Bettyjo Bouchey has been appointed Chief Officer for Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) at the University of Vermont, bringing nearly two decades of higher education experience to the state’s flagship land-grant university and its innovative PACE division, which has served students from Vermont and well beyond.
Dr. Bouchey was most recently Vice Provost of Digital Strategy and Operations and a faculty member at National Louis University, where she was responsible for standards of quality and service for online programming across the institution, alternative graduation pathways, learning experience design, and academic innovation. She has research experience in the nature and future of organizational structures of online units in institutions of higher education, as well as inventive and high-impact online education practices including the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Prior to higher education, Bouchey spent several years in product management and commercialization of technology at startup companies in upstate New York.
“Professional and continuing education is a key element in the fulfillment of our land-grant mission, providing workforce development for Vermont’s economy and lifelong learning opportunities across fields for students near and far. We couldn’t ask for a stronger leader than Bettyjo for this vital work,” UVM President Suresh Garimella said. “Her broad experience in higher education, including the implementation of innovative strategies and solutions, will serve PACE and its community of learners well.”
Bouchey joins an area of the university that has long prided itself on meeting the needs of the evolving local, national, and international workforce with a rich and diverse array of credit-bearing and non-credit offerings. In the past few years, PACE at UVM has further developed several new and innovative programs that provide learning opportunities across key fields. Offerings in healthcare, wellness, digital marketing, project management and a variety of other fields provide a wide range of choices for students at all stages of their educational journey.
For the past three years, the state of Vermont has provided funding for PACE’s popular Upskill VT program, allowing students from all 14 counties to take courses free of charge to develop professional skills or prepare for a career change.
Bouchey holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University at Albany, an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a Doctorate in Education from Northeastern University.
A first-generation college student originally from Oregon, Bouchey is a two-time namesake after her Grandma Margaret (Betty) and Grandma Josefina (Jo). She is married to Chris and mother to Gavin, a 2022 Eagle Scout and recent high school graduate.
“Our whole family is thrilled to join the UVM community and make our home in Vermont,” Bouchey said. Bouchey will begin her role at UVM on February 12.
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About the University of Vermont
Since 1791, the University of Vermont has worked to move humankind forward. UVM’s strengths align with the most pressing needs of our time: the health of our societies and the health of our environment. Our size—large enough to offer a breadth of ideas, resources, and opportunities, yet intimate enough to enable close faculty-student mentorship across all levels of study—allows us to pursue these interconnected issues through cross-disciplinary research and collaboration. Providing an unparalleled educational experience for our students, and ensuring their success, are at the core of what we do. As one of the nation’s first land grant universities, UVM advances Vermont and the broader society through the discovery and application of new knowledge.
UVM is derived from the Latin Universitas Viridis Montis (in English, University of the Green Mountains).