Cindy Elliott

Cindy Elliott is Assistant Provost for Strategic Partnerships and Dean of Distance Learning at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) in Hays, Kansas. Currently, she focuses on policy making, program development, and partnership development and maintenance of all university, community colleges, corporate, military and international partnerships and, in so doing, has tripled the number of enrollments for FHSU through these efforts. One of her significant achievements has been the establishment of the first jointly run, bachelor’s degree program in mainland China in the year 2000. Today, FHSU has 3200 Chinese students at three partner universities in China and is expanding with additional partners for study abroad.  As she says, “I never expected that my career in distance learning would expand to the point that I would be doing cross-border education throughout the world. The flattened world permits FHSU to reach beyond the wheat fields of Kansas.”

Cindy has her educational background with Southern Illinois University for her bachelor’s degree; Florida International University for her master’s degree; and Harvard University for Management of Lifelong Education program. Prior to this role, Cindy was Dean of FHSU’s Virtual College; Director of Distance Learning at Florida International University, Miami, Florida; and Manager of Product Development and Distribution at Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida.