CEO and President
American Distance Education Consortium
Ans C219, P.O. Box 830952
Lincoln, NE 68583-0952
Phone: 402.472.0257
E-mail: jpoley@unl.edu

 

Brief biography

Dr. Poley develops collaborative distance education initiatives with more than 60 land-grant university members working nationally and internationally. In April 2002 she was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. She received the Charles Wedemer Award for Outstanding Practitioner in Distance Education in August 2000. She currently serves as principal investigator on a $5-million National Science Foundation Grant for Advanced Networking.

She manages the USDA Agricultural Telecommunications Program and has received several U.S. Department of Commerce grants. She is a member of the Council for Academic Management for the eArmyU, serves on the Editorial Board for the American Journal of Distance Education, is liaison to the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) Commission on Information Technology, is a member of the Penn State Advisory Board to the World Campus Initiative, serves on the Board of Directors of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (IACE), is a member of the Great Plains Network Advisory Committee and is a special member of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Graduate Faculty. She is a professor in the College of Journalism and the Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dr. Poley is the author of a number of journal articles, book chapters and presentations on information technology and distance learning. She has been involved in training, technical assistance, program design and evaluation in more than 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. In 994, she was recognized as one of the 100 outstanding information technology leaders in government, business and academia by Federal Computer Week. From 1988 to 1994, she was Director/Deputy Administrator for Communication, Information and Technology (CIT) of the Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Prior to 1988, she held a number of positions in international development and training within USDA. She served as Program Manager for the USAID-funded Training for Rural Development projects, living in Tanzania from 1980 to 1986. In recognition of her international contributions, Poley received the U.S. Congress’ Excalibur Award and USDA’s International Honor Award. She received the USDA Administrator’s Award of Excellence in 1991 and the Secretary of Agriculture’s Award for Workplace Diversity in 1992. From 1966 to 1975, she was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds three degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: a Ph.D. in Education, M.S. in Nutrition, and B.S. in Journalism and Home Economics.