Not in Kansas anymore: SUNY getting new grad school V.P.
Shala Mills has been appointed vice president for graduate and extended learning at SUNY New Paltz, according to the college.
Mills will join the college administration on Aug. 28. She currently is director of liberal education and the political science chairwoman at Fort Hays State University in Kansas.
At New Paltz, Mills will lead the college’s programs in graduate and extended learning, including online and hybrid courses and extension programs.
She will work closely with academic departments, as well as with the Center for International Programs, the college said.
“Dr. Mills is eager to work with the campus community in continuing its excellent graduate programming and further developing online and hybrid programs for students at both the undergraduate and graduate level,” SUNY New Paltz Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lorin Basden Arnold said in a prepared statement. “Her enthusiasm and experience in leading initiatives that capitalize on multiple teaching modalities will serve us well as we work to provide an excellent education to students, in the region and beyond.”
At Fort Hays, Mills helped guide the process of revising the Liberal and General Education Program, led the Department of Political Science as it expanded its undergraduate program into the online environment, and shepherded growth in several primarily online masters programs, according to SUNY New Paltz.
Mills has taught courses in law and the courts, current political issues, sustainability, food and politics, and global challenges. She also has served as one of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ global engagement scholars, as the national coordinator for the association’s Global Challenges Project, and spent her 2015-16 sabbatical serving as the national manager for the association’s Blended Course Consortium.
“It is clear that SUNY New Paltz shares my commitment to high quality liberal education,” Mills said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to helping the university expand its reputation for excellence .... ”
Mills holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Baylor University in Texas and a law degree from the University of Kansas.