By Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO Coursera
Coursera reached an important milestone of 50 million registered learners this month. These learners come to Coursera from around the world to access a vast catalog of top-quality and stackable learning content from leading university and industry partners. We are also humbled by how thousands of learners are leaning on courses such as Science Matters: Let’s Talk About COVID-19 from Imperial College London and The Science of Well-Being from Yale to find clarity and comfort during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
As the world faces unprecedented change and moves more rapidly online to learn, I’m excited to welcome Dr. Betty Vandenbosch as our new Chief Content Officer, effective April 13, 2020.
Betty brings more than 25 years of academic leadership, research, and teaching experience to Coursera. Most recently she was chancellor of Purdue University Global, an institution resulting from Purdue University’s 2018 acquisition of Kaplan University.
At Purdue, Betty oversaw academics for nearly 30,000 students — most of whom earned their degrees online. Before that, Betty held a number of leadership positions at Kaplan University and served as associate dean and associate professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. Throughout her career, Betty has won several awards in teaching and research. Betty earned her PhD in Management Information Systems and an MBA from Western University in Ontario, Canada.
At Coursera, Betty will be responsible for further deepening our ties with the partner community, working closely with them to advance content and credential innovations in line with learner demands and labor market signals.
I’d also like to take this time to thank Dil Sidhu for his contributions as Chief Content Officer. Dil has decided to head back to the UK to be closer to family. We’re thankful for his work and impact developing our team and growing our content offerings — working closely with our partners to launch new degree programs, MasterTrack™ Certificates, Professional Certificates, and other credentials.
Betty has an immense passion for Coursera’s mission that we so deeply share with our partners. I look forward to the leadership she’ll bring in our efforts to serve learners around the world. Please join me in welcoming her to the community and wishing Dil success with his future endeavors.