photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Strong Hall on the University of Kansas campus is pictured in September 2021.

The dean of one of KU’s most nationally-recognized schools temporarily will do double duty by serving as the university’s leader of its growing online education brand.

Michelle Carney, dean of the University of Kansas’ School of Social Welfare, has been appointed as KU’s founding vice provost of Jayhawk Global. Carney will continue to serve as the social welfare dean, and her appointment to lead Jayhawk Global is expected to last six to nine months, while KU conducts a national search for the position.

Jayhawk Global is the new brand name KU will use to promote all of its online course offerings, ranging from traditional university classes to shorter, non-credit bearing, workforce development classes for professionals who are simply wanting to gain a specific skill or obtain a particular certification.

Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer in making the announcement said KU is hoping that online course offerings will help increase KU’s overall enrollment and provide a financial boost to the university. But she said a dedicated effort will be needed to grow KU’s presence in the competitive world of online education.

“We’ve been late to innovate on a scalable level in online education and in doing all we can do in workforce development,” Bichelmeyer said in a recent video presentation about Jayhawk Global. “It gives us an opportunity to get ahead of the game as we reconfigure during Covid and for the post Covid era. When you put all these resources together it gives us a huge opportunity to extend our reach.”

Carney will work with other deans, faculty members and various KU leaders to assess the demand for new online courses that could allow KU to attract new students, Bichelmeyer said. In addition, Jayhawk Global will work to create incentives for KU schools and departments to do more online offerings, including a system that will allow each school to financially benefit as online enrollment grows, Bichelmeyer said. The position also is expected to review pricing strategies for online courses and degrees, the provost said.

Carney was hired to serve as the social welfare dean in 2017, and the school has continued to be one of the top-ranked social welfare schools in the country.

“She has demonstrated strengths in innovation, experience in academic leadership as well as experience with online academic programs, and she’s been a model of engagement with the communities served through KU-Edwards,” Bichelmeyer said of Carney’s appointment.

Bichelmeyer has said increasing online enrollment will be a critical component to KU’s growth strategy, as growing traditional enrollment on the Lawrence campus may be challenging. But she said KU has a lot of “underexplored” opportunities that could increase both KU’s overall enrollment and reach.

“We have amazing intellectual talent and instructional capabilities on all our locations that can dramatically expand KU’s impact and status on a global scale,” she said in a memo to faculty and staff.

photo by: Courtesy: University of Kansas

Michelle Carney, dean of the University of Kansas’ School of Social Welfare