Lifelong passion for teaching drives School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies dean

Jody DeKorte moves Purdue Global forward through collaboration, partnerships

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Jody DeKorte’s passion for providing students with the best educational experience motivates her to excel every day.

It plays a significant role in why she has succeeded at Purdue Global — Purdue’s online university for working adults — for more than 18 years, starting as an adjunct faculty member and progressing to department chair before being promoted to dean of the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies in 2011.

“One of the things that always stays the same here is that we’re always changing, and we’re not afraid of that change,” DeKorte said. “We’re not afraid of making mistakes, coming back and correcting them, and moving forward for the benefit of the students.”

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Faithfully following a different path

Jody DeKorte, her husband, Kevin, and their beloved dog, Brinkley, pose at Dillon Reservoir in Colorado. (Photo provided) Download image

Simply put, higher education administration wasn’t always the plan for DeKorte. She went to college to study mathematics, with the goal of becoming a high school teacher. And after graduating, she did that for seven years at the very same high school she graduated from.

“That was an interesting piece for me because many of my former teachers became my colleagues and mentors, and I learned a lot from working with them,” DeKorte said.

At that point, she never envisioned becoming an administrator. In fact, she was confident that that sort of work was not for her. However, that’s when she sensed a still-small voice in her head telling her otherwise.

“I’ve learned over the years that as soon as you say you’re never going to do something, God has plans for you, and that’s exactly the direction you’re going to go,” DeKorte said.

While teaching high school math, she began working on her PhD, at the same time meeting her husband and teaching part time at a local community college. It was there she learned about the needs of working adults in higher education, and almost instantly, that became her passion. 

A curiosity and passion united to benefit adult learners

DeKorte’s experience with and passion for adult education grew at the community college, as she taught there for seven years and served as the math chair. While in this role, she was approached about building and developing online courses for the college. Through research for this project, she discovered Purdue Global, which led to her teaching part time for the online university. 

“I did that because I wanted to learn what they were doing and take it back to the community college,” DeKorte said. “But once I started, I never left and have been here ever since.” 

DeKorte credits the culture and the incredible team at Purdue Global for her longevity, along with her desire to continually improve the learning experience for every student enrolled.

As dean of the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies, DeKorte has a wide range of responsibilities, and she supports numerous areas of the institution. The school oversees the general education core, which is required for all undergraduates. In addition, the school provides the new student orientation course and supports the departments of English and rhetoric, mathematics, science, humanities and social science, and professional studies.

“We help oversee and work with all the schools in the assessment of skills and knowledge, for students to test out of courses,” DeKorte said. “In addition, we have the experiential learning portfolio courses. So when students want to petition for credit through the work-for-experience courses — we have both a traditional course and an open enrollment course — and then we also house the continuous learning department, where we work with all of the schools for the noncredit offerings across the university.”

Jody DeKorte celebrates with a graduate during the Boilermaker Block Party at a recent commencement ceremony. (Photo provided) Download image

The current student snapshot at Purdue Global includes these data points:

• 59% of students are 30 years of age or older.
• 40% of students are from underserved populations.
• 52% of students have a child or other dependents.
• 50% are first-generation college students.
• Approximately 10,000 are military-affiliated students, a population that includes uniformed personnel, veterans and eligible dependents.

DeKorte said those military-affiliated students make up about 80% of the professional studies program enrollees, and she and her department have a deep passion for serving them. She said military-affiliated students perfectly embody Purdue Global’s comeback campaign, citing examples like Alan Thomas and Kelvin Gumbs.

“These are our ultimate comeback students,” DeKorte said. “They have some work experience and maybe have some military, work experience or other training. Let’s design your program around your professional goal, and let’s see what’s left to fill in your degree. We’re going to build the rest of your program for you specifically on that goal, and help you finish that degree.”

Collaborations, connections and changes 

A favorite part of DeKorte’s job is collaborating with deans and departments across the university, seeing what is happening across all the programs, and ensuring that the curriculum and courses her department offers are beneficial to students who are earning degrees in other focus areas, like nursing or health sciences.

She says these collaborations are extremely important in higher education because they provide students with a richer learning experience and the opportunity to encounter more diverse perspectives. This helps them understand that the concepts they’re learning can be used differently depending on their career focus.

“We want to make sure that it makes sense to students how a concept we teach is used in their area, so that we can bring that into the curriculum design so that we can help students, and they can build those connections,” DeKorte said.

