Peter Macedo, the associate director for the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning at Virginia Tech, has been named director of distance learning and summer sessions.

Macedo will report to Daniel Wubah, vice president and dean for undergraduate education. He will serve as a member of the executive staff responsible for the coordination of the university’s distance learning activities, including university-wide program planning, course development and delivery, eLearning systems development and integration, student and faculty support services, as well as course and program assessment.

In addition, Macedo will promote quality synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning experiences and provide collaborative leadership in the development of new and scalable models of distance and distributed learning. In cooperation with the university’s distance and distributed learning advisory board, he will recommend policies and seek resolution of distance and distributed learning barriers and issues.

“We are very pleased that Peter will assume this leadership position in distance learning and summer sessions,” said Wubah. “Given his more than 15 years of experience in online learning environments and familiarity with Virginia Tech, he is uniquely poised to further enhance the university’s role in distance education and summer sessions on the national stage.”

Macedo, who joined the institute in 2003, led efforts to develop an online instructor certificate program to increase the level of professional development opportunities, including the formation of an eLearning faculty community. Since 2009, more than 100 faculty members have received certifications. Macedo is an active participant at the national conference level, serving as both a reviewer for the annual Distance Teaching and Learning conference at the University of Wisconsin, as well as the United States Distance Learning Association conference.

Prior to his tenure with the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning, Macedo worked for eight years in the kindergarten through 12th grade and university environments with a focus in online instruction. He is an active member of the Blacksburg community, having recently completed the Blacksburg Citizens Institute. He will also begin the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program in 2011.

Macedo has received two degrees from Virginia Tech, a bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s degree in education curriculum and instruction.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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