The UC Davis administration this week announced Susan Catron’s appointment as dean of the Division of Continuing and Professional Education. A 20-year employee of the division, she had served as interim dean since Paul McNeil’s retirement last July.

“In working closely with Susan during the past nine months, we have found her to possess exceptional leadership skills,” Chancellor Gary S. May and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter said in an April 2 message announcing her appointment. They also cited her strengths in building relationships and establishing partnerships across the campus and with external stakeholders even as she has attended carefully to the internal structure and financial condition of the division.

She has worked on both the administrative and academic sides of Continuing and Professional Education, from marketing to program development, department chair and senior associate dean for academic affairs.

May and Hexter said they carefully considered conducting a nationwide recruitment to fill the dean’s post. “But after consultation with key stakeholders, and to maintain the positive forward momentum of the division, we found the best course of action was to recommend that Susan be promoted into the position,” they said. “We are pleased to announce that President (Janet) Napolitano agreed with our recommendation and approved Susan’s appointment.”

Catron is the first woman to be named dean in the near-60-year history of the division (formerly known as University Extension). It comprises a team of 210 academic and professional staff who enroll 60,000 learners from more than 100 countries each year (not including hundreds of thousands of people who access courses on the online platform Coursera), and has an annual budget approaching $40 million.

“I am truly honored by this opportunity to lead,” Catron said. “It’s an exciting time in the field, and an exciting time for our campus as we embark on major strategic initiatives such as Aggie Square, Global Education for All, and a ramp-up of online graduate education.”

In her academic career at Continuing and Professional Education, she has developed and led programs in teacher education, autism, public policy, health services, public health, business, technology and management — and has done so in ways innovative, pioneering (think online education) and entrepreneurial (an important factor in her self-supporting division). Among her accomplishments, she:

• Developed the division’s Health Sciences portfolio, including a partnership with UC Davis faculty to launch the nation’s first online Healthcare Analytics program.
• Partnered with the UC Davis MIND Institute to create an online program in the Early Start Denver Model, providing training in this pioneering autism spectrum disorder intervention to a worldwide audience.
• Created an “incubation start-up” that launched eight new online programs (including Data Visualization, Fundraising and Development, and numerous technology courses), and generated $2 million in revenue in its first 18 months of operation
• Led the division’s partnership in the eHealth Broadband Adoption Project, a training initiative that supported the sustainability of the California Telehealth Network, established best-practice Model eHealth Communities and demonstrated the power of technology-enabled health delivery.
• Co-led systemwide UC committees to update certificate program standards and explore alternative credentialing (including a pilot badging platform).

‘Upskill, reskill and reinvent’

Catron said continuing and professional education programs are a critical means by which UC Davis shares its expertise with a wider audience, including adults who have not been to college and others who seek additional education.

That “wider audience” is local, national and international. “In just the last three years, for example, we’ve served more than 650,000 learners on Coursera’s global platform,” she said. 

“There has never been a more important time for a strong Continuing and Professional Education division,” she said. “The demands of a knowledge economy will require that professionals continually upskill, reskill and reinvent themselves across an increasing career lifespan — as long as 60 years.

“I look forward to partnering with my colleagues in the division, on the campus and in the business community to help working professionals in our region and beyond not only keep pace but thrive in their careers.”

Catron holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with honors, and a master’s degree in public policy and administration, both from California State University, Sacramento. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from UC Davis, writing her dissertation on the topic of online educational quality in continuing and professional education.

She is a longtime member of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and recently took a position as an elected director-at-large on the association’s board. Her professional background also includes a brief tenure as a policy analyst in the California State Legislature.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.