She said building those connections between competencies, literacy areas and the content of a student’s concentration helps them better understand how those skills will be used within their career field, setting them up for success.

DeKorte said that success is defined by more than just grades or academic achievement, touting a 93% career-outcome rate for those with a bachelor’s in professional studies.

“Our students’ success is about the ability to apply the knowledge and the skills in a meaningful way, whether that’s in your curricula or in your professional life by taking things from one class or job and applying it to the next level,” DeKorte said.

DeKorte said a lot has changed since she started with Purdue Global. Technology advancements have certainly improved the learning experience, especially for a fully online university — even leading to courses that center on technologies such as artificial intelligence.

“We don’t know where it’s going to take us yet, but I think there’s certainly some great opportunities for different tools,” DeKorte said. “I think we can create different learning paths based on students’ strengths and weaknesses, being very personalized for our students.”

While there have been many changes along the way, she said there are specific techniques and skills that have been around forever — and that will never go away — that need to be learned.

“I think the focus on skills such as communication, critical thinking, ethics — things that they call the ‘soft skills’ — I don’t think they’re soft at all,” DeKorte said. “I think they’re very difficult skills, but vital to professional development and preparing our students for life beyond the classroom.” 

Advancing educational opportunities into the future

Looking forward to the year ahead, DeKorte said the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies is launching recognition pieces for faculty, developing programs that benefit all students, and focusing on students’ mental health and well-being. 

She is also looking forward to the annual General Education Conference the school hosts, which helps faculty continue to practice and learn new skills.

“The conference is for the entire university, so we can have those conversations with faculty from across the university so everybody’s acquiring skills in critical thinking, problem-solving and general education that happen across the board,” DeKorte said.  

This year’s conference will be expanded by one day and open to students for the first time. “We’re really excited about that because we think there’s an opportunity for students to do some presentations, to come and listen to some presentations, and to start building some of their own professional skills,” she said.

Other goals DeKorte has in mind this year are to continue building the school’s service-learning courses, to create new partnerships and to build the school’s own education abroad program.           

DeKorte said microlearning and microcredentials — courses like Writing for Life: Leveraging AI and Other Tools and Grant Proposal Writing in the 21st Century — are an increasingly significant factor in students’ education. She said school leaders are working together to figure out how these academic offerings best fit with their continuous learning areas and how they can turn some of their noncredit courses into credit-bearing options.

“This idea of lifelong learning is a really important piece for students,” DeKorte said. “Students are always going to have to stay up on skills and what they know and reskill and continue to learn.”

Watching her Mickey collection grow, one adventure at a time

When she’s not working, DeKorte and her husband enjoy traveling, whether to places like Germany, where they have visited exchange students they’ve hosted in the past, or to any of the Disney theme parks sprinkled around the globe. Their most memorable trip happened in 2019: a six-week world tour of all the Disney parks, which included a stay at the Disney resort in Hawaii and 12 days exploring China with the “Adventures by Disney Tour,” capped off with a Disney cruise.

“It was a fun and exhausting six weeks, but if I had the funds and the time, I would do it again in a heartbeat,” DeKorte said.

DeKorte’s love for Disney extends to her home, with her extensive collection of Mickey Mouse memorabilia. “Mickey is my character. I don’t collect anything else,” she said. That collection features nearly 300 Mickey watches on a homemade display that features fabric from the Disneyland Hotel in California. Her collection keeps growing, including the three new watches she received for Christmas and one for Valentine’s Day. 

DeKorte also can’t help but brag about her “child,” Brinkley, a Great Dane, who she thinks may be one of the most spoiled dogs in the world. Brinkley even has his very own Instagram account, much to DeKorte’s amusement, and he attracts more followers than her husband. 

DeKorte says the most rewarding part of her job is seeing students at commencement events when they are celebrating with their families, closing one chapter of their educational journeys and beginning the next. 

“Seeing the students’ smiles, realizing they’ve achieved their dreams of getting that degree as they walk across the stage is what it’s all about, and what drives me to work harder each day,” DeKorte said.

About Purdue Global

Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults who have life experience and often some college credits. It offers flexible paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, military service and previous college credits, no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and backed by Purdue University. For more information, visit purdueglobal.edu.

Writer/Media contact: Adam Bartels, adam.bartels@purdueglobal.edu 

Source: Jody DeKorte