Blaine Carpenter has been named Division Director for PeachStar Education Services, succeeding Janie Smith, who has retired after 30 years of service. Blaine previously served as the division's Distance Education Consultant responsible for postsecondary and higher education distance learning projects. He came to GPB from Clayton College & State University (CCSU), where he is Academic Director of Distance Learning and Professor of Biology.
Blaine earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia Wesleyan, a master's from Marshall University and a Ph.D. in Biology-Ecology from the University of Cincinnati. He has chaired the CCSU Distance Learning Advisory Committee, Instructional Technology Committee and is a member of the Georgia Board of Regents committee for Institutional Distance Education Administrators and the GSAMS Technical Advisory Committee. He is the author of numerous articles and papers on critical thinking and distance education. Even before coming to GPB, Blaine worked closely with PeachStar to build CCSU's Going the Distance program, a collaboration between colleges and universities, the Public Broadcasting Service's Adult Learning Service and public broadcasting stations.
"I am excited about the opportunities and the challenges that this new position offers," said Blaine. "PeachStar has a proud tradition of providing programming and other educational services to Georgia classrooms and to all of our state's life-long learners. My twin goals are to expand those services and the use of those services in classrooms across Georgia."
