Boris Vilic

Since joining the Rider University community eight months ago, Boris Vilic is steadily working to raise the bar of excellence for the College of Continuing Studies. He hopes these programs will achieve national prominence in the coming years.

“We are well positioned to get there,” said Vilic, executive director and associate dean of Rider’s College of Continuing Studies (CCS). He leads a team of professionals who are responsible for creating academic venues to enrich the professional and personal lives of adult students. “We have excellent faculty, high quality academic programs and dedicated staff. Our tuition is very competitive and is an excellent investment adult students can make in their future.”

According to Vilic, the overall mission of CCS is to offer meaningful and challenging courses, degrees and programs. “We have done this by extending the resources of the University to adult learners through innovative and high quality academic programs,” he said. The individualized attention and student-centered focus sets us apart and makes us ‘Rider.’”

With more than 770 actively enrolled students, CCS's new programmatic initiatives include a Prior Learning Assessment; a scholarship for new students; and a healthcare administration program with an emphasis on CCS’s BA in liberal studies program.

Strides have been made to strengthen CCS’s partnership with Burlington County College (BCC). More than 33 BCC students have transferred to Rider, up from six last spring. In another initiative, Vilic and Dr. Carol Brown, associate dean of the School of Education, have worked closely to create a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program, which began this fall.

Vilic is pleased with CCS’s six online courses which were offered for the first time this past summer. The courses were: radio and television communication; principles of marketing; ethics; creative writing and fiction; New Jersey government and politics; and developmental psychology. “We received nothing but positive feedback from students about their experiences,” said Vilic. “Some asked us to thank the faculty for making these courses available online.

“Our challenge is to offer a true Rider academic experience online and advocate the ‘promise’ of online learning,” continued Vilic. “Distance learning is not for everyone but there is a growing number of students whose work and family obligations render them unable to earn a traditional college degree. They see distance learning as a viable alternative to attending classes.”

A specialist in innovative technologies, customer satisfaction and employee training, Vilic was recently honored with the University Continuing Education Association’s Up and Coming Leadership Award and received two national awards from the Association for Continuing Higher Education for his projects. He has also devoted time for scholarship, recently publishing a book chapter in "Online Assessment and Measurement: Foundations and Challenges" on academic integrity issues in online courses.

Currently, Vilic is evaluating credit and non-credit programs at Rider to determine new opportunities for developing best practices in adult education. New programs and new course formats such as hybrid and accelerated courses are being considered.

“I am delighted to be a part of a community that is committed to student success, whether through excellent academics or individualized student support,” said Vilic. “The level of care and dedication of our faculty and staff is amazing. I am proud to be a part of it.”

Vilic came to Rider from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he served as director of technology and faculty team leader for the computer systems technology curriculum for the School of Leadership and Professional Advancement, the University’s continuing education unit. He holds an MBA in marketing from Duquesne University and a B.S. degree in administration and management from La Roche College in Pittsburgh.

Return to Newswire