About Us
The Center for Distance and Professional Education (CDPE) provides leadership for academic outreach activities at Washington State University through its two partner units: Distance Degree Programs (DDP) offers online degree completion programs and the Professional Education (PE) unit provides professional development programs in both face-to-face and online formats. Certificate programs are available through both units. (See Degrees & Certificates for complete information.)
Distance Degree Programs
The Distance Degree Programs is one of the oldest and most respected online degree programs in the nation. DDP was established in 1992 with a single degree offering in social sciences and continues to work with WSU academic departments to add new, high-demand degrees, such as the recently introduced bachelor of arts in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship.
WSU’s online courses are developed and taught by the same faculty who teach on campus. CDPE instructional designers work with faculty to create dynamic online courses that have the same learning outcomes as campus courses.
DDP students receive the same services as campus students including financial aid counseling, academic advising, library services, and career services. DDP was the first traditional campus in the nation to establish an online student government.
Professional Education
The primary mission of the Professional Education (PE) unit is to create opportunities to disseminate WSU research that addresses issues of societal importance. PE accomplishes this by coordinating academic conferences, workshops and seminars for professionals in a variety of fields. PE increasingly provides universal access to knowledge identified at conferences by developing and delivering online courses and certificate programs. Some conferences evolve exclusively into non-credit courses but other conferences have content that is foundational to both credit and professional development offerings, such as the new online course Internet Safety for Educators, which is available for professional development clock hours or for graduate credit.
Online professional education course development is facilitated by PE staff who bring together course content experts – either a WSU faculty member or industry leader – and CDPE instructional designers who use technology to deliver cutting edge learning experiences.
Administration
Muriel Oaks, Dean, Center for Distance and Professional Education
Janet Kendall, Director of Distance Degree Programs
Kelly Newell, Interim Director of Professional Education
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