Dr. Matt Griswold was appointed as the new Vice Provost for Online and Continuing Education for the University of Wyoming; he currently serves as associate Vice President for Online Learning at Metropolitan State University at Denver.
Griswold was appointed to the position on November 21 and is expected to start in his new position on December 19.
Griswold holds a Doctorate of Education from Arizona State University, specializing in Education Leadership and Policy Studies. He also holds a Masters’ in Education Administration from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelors in Journalism from Ohio University.
“My primary duties are going to be focused on the online learning experience for students across the institution,” Griswold said.
The position will also focus on program development of new and existing online programs for students and a further focus on continuing education and professional development opportunities for students.
Dr. Griswold, a lifelong administrator, always had an interest in education and learning but became interested in online instruction because of its development at the start of his career.
“I saw a relatively quick movement towards greater use of technology across the learning landscape. Starting with the infusion of technology into classrooms, I then started to see that a good number of students were taking advantage of virtual learning experiences and it intrigued me to find ways to offer those programs and to make them as high quality as possible” Griswold explained.
Griswold has a lot of personal ambitions for the position and hopes to offer and expand more programs and courses in different disciplines to students coming to the university, believing that many people are interested in online learning and pursuing those degrees but aren’t residents of Wyoming.
Griswold is also interested in offering online professional development for past and current students.
“I would want to really look at ways to provide education to students after they’ve graduated from more traditional undergraduate or graduate degree programs, finding certificates that are meaningful to employers into industries, looking at professional development experiences that people would come back to while they’re in the midst of their career,” Griswold said.
Griswold hopes that through these goals, the university can reach more people who normally wouldn’t come to Wyoming or who are unable to attend in-person classes on campus for various reasons.
“One of the core benefits of online learning is you can do it anywhere. Students that are already in Laramie on campus have a variety of things pulling them in different directions. I want to make sure that they have the opportunities to learn and to fit learning within their schedules. Then expand that out to the state. There’s potential students all around Wyoming that aren’t going to be able to change their lives to come to Laramie,” Griswold said.
