About the Vice Provost & Dean
Gayla Stoner serves as the Vice Provost and Dean for Online and Innovative Educational Initiatives at Northern Arizona University. She has previously served as the Associate Provost at Central Washington University where she oversaw multi-modal learning and statewide centers. She holds PhD and MS Ed degrees from the Department of Workforce Education and Development at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Dr. Stoner’s educational interests include enabling access to affordable high-quality education for all interested learners, faculty perspective of online education, alignment of labor demand and higher education programming, and workforce education and development.
Priority programs
For more than 20 years, NAU has offered undergraduate and graduate programs at Statewide locations across Arizona. Many students have successfully completed their program of study at various community colleges and continue to pursue their degrees with NAU. These programs provide access to higher education for many students in Arizona. The flexibility of the program enables traditional and non-traditional students the ability to pursue their educational endeavors while also fulfilling work obligations and family responsibilities. Studying at a Statewide location, staffed with full time NAU faculty and staff has an added benefit of leveraging the lowest tuition rate at NAU. The Statewide programs are a hallmark of our commitment to offer flexible, affordable education.
Personalized Learning (PL) is a collection of online and competency-based bachelor and master degree programs. PL incorporates innovative teaching and learning methods, and it is geared toward the non-traditional, adult learner who seeks flexibility and access to one-on-one support from faculty and staff. Tuition is paid through a 6-month renewable subscription, which provides opportunity to access and complete their degree in a timely and accelerated manner.
NAU Online and Innovative Educational Initiatives produces workforce and market analysis reports for academic units across the university. Workforce analysis involves identifying current and future anticipated supply of labor and skills, identifying what will be needed in the future in terms of labor, skills and competencies (demand analysis), and then identifying the gaps between the current and future supply and current and future demands (a gap analysis). Market analysis shows related programs in the region or nation, and the trends of related programs at NAU, including opportunities to develop and deliver micro-credentials.