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Adelphi, Md. (May 13, 2022)—������Ƶ (UMGC) has announced that MJ Bishop, Ed.D., a nationally recognized scholar and leader in the design and evaluation of effective learning environments, has been named vice president of the university’s new Integrative Learning Design unit. Dr. Bishop began her new role on April 25. 

“Dr. Bishop brings three decades of experience in learning design and an established record of impact and success to UMGC,” said Blakely Pomietto, UMGC senior vice president and chief academic officer. “She has experience both in the design and evaluation of optimally effective learning environments as well as in supporting postsecondary institutions and their faculty as they explore and adopt academic innovations aimed at improving access, affordability, and achievement for students.” 

Dr. Bishop will play a significant role in continuing UMGC’s shift to a more collaborative and holistic approach to defining, designing, and solutioning for a range of learning and learner experiences. She has a long history of collaboration with UMGC and a broad and deep understanding of the institution and the higher education landscape.  

“I am excited and honored to be leading this new unit, which will bring together UMGC’s faculty, students, learning design professionals, assessment experts, and data analysts through a collaborative design process that signifies an exciting change in how we operate and what we are offering our students,” said Bishop. “We are combining the best of what we know from subject-matter experts, the learning sciences, design research, data analytics, and the affordances of emerging technologies to create and continuously improve online courses and programs.” 

In 2013, Dr. Bishop joined the University System of Maryland (USM) Office of Academic and Student Affairs as the inaugural director of the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, subsequently serving as assistant and later associate vice chancellor and introducing new ways of thinking about student success, equity, and inclusion across the 12 USM institutions.  

Dr. Bishop began her academic career at Lehigh University’s College of Education, where she taught for 13 years in the graduate Learning Sciences and Technology program, while exploring how cognitive processing, motivation, affect, aesthetics, group structure, communication, and systems theories inform our understanding of instructional message design and research on best design practice. 

Dr. Bishop graduated from Lebanon Valley College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and English and holds a master’s degree in English from Millersville University and a doctorate in instructional design and development from Lehigh University. 

About ������Ƶ

Currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, ������Ƶ (UMGC) was established in 1947 to serve adults in the workforce and the military. Today, UMGC enrolls some 90,000 students annually, offering bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs, as well as certificates in more than 90 fully online and hybrid programs and specializations.   

UMGC has a long history of innovation in reaching students where they are, including as a pioneer of internet instruction, piloting its first online classes in 1994. The university has received numerous awards for its groundbreaking work in developing fully online degree programs, including in high-demand fields such as cybersecurity, business, data analytics, health care and education.  

UMGC now offers classes to military service personnel and their families at some 180 locations in more than 20 countries. More than half of the university’s students are active-duty military personnel, their families, members of the National Guard and veterans.