Michael Moore, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas System, was honored for his significant contributions to the higher education digital learning community by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) on Oct. 22 at the national organization’s annual conference in Denver.
WCET’s Dick Jonsen & Mollie McGill Award is given annually “to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the higher education digital learning community and WCET during their career,” according to the organization’s website. The award is WCET’s top honor.
“Providing access to affordable, high-quality, flexible postsecondary opportunities is a key driver of the UA System mission, and Dr. Moore has shown he is a champion of this cause in everything he does,” said Jay Silveria, president of the UA System. “I’m proud that his career is being honored and that we have him on our team promoting his passion for providing opportunities and access across all of the UA System’s academic endeavors.”
Selection criteria for the annual award include a long-standing willingness to nurture and assist others in the eLearning community, a significant contribution to the field, and innovative service to digital learning students. WCET is a member-driven professional organization that brings together colleges, universities, higher education organizations, and companies to collectively improve the quality and reach of digital learning programs.
Moore has been an advocate for eLearning throughout his career, first helping to innovate one of the nation’s largest online programs at University of Texas-Arlington before joining the UA System in 2012. He led the creation of Arkansas’s first 100 percent online institution, eVersity, built from the ground up to provide opportunities for adult learners who had some college and no degree. Moore used eVersity to innovate and incorporate high-quality online course design, flexible and more attainable course scheduling, and the ability to offer one of the most affordable paths toward degree completion in the country. eVersity won several national awards for its engaging course design.
In 2021, the UA System had an opportunity to immediately grow its online reach nationally by acquiring Lenexa, Kansas-based Grantham University, and Moore led those efforts to bring it into the state’s largest university system and successfully merge forces with eVersity to become UA Grantham.
“(Moore) is driven to ensure that students have broad access to affordable, high-quality, flexible postsecondary opportunities,” said Mollie McGill, namesake of the award and retired deputy director of WCET, when presenting the award. “(He) is a first generation college student and believes in the transformative power of education beyond high school. This award recognizes (Moore’s) significant contributions to the advancement of digital learning and spotlights contributions he’s made to the ongoing vitality of WCET.”
Moore, who has served two terms as chair of the WCET Executive Council, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washburn University and a master’s and doctorate in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I am deeply humbled by this recognition from my colleagues at WCET, who are thought leaders in digital learning,” Moore said. “Over the years I have been fortunate to have been mentored and taught by my WCET colleagues. I also greatly appreciate the support from higher ed colleagues, both in Texas and in Arkansas, who created a space and shared a vision for my work in digital learning. As I have noted before, I strongly believe the single most transformative experience an individual can have is to earn a college credential, and it has long been my goal to ease access to higher education while promoting higher levels of degree attainment.”
As a political scientist, Moore has been recognized by the State Bar of Texas for their research, writing, and advocacy for equal access to justice, especially for the poor charged with criminal offenses. Moore’s efforts contributed to significant legislative reforms in Texas, and the State Bar established an award, named in his honor, for Excellence in Research and Writing in the Area of Indigent Criminal Defense.
About the University of Arkansas System
Since its inception, the University of Arkansas System has developed a tradition of excellence that includes the state’s 1871 flagship, land-grant research university; Arkansas’s premier institution for medical education, treatment and research; a major metropolitan university; an 1890 land-grant university; two regional universities serving southern and western Arkansas; eight community colleges; two schools of law; a presidential school; a residential math and science high school; and a 100 percent-online university and divisions of agriculture, archeology and criminal justice. As the premier higher education system in the state, it enrolls more than 70,000 students, employs more than 27,000 employees, and has a total budget of more than $4 billion. An intrinsic part of the texture and fabric of Arkansas, the UA System is a driving force in the state’s economic, educational and cultural advancement.