International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame - Oklahoma Center of Continuing Education at the University of Oklahoma

Benjamin Massey

Over the last 35 years, Benjamin Massey has served on the faculty at several universities and as Associate Dean of Students at Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the Far East (Tokyo) and European (Heidelberg) Divisions of the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) before becoming its Chancellor in 1978 and President in 1988. As President, he leads a worldwide institution that offers academic degree programs at over 150 sites in Maryland, around the nation, and across the globe.

During the 15 years of his leadership, he has introduced and developed a remarkable array of changes that have cumulatively broadened and enhanced the serviceability of UMUC to students, especially adult learners. A number of these innovations have in turn become models shaping higher education more broadly. Notable among these innovations have been a worldwide offering of baccalaureate and master's degree programs responsive to the needs of working adults, initiatives fostering the use of telecommunications in teaching, a unique degree program and delivery system for the nuclear power industry, the Institute for Global Management, the National Leadership Institute, the annual International Conference on Improving University Teaching, Worldwide Military Services Education Conferences, and the Institute for Research on Adults in Higher Education.