(Herkimer, NY – July 2013) Herkimer County Community College Professor of Social Science William Pelz has been selected as a Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) Fellow in the field of online learning. The Sloan-C Fellow Selection Committee noted that Pelz has demonstrated “distinguished service to faculty development that is deeply rooted in his extraordinary enthusiasm for and belief in online teaching and learning.”
Sloan-C is the leading professional online learning society devoted to expanding access to high quality e-Education for individuals, institutions, professional societies and the corporate community. Sloan-C fellowships are awarded each year to individual members of the Consortium who have made exemplary contributions to online learning or an allied field.
“This prestigious national distinction is awarded to recognize outstanding and extraordinary qualifications, experience, service and leadership in the field of online learning. This recognition is exciting for both Bill and the College,” said Linda Contino Lamb, Associate Dean of Continuing Education.
Pelz began his teaching career at HCCC in 1968, and in 1997 began teaching online courses which led to the development of the College’s Internet Academy in 1999. HCCC’s Internet Academy has grown to include 18 two-year degree programs and three one-year certificate programs. The College’s enrollment has significantly benefited from the success of the Internet Academy, with approximately one quarter of the College’s enrollment coming from online students.
In addition to teaching, Pelz provides online multimedia instructional design support and technical assistance to HCCC faculty. As lead trainer for the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) from 2000 until 2010, Pelz facilitated workshops and provided training to nearly 3000 new SLN professors in the SUNY system. In recent years Professor Pelz has trained new online faculty in Chili and South Africa, and he is currently assisting Oswego County High School teachers develop online Advanced Placement courses Pelz has also served as associate editor and content contributor for the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) project.
Pelz received the 2003 Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) award for Excellence in Online Teaching, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1994 and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creativity in 2006. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Butler University, M.S. in Educational Psychology from Indiana University and a C.A.S. in School Psychology from SUNY Albany.
Pelz and the other members of the 2013 Sloan-C Fellowship class will be honored in November at the Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Fla.