Dr. Peter Bruce is the Director of Addams Institute. Dr. Bruce is responsible, in conjunction with the UK university partners, for all of the education programs of the Partnership. These include all academic and professional programs and both student and faculty recruiting efforts. Dr. Bruce was educated in both US and UK universities, earning his Masters in the School of European and International Studies at the University of Derby in England and his Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning in the Technology in Education program at the University of Utah. He started his career as the Public Relations Liaison for the Salt Lake City Board of Education’s Department of Administration where he helped to advance many initiatives aimed at improving teaching, learning, and student support.
During his 20 years with the University of Utah, Dr. Bruce developed research, training, and evaluation programs for medical students, laboratory staff and visiting world surgical teams as the Training Supervisor in the University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Peter worked under the late Dr. Wilhem Kolph, M.D., Father of Artificial Organs, at the Artificial Heart Research Laboratory in the School of Medicine. Dr. Bruce also helped develop training courses there, wrote the Training Manual and gave lecture-tours to visiting student and news groups. While there, he trained 16 international medical teams in various aspects of the Artificial Heart program and was a Co-Investigator with Jerry Reibman, M.D. on the CPAP and PEEP protocols.
Dr. Bruce has also worked a specialist in molecular biology and genetic engineering, helping to establish the first laboratory in world famous Eccles Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Utah. Dr. Bruce’s central project involved establishing the functional domain of the genes that code for platelette aggregation. At the University of Utah Research Park, Dr. Bruce worked under Dr. Tim Helentjaris, Father of RFLP Technology, on plant genetics projects for increased yield, higher proteins, lower sugars, and drought tolerance. He has contributed to projects for the Biosphere, Dekalb-Pfitzer Genetics, the HJ Heinz Company, and IC&E from Japan. Dr. Bruce has served as Project Manager on research teams funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr. Bruce also served as the Interim Director of Specialty Media for the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. His responsibilities included training faculty members and administrative staff in the use of advanced instructional technologies for application in residence and distance nursing education. He assisted in the preparation and delivery of lectures, presentations, training and outreach programs. He produced dozens of videotaped courses for distance learning and further education programs for health and nursing professionals around the world. He oversaw design and production of all educational projects and presentations of the College. Additionally, Dr. Bruce led the College’s Distance Learning program of over 100 courses used by 70 nursing programs nationwide.
In each of his professional positions, Dr. Bruce has worked in the pursuit of excellence. Dr. Bruce’s peer-reviewed book, Foundations of Online Higher Education: Origin, Developments and Core Principles of Policy and Practice, was published by Scholar’s Press and is now available in eight languages. Dr. Bruce was also the lead developer on curriculum funded by $1.5m from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and accepted for use by 64 universities. His online instructional design work for Western Governors University’s College of Health Professions led the program to recognition as a National Center of Excellence by the National League of Nursing. He was a Research Scholarship and Seminar Programme Lecturer at the University of Derby and Adviser to The Royal College of Surgeons of England in converting their medical science coursework from knowledge-based to skills-based curriculum. Additionally, Dr. Bruce introduced online learning to the University of Dundee’s Centre for Medical Education in Scotland.
Director of Global Operations
Mr. Kenneth R. Young, the Director of Global Operations, brings international business experience and financial expertise to the Partnership. A Scotland native educated at the University of Glasgow and the Institute of Chartered Accounts of Scotland. After his work for Ernst and Young in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong, Mr. Young worked as Controller and Director of Operations for Bonneville Communications and Operations Officer for First Security Bank. As Controller and subsequently Director of Operations of Bonneville Communications, Mr. Young was involved in various aspects of satellite communications and global transmissions of distance learning services.
Mr. Young has served as Controller and Finance Director to several commercial organizations including one start-up venture in satellite communications. The company was funded through the communications arm of the LDS Church and was responsible for the global transmission of church related events in addition to its regular commercial accounts. This included extensive distance learning services provided worldwide in multiple languages. Mr. Young, as Director of Operations, developed the financial, costing and transaction-reporting system for services and products, defined job responsibilities, developed marketing plans, set pricing guidelines, oversaw product development and managed the entire communications network. During his four-year involvement with the company revenues grew from $3 million to over $12 million.
