New Dean of Continuing Studies assumes full-time duties

Named Dean on Sept. 15, he began working full-time at the University on Jan. 1.

"I'm delighted to finally be able to devote my time fully to Continuing Studies," Shannon said. "I anticipate building on the long tradition of extension education at the University of Chicago by bringing alive all the possibilities there are to connect us with students off-campus -- including both the expansion of the center's current offerings and the creation of new opportunities for adult students to access the intellectual resources of the University."

Shannon succeeds Acting Director Susan Kastendiek, who is now Secretary of the Faculties.

Shannon comes to Chicago with a long history of experience in extension programs. Prior to his appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he served as dean of extended education at California State University-Dominguez Hills, in Carson, Calif., and as executive assistant to the dean of continuing education at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Shannon was president of the National University Continuing Education Association in 1990 and a Kellogg fellow at Oxford University in 1993. He has served as editor of the Continuing Higher Education Review. His publications include "Revisiting Continuing Education at the Metropolitan University" in Metropolitan Universities: An Emerging Model in Higher Education (1995) and "Reinventing Continuing Education at the American Urban University" in Reform in Higher Education in Europe and America: Conference Proceedings (1992).

He received his M.A. in 1970 and his Ph.D. in 1979, both in political science, from the University of Washington.