Dr. Kay Dennis, Associate Professor, Park University, USA
Dr. Kay Dennis earned an Ed. D. in Adult and Higher Education from North Carolina State
University, and completed undergraduate and master’s degrees in Nursing from the University of
Kentucky and East Carolina University, respectively. Most recently as a tenured Associate Professor
Dr. Dennis has supervised student research on adult education and developed and taught cutting
edge accelerated and standard online courses in the Graduate School of Professional Studies at Park
University. She has also held teaching appointments at Boston University, Midway College, and East
Carolina University. Her scholarly interests include continuing development of the adult learner;
online course design and learning; and intercultural communication.
Dr. Dennis’ administrative experience includes serving as Adult Education M. Ed. Department Chair
at Park University, Director of Distance Learning at Carteret College, Director of Learning Resources
at East Carolina University; and external program evaluator for a series of federally funded
initiatives in medical education, also at East Carolina University. Additional activities include
coaching and supervising the online teaching of some 500 part-time instructors; developing and
managing preceptor and extern programs; providing continuing education workshops for 900
healthcare workers; and obtaining and administering several technology grants.
Her international experience includes numerous conference presentations; guidance and support
for learners of English as a second language; faculty development; online degree program
establishment; and, as a 2010 Fulbright Scholar, teaching intercultural communication and
qualitative research methods courses.
Select publications:
Dailey-Hebert, A. and Dennis, K., (Eds.). (2014). Reframing higher education: The
transformation of people, processes, and perspectives in the new academy. Springer Publishing.
Schulte, M., Dennis, K., Eskey, M., Taylor, C., and Zeng, H. (2012). Creating a Sustainable Online
Instructor Observation System: Blending Mentoring and Evaluation. The International Review
of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13:3, 83-96.
Dennis, K. (2012). Review of Online Interviewing, by N. James and H. Busher. Studies in Continuing
Education 34:1, 81-82.
Dailey-Hebert, A. and Dennis, K. (2011). Globalization and Online Learning: Educating in
Transformative Times. Journal of the World Forum for Education and Culture, 2:1, 11-15.
Dennis, K., Bunkowski, L. M., and Eskey, M. T. (2007). The Little Engine that Could – How to Start
the Motor? Motivating the Online Student. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching 2, 37-49.
Dennis, K. (2000). Creating an Environment for Successful Technology Integration. In R. Cole (Ed.),
Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy: A Critical Primer. Greenwood Publishing, CT.
Select Presentations:
Retreat to Advance: A Residential “Collaboratory” Approach to Program Redesign. Association for
Continuing Higher Education. Las Vegas, NV. 2014
A Multinational Comparison of Best Practices for Teaching Students Who Lack Academic English
Skills. International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference. Orlando, FL. 2013
Program Redesign: Creating a New Learning Experience through Student and Faculty Collaboration.
Association for Continuing Higher Education. Lexington, KY. 2013
Collaborative Knowledge Building for Online Professional Learners. Association for Continuing
Higher Education. Austin, TX. 2012
Online Faculty Evaluation Evolution: How Training, Mentoring and Resource Allocation Foster
Instructor Success. Western Cooperative for Educational Technologies. Denver, CO. 2011
When Your Students Lack English Fluency: Adaptive Teaching. British Association for
International and Comparative Education; UK Forum for International Education and Training,
Oxford, UK. 2011
Academic Quality with Faculty Development. University College Cork, Ireland. 2011
Toward a Democratic and Civil Society: Tearing Down the Walls of the Mind. Plenary Session,
International Academy for Humanization of Education, Liepaja University, Latvia. 2010
Intercultural Communications for a Democratic and Civil Society. Riga Teacher Training and
Educational Management Academy. Latvia. 2010
Infusing Online Courses with Opportunities for Interpersonal Skill Development. European
Association of Distance Teaching Universities Annual Conference. Maastricht, the Netherlands.
2009
Instructor with Low Evaluations: A Constructive Corrective Action Plan. Distance Learning
Administration Conference. Jekyll Island, GA. 2008
Leadership Skill Development in Healthcare Administrators. Sloan-C International Conference
on Asynchronous Learning Networks. Orlando, FL. 2006
Elements of a Comprehensive Faculty Development and Mentoring Needs Assessment in Academic
Medicine. American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA. 2000
Affiliations
American Educational Research Association
American Evaluation Association
World Association for Case-method Research and Application
American Association for Adult and Continuing Education
United States Distance Learning Association
Association for Educational Communications & Technology
Association for Continuing Higher Education
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
Sloan-C Consortium
Fulbright Association