His contributions as Finance Director of the Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross included overhauling a stagnant and inadequate financial system and bringing it up to date with modern business practices and financial reporting. During his tenure, Mr. Young provided the financial discipline and reporting for emergency services support for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as the Chapter’s response to hurricane Katrina that devastated the southern coast of America.
As a Financial Manager at Utah Higher Education Authority, Mr. Young provided fiscal support, management, and reporting for a federal guaranteed loan portfolio of over $2 billion.
Mr. Young’s most recent position is as Grant Accountant for Peak Reliability (Peak) which was responsible for the reliability of the bulk electric system (BES) for the western United States. The region extends from Canada to Mexico and includes the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, the northern portion of Baja California, Mexico, and all or portions of the 14 Western states. Mr. Young’s responsibilities with the WECC include the financial management of US Department of Energy Grants of over $150 million to upgrade the monitoring of the BES. Mr. Young manages all financial and administrative functions of Addams Institute.
Advisory and Technical Boards
The Academic Advisory and Technical Board Members bring strong foundational components of quality, integrity, experience and direction to the Partnership. They offer excellence in education, experience in practice and dedication of purpose to their work. Through its Board Members the Partnership directs its commitment to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge, the development of individual potentials, the commitment to quality and relevance in research, student success and the continued growth and academic recognition of the participating US and UK university partners.
Academic Advisory Board
The Partnership’s Academic Advisory Board is a cross-section of leaders from the focus disciplines within the participating universities and from various leaders within the higher education community. They provide advice and evaluation on the courses, programmes, institutions, faculty and administration of the Partnership. They are part of the Partnership’s policy of self-evaluation and peer-review. This non-paid Advisory Board provides quarterly reports of the activities of the Partnership. They meet annually with the Administrative Directors to review the educational programmes, services, facilities, personnel, and institutions of the Partnership.
The Academic Advisory Board evaluates the policies, procedures, and activities of the Partnership. Self-evaluation is an ongoing process to assure the effectiveness of the Partnership in fulfilling its institutional mission, keeping curriculum and student achievements in line with higher education standards for Awards, Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees, assessing the activities of the Partnership as they relate to its purpose and goals, and to providing guidance for institutional planning and improvement. The Academic Advisory Board examines the educational effectiveness of programmes, the quality and delivery of distance learning, and the status of resources necessary for accomplishing the goals of the Partnership and their academic, technical and research colleagues.
The Academic Advisory Board uses the information provided by the resident university partners, the Quality Assurance Agency and the Institute for Learning and Teaching in the UK and the Regional Accrediting Agencies of the US Department of Education in the US for administrative oversight purposes. This oversight is critical in determining the cohesion of the institutions, programs, resources, policies, activities and personnel of the initiative’s programs within UK and US higher education quality standards. The number of Board Members may vary depending on the size and needs of the Partnership. Members are chosen for both specific expertise and oversight capabilities related to the educational, research, administrative and technical activities of the Partnership.
Technical Board
The Technical Board of the Partnership is an informal group of individuals who advise the Partnership on technical matters related to the successful operation of the initiatives. The Partnership is a multifaceted institution that integrates advanced technologies into the areas of higher education, administration, finance, research, communication, and both faculty and student services. The Partnership’s hardware and software must work seamlessly within their own systems and programs, its service providers, the Internet and personal computer users worldwide.
Because of its technological foundations it is imperative that the Partnership is informed, well equipped, effective and placed to take advantage of both existing and emerging technologies. Learning analytics will be an integral part of these components. The operations and duties of Technical Board Members correspond to the general responsibilities and makeup of the Academic Advisory Board.
Technical Board evaluations are both regular and ongoing. Those technologies serving electronic record keeping and both self- and peer-review have been adopted. Upgrading the various educational, research, finance and administrative systems takes place as advances and developments become available or necessary. The Partnership is positioning itself for growth and is expanding its markets as deemed timely, appropriate and desirable. The Technical Board continually strives to secure further technical, academic, professional, vocational and research excellence for the Partnership.
The Academic Advisory and Technical Boards of the Partnership and the policies supporting them are largely responsible for course and program planning guidelines, consistency in course module design and delivery, excellence in teaching and learning, effectiveness of student support, ongoing financial viability, and the quality and effectiveness of self-assessment and evaluation procedures. Board Members may check registration numbers, oversee course work, evaluate programmes, communicate with other administrators, faculty, and students, and carry out many of the duties of administration online from their own home or office computer.