Faculty and Staff Earn Online Teaching Certification

The ACUE faculty and staff cohort with administrators. (SUNY Geneseo/Kris Dreessen)

News article created by Academic Affairs.

Twenty-two SUNY Geneseo faculty and staff members earned a nationally recognized certification, Effective Online Teaching Practices, through the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). The certification cohort was made possible by SUNY, whose investment in faculty and staff development supports student success across all SUNY campuses.

The American Council on Education endorses the certification, which is designed to help faculty and staff deliver highly effective, engaging online teaching to improve student engagement, grades, course completion, and retention.

Geneseo’s cohort, drawn from faculty and staff across the School of Business, School of Education, and School of Arts and Sciences, also included staff from the college’s instructional technology and advising offices. The cohort completed the year-long certification course during the 2025-26 academic year. The College honored the cohort with a recognition ceremony on Aug. 19, where President Melinda Treadwell and Marianne Dombroski, senior partnership director at ACUE, joined Mary C. Toale, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, in presenting certificates and ACUE pins.

“At Geneseo, we believe that a student learning online deserves the same rigor, engagement, and care that we bring to every in-person classroom,” said Toale. “The faculty and staff earning their ACUE certification have invested real time and effort to sharpen their online teaching practice, and that investment shows in the experience our students receive. I am proud of what this cohort has accomplished, and I am grateful to our partners at SUNY and ACUE for making this work possible.”

“The training was useful in many ways,” including in the classroom, said Jennifer Katz, professor of psychology. “Much of the material was focused on making connections—between faculty and students, students working together, course content, learning objectives, and course activities. The new practices I implemented last year definitely benefited students in my classes.”

Toale credited Alexis Clifton, director of the Teaching and Learning Center, as the campus lead who coordinated the certification work and the recognition ceremony.

Geneseo offers an increasing number of online courses and degrees, including in reading and literacy and accounting, as well as online courses, especially in the summer and the winter intersession.