The Office of the President is responsible for the overall leadership of HETL, the development and implementation of HETL policies and strategies, and the daily management of HETL. The president works with the executive committee on the management of HETL.
President
Dr. Patrick Blessinger serves as the President, CEO (i.e., chief executive officer), standing co-chair of the HETL Board o
f Directors, HETL publisher, and HETL chief research scientist. In order to ensure a smooth running of the organization and effective communication between all areas of the organization, the Office of the President works directly with the Board of Directors, the Country Delegates, and other boards, members, partners, donors, and other educational leaders and scholars from around the world, as needed, on appropriate and meaningful ways to develop and manage HETL. Dr. Blessinger has degrees from Auburn University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and St. John’s University (New York). Dr. Blessinger is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Education at St. John’s University, an adjunct instructor at the State University of New York (Old Westbury), and an educator-teacher with the New York State Education Department.
The executive committee consists of Dr. Patrick Blessinger, Dr. Abhilasha Singh, Dr. Fareeda Khodabocus, and Dr. Amudha Poobalan.
Strategic advisor to the president: Dr. Ahmad Samarji
DIVISIONS
Country Delegates Division
The Country Delegates Division is responsible for representing and promoting HETL within their home countries.
Security Division
The Security Division is responsible for working with the the president to develop policies and strategies related to securing HETL’s electronic assets, including but not limited to the protection of websites, electronic platforms, channels, and other electronic media. A large portion of HETL’s activities utilizes electronic communication, storage, and dissemination of information. Thus, it is important to maintain proper security to prevent loss of data and destruction of electronic assets. As such, the security division provides policy and technical expertise in order to protect HETL assets from activities such as hacking, cyber vandalism, cyber terrorism, electronic fraud, and the like.
Legal & Accounting Division
Proper financial management of HETL is necessary to the ongoing development and financial sustainability of the organization. The Office of the President works jointly with HETL’s treasurer and HETL’s certified public accountant to ensure the integrity of the financial stewardship of the organization. As a legally certified non-profit corporation in the State of New York and by the US Internal Revenue Service, HETL adheres to all state and federal laws and tax regulations.
Conferences & Awards Division
The shared values of inclusion, sustainability, and quality bind the educational community together, regardless of institutional type or mission. To fulfill these shared values, HETL initiates meaningful activities, projects, and practices that foster collaboration and capacity building at all levels (individual, group, institutional, national, international) as well as the democratization of higher education through professional, institutional, and higher educational development. To this end, HETL convenes annual international conferences to bring educators together to present cutting-degree research and honor those educators who represent the highest ideals of the academy.
Research & Publishing Division
Through its different communication channels, the global HETL network allows educators from around the world to connect, communicate, and collaborate. The HETL website gives the association a public presence. The HETL Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education disseminates current knowledge and research on teaching and learning by publishing peer-reviewed, scholarly, international, and interdisciplinary articles from scholars, researchers, and education thought leaders from around the world.
Research Ethics Division
In order to improve the quality and integrity of HETL’s communication channels/forums and to follow commonly accepted ethical research principles, HETL has adopted the following policy:
To protect the quality and integrity of the HETL’s communication platforms/forums and the reasonable privacy expectations of our members who participate in discussions on these channels/forums or who participate in HETL related or HETL sponsored research projects, no data from these platforms/forums may be published or used for research purposes without the approval of the HETL Institutional Review Board (IRB).
This policy does not apply to, and HETL IRB approval is not required for, HETL sponsored book projects or similar projects that do not directly involve the collection of original primary research data by the book editors or principal investigators.
Partners Division
Since its founding, HETL has cultivated the democratization of higher education and HETL has evolved as a global grassroots effort by educators from around the world and as a leading voice on critical issues affecting the global education community. As such, HETL is an international educational association of educators, by educators, and for educators. To bring the HETL vision to reality, HETL partners with like-minded organizations to help bring its vision to reality.