convenience of online learning with the option of attending class face to face on a limited basis to bolster the confidence of adult learners.

While at SPCS Ms. Kane was the founding councilor for Alpha Sigma Lambda, introduced evening convocation and honors ceremonies to recognize working students, started a scholarship specifically for SPCS students, and revamped the experiential learning process for the benefit of working adults.

As the Associate Vice President for Adult, Graduate and Online Education at Centenary University, Ms. Kane continues to serve nontraditional students. In just over a year she has revamped the leave of absence policy, changed the definition of full-time studies and added two majors and five concentrations, all designed for the success of nontraditional learners. She continues to be an advocate for policies and procedures which may not align with traditional University model but which are created to recognize the unique needs of this vulnerable subset of undergraduate students.

Ms. Kane serves has served as consulting expert for other schools in the adult realm, has overseen the development of fully online programs at both institutions, created advisory boards of students, faculty and corporate partners to identify areas of opportunity, and oversees curricula with a focus on traditional academics partnered with practical experience.