For Immediate Release
UMass Lowell Wins Recognition for Excellence in Online Education from the Sloan Consortium

Lowell, Mass., October 14, 2008 –

UMass Lowell offers a broad range of online degrees and certificate programs in disciplines such as Criminal Justice, Education, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Liberal Arts, Management, Psychology.

The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their offerings according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. Created with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan-C encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices. Membership is open to academic institutions, government and corporate agencies, and organizations that support quality in higher education.

Online learning has greatly progressed since 1992 when the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation began giving grants to institutions for online learning initiatives. “Quality online education continues to show vigor and strength. Every year we see advances in the important matters of quality, scale and breadth within this still fledgling community” says Frank Mayadas, President of Sloan-C. "The individuals and institutions honored this year are as before, exceptional, and we honor them for demonstrating exceptional leadership in advancing online education along these dimensions."

Details about the Sloan-C Awards are available at http://www.sloan-c.org/aboutus/awards.as