Sandra Gladney is taking the “interim” out of her title after being appointed the permanent executive director of the UO’s Academic Extension program.

Gladney, who has been at the university for 16 years, has served as interim co-director of the program since July 2013. She started at the UO in 1998, working as a program director in Continuing Education, the predecessor of Academic Extension.

As executive director, Gladney leads a team that provides a range of outreach programs as well as specialized support to all the university’s schools and colleges. That includes strategic planning and investments, supervision of program and operations staff and oversight of offices in Portland and Bend.

Academic Extension is the UO’s hub for a variety of programs that offer academic programs to the entire state. Among the programs are distance learning, summer session, continuing education and lifelong learning.

Currently Gladney serves on several UO committees, including the Educational Technology Advisory Group and the Intellectual Property Committee working to put the collective bargaining agreement with faculty into practice.

Gladney earned a bachelor’s degree in theater and communications from Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, and a master’s degree in arts management from the UO. Last June she attended the Harvard Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

She also has served at the regional and national level in the Association for Continuing Higher Education and is the institutional representative to the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, the Association of University Summer Sessions and the Education Advisory Board Forum for Continuing and Online Education.