Biography
1994-Present
Janet Poley is CEO and President of the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC). She develops collaborative distance education initiatives and conducts research and education programs related to technology access and applications with more than 60 land-grant university members and international affiliates. She is in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame and on its Board of Directors and Treasurer; is a Board member and Treasurer of Sloan-C; is on the NASULGC Committee on Partnerships between African and U.S. Universities; is a member of the Creighton University Health Sciences Distance Education Advisory Board; and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Zamorano University in Honduras. She received the Mildred B. and Charles A. Wedemeyer Award for Outstanding Practitioner in Distance Education in 2000. She served as principal investigator on a $5 million National Science Foundation grant for advanced networking and applications including work on distance education and digital libraries in China. She was a Co-PI on an NSF start-up program in Human Language Technology – a collaboration between U.S. and Moroccan institutions. She manages the USDA funded Agricultural Telecommunications Program; manages a cooperative agreement with the National Agricultural Library (NAL) of USDA and the Universidad de Concepcion (UDEC) in Chile; is the chair of the NAL AgNIC Board of Directors; and has received several Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and U.S. Department of Commerce grants. She serves on the Editorial Board for the American Journal of Distance Education; is a liaison to the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC); was a member of the Penn State Advisory Board to the World Campus Initiative; was a member of the Great Plains Network Advisory Committee; and is a special member of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Graduate Faculty. She is a professor in the College of Journalism and the Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While Director for Communication, Information and Technology (CIT) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), she served on the NSF Networking Council focusing on education and outreach. In 1994, she was named by Federal Computer Week as one of the 100 outstanding information technology leaders in government, business and academia. She has worked in more than 40 countries, serving six years in Tanzania and received the Excalibur Award from the U.S. Congress for that work.
Dr. Poley is the author of a number of journal articles, book chapters and presentations on information technology and distance learning and currently authoring a book titled “Building an Inclusive Future for Learning: A Practical Guide for Campuses and Communities”.
1989-1994
Poley served as Director and Deputy Administrator for Communication, Information and Technology at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1994 she was named by Federal Computer Week as one of the 100 outstanding information technology leaders in government, business and academia. She received the Secretary of Agriculture's Award for Diversity and the Extension Service Administrator's Award for Excellence. She was a member of the National Science Foundation chaired Federal Networking Council, worked closely with the White House in establishing the first U.S. government Internet service and produced numerous national satellite teleconferences. She was a member of the first team sent by the U.S. Government to Poland after the fall of communism to develop a plan for an Extension Service. She participated in numerous international activities in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, including work on the OECD Information Technology Strategy.
1986-1989
Poley served as Coordinator of the Development Program Management Center for the Office of International Cooperation and Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The unit she headed conducted management development training and consultancies in more than 15 developing countries. In addition, her unit was responsible for publication of policy papers and books in development management and sustainable projects and programs. She received the OICD International Award of Excellence for her programs.
1980-1986
Poley served as Project Director and Chief of Party for the "Training for Rural Development I and II USAID financed projects in Tanzania. Poley designed this program evaluated to be one of the most successful USAID efforts in Africa. She received the Excalibur Award from the U.S. Congress for these efforts. During her six years in Tanzania, she worked with senior Tanzanian officials to send more than 200 Tanzanians to the U.S. for long-and-short-term training, including the largest group of senior Tanzanian officials to ever come to the United States for a senior management development program. In Tanzania, the program established rural training centers and worked closely with national, regional and local officials to improve popular participation in programs, improve agricultural and natural resource skills and develop more effective and efficient government programs.
1975-1980
Poley served as Assistant Deputy Director for International Training for the Foreign Development Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She was responsible for the agricultural U.S. participant training program, design and development of in-country training programs, needs assessment and evaluation. She received a USAID award for cooperation for her efforts to improve programs and working relationships between USAID and the USDA. During this assignment, she began her work in Tanzania and also conducted assignments in the Seychelles and Kenya.
1966-1975
Poley was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, moving from being the youngest instructor hired by the University at the age of 20 to a tenured Associate Professor of Agricultural Communication at the time she left for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the University of Nebraska, she served as a senior producer at the Nebraska Educational Television Network producing hundreds of television programs including the weekly "House and Home", "One for the Money-A Consumer Show," The University of Nebraska News", and numerous specials including a series on the state of Nebraska and a program on the Governor's mansion. Poley also produced 15 radio programs a week, taught in the areas of communication, journalism and home economics.
Academic Qualifications
- Ph.D. - University of Nebraska-Adult and Continuing Education 1975
- M.S. - University of Nebraska-Nutrition 1971
- B.S. - University of Nebraska-Journalism(Broadcasting)/Home Economics 1966