Purdue Global leader’s projects support student success, earned credits, achievement and graduation

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michael Lorenz comes from a family of Boilermakers: Both of his grandparents and his dad are Purdue University alumni.

Today, Lorenz sports the old gold and black as he works for Purdue Global, Purdue’s online university for working adults.

Lorenz serves as registrar and vice president of academic operations, also overseeing the Center for Prior Learning Recognition, the project delivery team, and the data and analytics team. 

From classical studies to online education

Lorenz earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in classical studies. His career began as a high school Latin teacher.

While teaching in Ellettsville, his wife, who also has a background in classical studies, was offered a job in Alabama. The move opened a door for him, as he began working as an advisor at a small distance learning college.

“That was how the rest of my career would be — lots of hats, lots of variety and the rare opportunity to try a million new things,” Lorenz said. “I was part of the huge online education boom that happened in the early 2000s.”

Lorenz was offered a new position to lead an advising team for an online institution in Chicago in 2002. Two years later, he jumped over to another online institution, and following Purdue’s purchase of that institution, he felt he had come full circle.

“I love the people here and the mission,” he said. “When Purdue had acquired us, it was just more reason to stay.”

The road back to West Lafayette was easy for him, especially with his family ties and his understanding of how well regarded a Purdue-backed degree is.

His grandparents met at Purdue as students. His grandfather graduated in 1940 with a degree in electrical engineering and his grandmother, who was originally from West Lafayette, graduated in 1941 with a degree in business.

His great-grandmother owned a State Street bookstore, which closed in the late 1920s after a fire. She lived in an apartment above Harry’s Chocolate Shop into the 1970s.

“They were friends with many of the staff and professors for whom things are now named on campus. My dad also went to Purdue, so there was always a lot of Boilermaker spirit around as I grew up,” he said.

Fast-forward into the future

Lorenz is proud of his family’s 100-plus-year relationship with Purdue, especially going from textbooks to online learning — and exploring new fields and operations with artificial intelligence.

“AI has the potential to cause major shifts in higher education, both for how we deliver and how students consume and engage in education,” he said. “Purdue Global is really giving a great deal of thought to this, and I think we’ll be well positioned to adapt as AI evolves.”

The recent push of higher education to move toward hard skill attainment and alignment is good in many ways. But with the advancement of technologies and new fields, there is one thing Lorenz hopes to continue teaching.

“We can’t forget to teach students how to be good humans first,” he said.

Lorenz sees the opportunity for new courses and degrees, especially as academic and career disciplines change rapidly.

“AI is a trend within higher education, and we need to both capitalize on its potential to enhance learning, but also to train students on the ethical and productive uses of it,” he said.

Another growing area in online education is digital credentialing, which is expanding at Purdue Global. Purdue Global has a director of digital credentialing, who reports to Lorenz and oversees digital badging, incremental credentialing, learning and employment records, digital wallets, and other growing areas. 

Collaborations lead to student success, graduation

For Lorenz, no two days are alike, but each is complete with challenges and opportunities.

“The fact that everything I do is always somehow tied to the Purdue Global mission makes even the hard days worthwhile,” Lorenz said. “All of my goals this year are aligned with institutional growth, retention, operational effectiveness and compliance.”

Overseeing the project delivery team, Lorenz touches almost every project at Purdue Global. Current large projects include improving the student leave of absence experience and outcomes, enhancing the experience of students enrolled in the ExcelTrack offerings, and collaborating with higher education organizations dedicated to improving student success.

“Collaborations that promote meaningful transfer pathways with little or no loss of credit are arguably the most important in my mind,” he said. “The adult student we care so deeply about at Purdue Global is very often someone who has moved among schools during their lifetime. They should be able to do that without a loss of credit, as well as time and money spent.”

To Lorenz, Purdue Global’s Center for Prior Learning Recognition is a good example of both collaboration and advocacy, working to make sure that students’ prior learning is honored and accepted, which helps long-term student success. Purdue Global awarded nearly 1 million credits for prior learning in fiscal year 2024. Advisors work with students to review how previous credits, certifications, licensures, job and military service experiences can be converted to Purdue Global credits.

Wearing his registrar’s hat, Lorenz believes one word simply defines student success: graduation.

“Graduation means that we’ve created a meaningful degree program for them, honored their prior learning, supported them through the challenges that come with college study, and have otherwise seen them to the finish line,” he said. “The rewards of promotion, salary increase, proud families and so on come from degree completion, so this is why graduation represents to me the ultimate measure of our ability as an institution.”

Lorenz enjoys witnessing students cross the finish line on commencement day, especially since he serves as one of two readers announcing graduates’ names as they cross the stage.

“Graduation is an opportunity for all of us to re-ground ourselves in the actual humans we enroll and educate at Purdue Global,” Lorenz said. “For me, getting to say a person’s name out loud at graduation, especially when saying it evokes cheers and hoots — and sometimes air horns — of proud friends and families is a real joy to me.”

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 https://www.purdueglobal.edu.