Regier to lead ASU's online, extended education programs

Philip Regier, deputy dean of ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, has been named executive vice provost and dean of ASU Online and Extended Education. In that capacity, he will be responsible for all of ASU’s web-based and off-campus-classroom-based academic programs.
 
He succeeds Mernoy Harrison, who will join the effort to develop a new group of undergraduate institutions in Arizona, the Colleges@ASU, which are intended to increase accessibility to higher education by providing a new choice for students beyond the state’s public two-year community colleges and public four-year research universities, and to accelerate the course of study allowing a bachelor's degree to be earned in three years.  Harrison will work with the planning team for the Colleges, focusing on site development options, partner programs and pilot project implementation.
 
As W. P. Carey’s deputy dean, Regier has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of the school and, in the role of chief operating officer, he oversaw and coordinated program changes, directed faculty hiring and many of the other tactics necessary to achieve the strategies of the school, and assisted in formulating the broad directions of the school with the dean, administrative council, faculty council and faculty.
 
“Working with W. P. Carey Dean Robert Mittelstaedt, Phil Regier has played a major role in moving the W. P. Carey School into the very top echelon of American business schools,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “He is the ideal person to both expand our online and extended education programs and to ensure they are of the highest academic quality.
 
“I am also delighted that Mernoy Harrison, who led the creation of our Downtown campus before launching ASU Online, has agreed to take on yet another assignment, that of helping develop our four-year college model.  Mernoy has been ASU’s version of the U.S. Marines, establishing beachheads in new areas that are then consolidated and expanded by the university’s academic administration.”
 
“Phil Regier is committed to the potential of online and extended education and has produced very high quality programs in the W.P. Carey School,” said Elizabeth D. Capaldi, university provost. ” He has the expertise, experience and commitment necessary to bring our efforts in this area to fruition. My thanks to Mernoy Harrison, who has done an excellent job getting ASU Online and Extended Education going. His speciality is start-ups, and now that our online efforts are started, we need him to help begin our Colleges@ASU.”
 
“I am gratified to be selected as dean of ASU Online and excited at the opportunity it provides me to pursue on a university scale an important strategic opportunity in higher education,” said Regier. “I believe we can build – with the support of the president and provost – ASU Online into a unit that reflects the best aspects of online education: high student achievement, broad accessibility and economic self-sufficiency.
 
“Online education is nearing an inflection point. Technology that brings video, audio, and graphics together in compelling ways is now widely available, but online education has not kept up with these advances.  My interest is in pairing ASU’s most engaging instructors with a set of imaginative and creative course designers to produce online courses and programs where student interest, performance and outcomes match or exceed what occurs in face-to-face classes.  That’s the challenge we face, and I am confident it can be done.”
 
Regier received his bachelor’s degree from St. John's College and his Ph.D. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published in academic and professional journals including the Journal of Risk and Insurance, Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and The Accounting Review. His research focuses on topics related to postretirement benefits, corporate restructurings and topics in market-based accounting research.
 
He joined ASU in 1987 as assistant professor of accountancy, rising to associate professor in 1994. He served as associate dean of the W. P. Carey School’s undergraduate programs from 1999 to 2003, when he assumed the position of the school’s deputy dean.
 
Harrison, who has been at ASU since 1997, previously served as vice president and executive vice provost for ASU’s-Downtown Phoenix campus, and executive vice president for administration and finance before moving to ASU Online and Extended Education in early 2008.
 
ASU’s Online and Extended Education is the fifth campus of Arizona State University. Currently, ASU Online offers twelve undergraduate and twenty-one graduate degree programs in disciplines such as business, engineering, education, nursing and the humanities. The degree programs delivered online hold the same accreditation as the university’s traditional face-to-face programs. As of spring more than 1,300 students were enrolled in online degree programs at ASU.
 
ASU Online's mission is to provide access to quality education through innovative and flexible formats for students seeking to achieve their educational and professional goals and to impact the economic development of the state. Its vision is to make Arizona State University the leader in extending outstanding distance learning beyond global boundaries by serving 100,000 students around the world. For more information, go to http://asuonline.asu.edu.