Graduate and Online (HUGO) Team Updates

The Office of Graduate and Online Programs (lovingly called HUGO in some campus circles) has recently made a number of new hires and position changes. Jeff Berggren has returned from his nine years of wandering in the desert, and working with the HU Arizona team, to step into a new role of executive director of HUGO. A significant change is that the operations and recruitment for all HUGO programs are now unified under the executive director. Read on for examples thereof!

Tonya Horvath has been promoted to director of HUGO operations. Tonya has been a stalwart member of HU’s adult, grad, and online teams in some capacity for 13 years. She also received her Associate of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Business Administration degrees from HU. Tonya will continue to work closely with Julia Springer, who is in her third year as the administrative assistant for HUGO.

Ruth Ann Frederick has been hired to serve as the instructional designer and technologist for HUGO faculty, staff, and students. Ruth Ann has two decades of course design experience and has worked with a number of LMS platforms. Bonus factors are that she is a UB pastor’s wife, has served on two HU trips to China, received her Master of Education degree in TESOL from HU, and serves as an adjunct professor for HUGO. Ruth Ann is also part of HUGO’s operational team.

Wade Finicle has been promoted to assistant director of HUGO programs. Wade is in his third year of recruiting new students for HUGO and is also an HU grad with a degree in communication. The easiest way to describe the programs Wade is now leading recruitment for would be everything in the grad and adult online area but OTD. Because….

Dr. Chelsey Edwards has been hired to serve as the director of admissions for the OTD program. HU is very pleased to welcome Chelsey back, as she was a founding faculty member of the OTD program in Arizona before pursuing an opportunity to be director of a new OT program at another university. Chelsey will be the primary OTD recruiter for both the Arizona and Indiana locations.

Other than that August was a pretty tepid month around the HUGO office. Hopefully things will pick up in September!