Olivet Nazarene University is pleased to announce that Dr. Jay Martinson ’86 has accepted the position of Dean of Online Learning for the residential campus.
Dr. Martinson, or Dr. Jay as he is known by students and colleagues, has been a part of the teaching faculty at Olivet for 27 years, most recently chairing the Department of Communication. Over his long tenure, he has developed a reputation as an outstanding on-ground classroom instructor. Dr. Jay holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and has been one of the faculty pioneers in online education at ONU, teaching a wide variety of courses on both the residential and ONU Global campuses.
Olivet benefitted from Dr. Jay’s expertise and passion for online learning this spring as he, along with Professor Jeremy Van Kley, guided the University’s abrupt transition from on ground to online when the COVID crisis emerged. Under their guidance, the University finished the unprecedented semester by smoothly transitioning academic instruction online. All students were able to complete course requirements and seniors were still able to graduate on time.
As a member of this summer’s Academic Contingency Task Force, Dr. Jay is already speaking into the fall semester planning. Continuing that work — helping the faculty prepare for the beginning of a new school year — will be his first priority. Simultaneously, he will be collaborating with the Office of Admissions, to conceive ideas for new online program initiatives that will help Olivet thrive after the pandemic has receded. Most fundamentally, Dr. Jay will work with the residential faculty to create and communicate standards and protocols to ensure quality and consistency across our online curriculum.
Dr. Stephen Lowe, Vice President for Academic Affairs, said of this new role for Dr. Jay, “We are blessed to have Jay at Olivet during this challenging period, and I am grateful to him for accepting this responsibility.”
Published: 5/20/2020
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