Iowa State will welcome Ann Duin as its new associate provost and director of Extended Education.

Stan Johnson, vice provost for Extension, said Duin, who will start her career at Iowa State on July 1, has qualities that will benefit the university.

“We were looking for someone who was a national player in distance education and technology-based learning areas,” Johnson said. “[Duin] developed the Virtual University for the state of Minnesota. She has a strong academic reputation for distance learning.”

ISU Provost Rollin Richmond said he was also impressed with Duin’s reputation.

“Ann Duin is a national leader in distance education and in education technology,” Richmond said. “She will be critical to the development of successful strategies for ISU participation in these emerging high-tech areas.”

Duin’s responsibilities will include developing and increasing access to Iowa State’s extended and continuing education credit and non-credit programs, as well as working with faculty and staff, business, industry and community leaders and off-campus students.

In addition, Duin will lead development and evaluation of new teaching and learning technologies. She will also hold a faculty position in the English department.

“She will be a professor of English here and her area is technical communications,” Richmond said. “She is well known in that area.”

Johnson said Iowa State’s distance-education program is catering to a growing number of students.

“Enrollment in distance education has been growing rapidly, up more than 50 percent in the last two years,” Johnson said. “With Ann Duin at the helm, we will be in a position to better serve Iowans.”

He said Iowa State offers 25 Web-based courses with 3,500 to 4,000 students enrolled.

Duin graduated with a B.A. in English education and music in 1977 from Luther College in Decorah. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Minnesota.

Previously, she was the vice provost for Instructional Technology and University Partnerships and a professor of scientific and technical communications at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.