Celeste Greene

Celeste Greene is not afraid to innovate. As a faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University in the 1990s, she was an early adopter of online learning. Moving to Virginia’s Tidewater area from San Diego State University, she proposed offering the Certificate in Public Administration to School administrators in 2007. Greene’s willingness to take risks has set the stage for her to influence the lives of the many students who have taken classes in this online graduate program.

“One of the real sources of satisfaction for me,” Greene says “is to hear from former students and learn that the courses they took in the certificate program really helped their careers. In some cases, there are few other options for adult students to learn this material, so I’m gratified to have made even a small difference.”

Greene’s adventurousness has also placed her in a position to assist other SCPS faculty members develop their skills. As an associate professor and program director for the School’s graduate Certificates in Leadership and Public Administration, Greene is working hard to help faculty take full advantage of online technology. “It’s come a long way,” she says. “Today, you can deliver classes that have the immediacy of face-to-face instruction.”

Greene has organized a monthly Faculty Focus Seminar Series to familiarize her colleagues with the online tools at their disposal. One of the more recent seminars was on live, online sessions. “Students really benefit from participating in live sessions online,” she says. “Our target going forward is for each course to have 30 percent live online sessions.”