Posted: September 17, 2010

Julianne Cenac has been appointed assistant vice president for Professional and Continuing Education
at Regent University.

Focus of the department

It’s a new division with the university’s Academic Affairs department. The main purpose behind this division is to create a transformational learning experience for the community. We are focused on providing nonacademic courses such as continuing education and personal enrichment. Plus, we will be offering professional and seminar courses for workforce development.
This area will include short-term certificate programs that may be done in as little as a week or up to six. The programs will provide the workforce with more real-time access to training and further develop their competencies in a specific area.
We are happy to be launching the Homeland Security Certificate, which will be offered early in 2011, as well as a Global Leadership Certificate program that we already offer. We will explore additional areas such as higher education administration, new media, web-based marketing and entrepreneurship programs.
In addition, we are looking at education outreach programs that will allow us to open up the campus and invite as many groups as possible. We would like to offer a youth leadership camp next summer.

Running a successful program

My real focus is launching this division so it’s sustainable and successful. Our goal is to ensure that we continue the Regent brand of excellence. We want to provide learning offerings to the public that really meet their needs.
It also means we are working for specific groups like the military community. The university, in conjunction with the city of Virginia Beach and the Navy, has done research in workforce development for transitioning of Navy personnel. It’s important for us to help them develop their skills and competencies and transition into the civilian workforce.
We are also aware that we need to partner with the businesses in this area. We want to be available to them as a local resource. Our program is more affordable than corporate training at most companies.
My role is to lead the new division, help set the pace for identifying what the workforce needs are and make offerings available.

Previous positions

I served as the director for the Center for Effectiveness Organization at Regent University. This is where a lot of the efforts we’re launching now at the new division began.
Prior to Regent, I worked in Northern Virginia for Booz Allen Hamilton serving as a consultant working with a number of federal and international clients on strategic organizational projects. I was exposed to a number of different organizations and situations where you begin to see the real need for leadership, leadership development and organization.
My experience of leading various project teams prepared me to set up professional development programs to help prepare and train individuals to be more effective at what they do.

Looking to transition
 

There is a tremendous gap that exists in terms of people who are looking to either transition into a new career or those who want to be more competitive in their own field. Some individuals are not able to invest time and money to a full academic degree. Investing in more short-term types of educational and developmental opportunities is definitely a sustainable substitute.
We have offerings that you can identify through different schools that are more affordable and cost-effective than larger programs that most employers tend to go after.
If more folks knew about these types of programs in Hampton Roads they would be surprised.
From our perspective we are trying to offer the education programs for the best value and quality. The faculty and professionals we have involved in the instruction are top-notch.
Our main focus is not profit but developing workforce programs that are quality educational enrichments for the Hampton Roads community.

My downtime

I’m working toward my doctorate in organizational leadership with an emphasis on human resource development. I care passionately about this area and I decided to devote the next few years of my life to better myself.
Besides that, I’m an avid sports fan. I love the Redskins and Ravens. I also enjoy swimming, traveling and the outdoors.