Top Online Learning Group Awards NYU-Poly’s Robert Ubell its Highest Leadership Honor

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) has named Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s (NYU-Poly) Robert Ubell winner of its highest individual recognition for leadership in online education.

Sloan-C, the country's most prominent association of academic institutions championing online higher education, announced it will award Ubell its A. Frank Mayadas Leadership Award in Online Education for his significant positive impact on higher education virtual learning. The award is named for Sloan-C’s founding president. 

“Bob Ubell has demonstrated, again and again, unusual and exemplary skill in stimulating the creation and promotion of online programs, knitted together into a strategic fabric,” said Frank Mayadas. “He has shown a capability for working with faculty and staff with a high devotion to student satisfaction. The Mayadas Award this year goes to a proven leader who richly deserves this recognition.”

Ubell is vice president of  Enterprise Learning at NYU-Poly, which in November received Sloan-C’s award for the nation’s “Outstanding Online Program” for its e-learning cyber security master’s degree. Ubell is also recipient of other notable prizes for quality online education. He is author of nearly 60 scholarly articles and author or editor of seven books, including, Virtual Teaming (Wiley 2010). Ubell heads NYU-Poly’s e-learning unit, delivering nearly 20 entirely online graduate science and technology programs worldwide.

“The Mayadas Leadership Award recognizes Bob Ubell as a transformative leader, and NYU-Poly has benefitted enormously from his knowledge and innovation,” said NYU-Poly President Jerry M. Hultin. “We congratulate Bob for this high honor and for opening new and effective digital educational opportunities across the globe.”

Under Ubell, NYU-Poly pioneered robust support systems and procedures for its remote learning students and faculty. Ubell steered the growth of e-learning, and he enlisted guidance from world leaders in digital education. Ubell also heads NYU-Poly’s Enterprise Learning training division, with nearly a dozen Fortune 500 companies as clients.

Before guiding NYU-Poly's e-learning unit, Ubell launched WebCampus at Stevens Institute of Technology, another recipient of a Sloan-C award. During his publishing career, Ubell was vice president and editor-in chief of Plenum Publishing Corporation, where he headed its Russian scientific translation program. He was editor of the New York Academy of Sciences monthly, The Sciences, and American publisher of the premier science weekly, Nature.

Ubell has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards and advisory committees, including the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council and National Academy of Engineering. He is president of the Board of the Parkinson’s Unity Walk.

The award will be presented at the 18th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning in Florida on October 11, 2012. The award honors Dr. Frank Mayadas, currently senior advisor to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Mayadas served as a Sloan program director, helping craft its grant-making strategy in online learning, globalization, industry studies and career choice in technical fields. Dr. Mayadas holds a doctoral degree in applied physics and served 27 years in numerous roles at IBM.