Driving Institutional Agility through Continuing Education Leadership

Joe Cassidy, Associate Vice President Economic Development, Dean Continuing Education and Public Services, College of DuPage

Joe Cassidy is Associate VP of Economic Development and Dean of Continuing Education and Public Services at the College of DuPage. With over two decades of leadership in higher education and workforce development, he oversees programs spanning adult education, public safety, entrepreneurship and lifelong learning. Known for advancing partnerships and innovation, he has guided multimillion-dollar grants and business incubation initiatives. Joe’s career reflects a commitment to equity, access and positioning Continuing Education as mission critical to higher education’s future.

A Journey of Leadership and Learning

My professional path blends business operations and education. I initially trained as a high school English teacher but continued a college job at Walgreens, where I was recruited into management. Over five years, I helped open seven stores across three West Coast markets. By age 23, I was managing 45 employees, overseeing millions in inventory and gaining experience in operations, logistics, vendor negotiations and marketing skills I later brought into the world of Continuing Education.

My transition back into education began at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, where I ultimately served as Assistant Vice President for Extended Studies. I saw firsthand how Continuing Education supports the broader institution enhancing the student journey, building community partnerships, attracting grants and gifts and expanding access to lifelong learning. My earlier event coordination work at Northern Illinois University also proved useful, reinforcing the value of strong logistics and customer service in educational settings.

I later returned to Chicagoland to earn my MBA while working at a for-profit college. I appreciated its focus on underserved populations and workforce development, though I also saw the challenges: high tuition and poor outcomes. That experience deepened my respect for community colleges, which offer affordable, accessible and career responsive education. In 2010, I became Dean of Continuing Education at College of DuPage.

CE is where higher ed can be most agile and impactful. At CODCE, we serve a broad community through our Youth Academy, Adult Enrichment, Adult Education (ABE/HSE/ELA), Professional Development and Public Service programs, including our Homeland Security Institute. We’ve long served small businesses through our SBDC, Trade Center and Apex Accelerator and contract training in 2018 added a business incubator (Innovation DuPage).

At Naropa, we hosted the international Microfinance Conference sponsored by the World Bank, a best practice sharing model I’ve carried into my work at COD. Whether supporting first responders, entrepreneurs, adult learners or neurodiverse young adults, we focus on inclusive, practical education that meets critical community/industry need.

Three decades into this work, I remain passionate about sharing what we do and learning from others. CE is uniquely positioned to lead stakeholder engagement and community colleges are the ideal institutions to drive this mission forward.

Evolving Educational Programs for Workforce Readiness

At CODCE, we prioritize students by continually improving programs and creating new ones. Program developers aim for 25 percentage new courses annually. We host free community events to gather direct input on topics, instructors and delivery methods. Since 2014 our enrollments have increased by 74 percentage to nearly 34,000.

To better understand trends and outcomes, we partnered with Datateligent, a startup within Innovation DuPage, to build a custom enrollment dashboard. This tool provides course-level insight and reveals that CE has supported matriculation of 94,000 credit enrollments, 30,000 FTE and $83 million in tuition over 15 years.

Another ID startup, Labor Titan, enhances our professional development course development with real-time workforce data and skill mapping. Data-driven strategy ensures we continue to meet the evolving needs of our community. Strong data also demonstrates our total CE ROI.

Collaborative Leadership for Economic Development and Innovation

At COD Continuing Education, we prioritize partnerships on campus and across the community to drive program development and enrollment. With over 600 annual partnerships, we collaborate with schools, nonprofits, senior centers, first responder agencies and local industries. Our business incubator, Innovation DuPage, leverages the expertise of 60+ partners including national labs, Fortune 500s and universities to support over 400 small businesses, creating 850+ jobs and $46M in revenue. CE also supports youth education, workforce upskilling and underserved entrepreneurs. As student demographics shift and technology evolves, CE is uniquely positioned to expand access, demonstrate institutional value and fuel regional innovation and lifelong learning.

At COD, we’re fortunate to have strong resources and leadership support and we recognize that innovation requires strategic planning and collaboration. We align annual goals with new program creation, process improvement and collect input from students, faculty and community stakeholders. Our annual “blue sky” session and involvement in national associations like NCCET and NACCE foster continuous learning. A key example: we led a $4.8M/year CEJA grant project with six colleges, nonprofits and industry partners like Nicor, who added $1M in support. Through collaboration, we avoid duplication, expand impact and deliver stronger, more equitable outcomes.

The Future We Must Embrace

As NCCET’s incoming President, my message is simple: CE is mission critical. CE drives institutional agility, fuels workforce and economic development and engages learners from youth to retirees. From dual credit and lifelong learning to 600 partnerships and managing 60 percentage of COD’s grant portfolio, CE is agile, adaptive and student centered CE delivers impact. Pairing data like 99 percentage job placements for CDL graduates with powerful student transformation stories demonstrates CE’s value. CE isn’t “other”; CE is central to higher education’s future.

This work is a privilege, requiring passion and high performance. It’s not easy, but it is rewarding. CE ensures higher education stays relevant and garners strong public support.

Logistics

Agile

ROI

inventory

Public Safety

Homeland Security

Marketing