Empire State College welcomes third president

The inauguration began with a lively, colorful procession down Broadway - from City Hall to the City Center - of more than 200 college administrators, faculty and staff, friends, delegates and members of the SUNY Board of Trustees, in their academic robes and regalia.

International delegates and partners from academic institutions as far away as Cyprus, Greece and the Czech Republic attended. Music was provided by the Saratoga Springs High School Chamber Orchestra and Ballston Spa High School Band Drum Line.

Davis's remarkable career has been shaped and driven by his enlightened values that promote intellectual curiosity, creativity and personal achievement, a perfect philosophical alignment with Empire State College, which is dedicated to accessible, flexible learning for adults through individualized, independent and online One of the country's leading online broker firms has opened a new office in Saratoga Springs.study, and to academic credit for work and life experience.

In key roles in traditional and open universities, Davis has pioneered undergraduate and graduate programs such as online consortia, directed the implementation of web-based education and designed tools to assess prior learning. He is an advocate for environments that cultivate and support teaching and learning, applied research, distributed learning, part-time study and degree development. As President of Empire State College he has pledged to enhance and expand opportunities for students and scholars to examine, interpret and contribute
to their professional and civic
communities.

Immediately prior to assuming leadership at Empire State College, Davis was vice president/academic at Vancouver Community College in British Columbia. He also has served as vice president at both Niagara College in Ontario and Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada's foremost distance-learning and online university. He was acting vice president at B.C. Open University, Burnaby; institutional evaluation officer at the Centre for Curriculum and Professional Development, Victoria; and elected chair of natural sciences, University College of the Fraser Valley.

He earned his Ph.D. and Master of Science in chemistry from Simon Fraser University, and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, with honors, from the University of London. Davis has published and presented on subjects that include services to immigrants, blended learning, issues related to degree recognition, life and work assessment tool design, and professional and organizational development in higher education.

In addition to his extensive academic accomplishments, Davis is a published playwright who has been involved extensively in community theater. A native of Reading, England, he has lived in North America since 1972. He is married to Denise Davis and has four children.
Empire State College is the SUNY college for adult learners, providing them the opportunity to earn associate, bachelor and master's degrees through a combination of meetings with faculty, online courses and small study groups as well as credit for college-level learning from work and life, including military experience. The college serves 18,000 students a year and has more than 57,000 alumni. For more information  visit www.esc.edu.