U.S. News Ranks 2021 Best Online Programs Josh Moody
In a year marked by a deadly pandemic, much of life in 2020 was spent on the internet. That s especially true of education, with colleges scrambling to shift learning online as the coronavirus disrupted daily operations.
Online learning offered students continuity, a chance to finish the semester wherever they were as colleges closed dorms and emptied campuses. Such disruptions, however, were likely limited for online programs, such as those ranked in the 2021 U.S. News Best Online Programs, where the vast majority of coursework is delivered in an online format.
Most of the institutions included in these rankings, released today, have offered online options for years, leading a sector that higher education experts see poised for further growth even once the dust from COVID-19 settles.
The N.C. Community College System elected Thomas Stith III to lead it through the coronavirus pandemic and steep enrollment losses.
Stith will become president of a system of 58 community colleges that enroll about 700,000 students a year. He now serves as district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration, a federal agency that secured more than $16 billion in coronavirus relief for N.C. small businesses. Stith also was chief of staff to former Gov. Pat McCrory from 2013 to 2017.
He succeeds interim president William Carver and former President Peter Hans, who left in August to become president of the University of North Carolina System.
Thomas Stith III will serve as the next president of the NC Community College System.
In January, Stith will succeed interim President Dr. William Carver and former President Peter Hans, who left in August to became president of the University of North Carolina System.
Stith is currently district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Others may recall Stith served four years as former Gov. Pat McCrory’s chief of staff.
His higher education experience includes five years as economic development program director at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
“My vision for the North Carolina Community College System is very clear. Regardless of whether you are a student just entering our community college system or whether you are a worker that needs retraining because of this global pandemic, the NC Community College System will be there to provide that cost-effective education, that pathway to economic opportun