- Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in Political Science, with minors in English and History, University of California, Irvine
- Juris Doctorate (J.D), Vanderbilt University
- Doctorate in Education (Ed.D), University of Southern California
Dr. Ruth Claire Black, Dean of Online Learning and Global Engagement, is an experienced university administrator and faculty member with a career focus in online education. Before joining Oregon Tech, Ruth’s prior appointment was as the Department Chair of the Master of Science in Digital Health Leadership and as the Chair of the Dissertation Year curriculum from the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London. In the years before Imperial College London, Ruth was a visiting scholar for technology and innovation at Namseoul University in Seoul, Korea, and served as Executive Director of Online Innovation and Online Education for the California State University System, where she led system-wide initiatives around online program design, development and delivery. Ruth's academic and research interests include developing professional identity, coaching to improve retention and student success and student satisfaction as well as measurement and attainment of learning outcomes in technology-delivered courses. For Ruth, the most rewarding part of working with online courses and programs is being able to extend the reach of the institution to students unable to come to campus.