From the earliest days of her career, Dr. Jane E. Neapolitan has been driven by a single guiding question: how can institutions design learning experiences that truly change lives? Over more than three decades in higher education, she has built a distinguished record as a professor, administrator, consultant, and thought partner to leaders across universities and educational organizations. Her work sits at the intersection of adult learning, curriculum and program design, and digital innovation, with a consistent throughline of elevating teaching quality and student success at scale.
Jane’s academic journey began with a foundation in English and psychology, disciplines that honed her ability to understand both language and human behavior. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in English from Sacred Heart University and her Master of Science in General Psychology from the University of Bridgeport, she went on to complete her Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. This combination of deep disciplinary study and advanced preparation in curriculum theory laid the groundwork for her career-long focus on how adults learn, how teachers develop, and how institutions can create ecosystems that support meaningful, sustained change.
Her early scholarly work centered on professional development schools (PDS), an innovative school–university–community partnership model for teacher education and school reform. Jane did not approach PDS as a static structure; she saw it as a living system in which teachers, administrators, and university faculty work together to challenge assumptions and reimagine practice. Her research explored the beliefs of nontraditional teacher candidates, the complexities of mentoring adults, and the ways in which standards, partnerships, and reflective practice could be woven together to improve both teaching and learning. Over time, she emerged as a national voice in the PDS movement, co-editing multiple volumes on sustainability, standards, and collaboration and helping to define the field’s research agenda.
As she moved into faculty and leadership roles at Towson University, Jane’s influence widened from individual programs to institutional transformation. Over nearly twenty years at Towson, she served as Professor of Instructional Leadership and Professional Development, Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Leadership, Department Chair, Interim Associate Provost, and ultimately Assistant Provost for Academic Innovation. In each position, she combined strategic vision with hands-on implementation, always with a focus on the student experience and faculty capacity to teach well.
As Assistant Provost for Academic Innovation, Jane created and led a new department charged with reimagining curriculum design and instructional delivery for a campus of 23,000 students and 1,600 faculty. She transformed what had been a traditional instructional technology unit into a central engine for improving learning outcomes through research-based pedagogy and thoughtful technology integration. Under her leadership, faculty participation in Office of Academic Innovation programs, workshops, and initiatives grew by approximately 20 percent annually over multiple years, demonstrating both demand and trust in the services her team provided.
Jane’s work at Towson was characterized by large-scale, evidence-informed initiatives that bridged colleges, departments, and professional staff. She led undergraduate course redesign efforts in high-enrollment, high-stakes disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, geography, physics, psychology, management, marketing, deaf studies, and family studies, reducing D, F, and withdrawal rates and strengthening student retention. At the graduate level, she catalyzed program redesign across business, arts, sciences, and education to increase engagement, accessibility, and alignment between learning outcomes and assessments. She was instrumental in promoting experiential learning in professional programs like nursing, occupational therapy, school administration, e-business, and applied information technology, ensuring that students’ academic work translated into practical, career-relevant skills.
Central to her leadership was a commitment to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and quality standards for online and blended courses. Jane initiated and led a campus-wide UDL effort that engaged hundreds of faculty in interdisciplinary mentoring communities. These communities focused on multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression to better reach a diverse student body, both in person and online. She brought Quality Matters standards to Towson, hosting regional conferences, certifying faculty on the rubric, and implementing a customized peer-review model for online courses that fostered continuous improvement and professional growth. The development of the Online Edge Certificate and a steering committee for online learning policy further solidified a culture of intentional, well-supported digital instruction.
Jane’s expertise in academic innovation naturally extended beyond a single institution. Her consulting and evaluation work spans universities and systems seeking to improve professional development, program quality, and digital learning. Through projects with entities such as Georgia State University, West Virginia University, West Virginia State University, the Buffalo State College PDS Consortium, and the Maryland State Department of Education, she has evaluated partnerships, grants, accreditation efforts, and large-scale school–university collaborations. Her work has consistently focused on whether structures and initiatives are truly delivering on their promise of better teaching, more equitable learning opportunities, and sustainable improvement.
In recent years, Jane has turned her attention more explicitly to the digital transformation of higher education. As Vice President of Business and Product Development at ClearAlignment, she helped design and advance AlignmentAssurance, a three-pronged approach that accelerates online course design while preserving academic integrity and rigor. Her white papers, such as “Academic Innovation: Out from the Noise” and “Institutional Ecosystems for Substantive, Sustainable, and Scalable Digital Learning,” articulate a nuanced view of how institutions can avoid “innovation theater” and instead build resilient systems that align course objectives, program goals, and assessment with the realities of contemporary learners and technologies. She has championed tools like CourseMaps and CourseCalibration as ways to bring transparency, coherence, and quality assurance to blended and online curricula.
Parallel to her consulting and thought leadership, Jane continues to work closely with adult learners and emerging leaders in higher education. As a Faculty Associate in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, she co-teaches asynchronous online courses in the EdD in Leadership and Innovation program and chairs Leader–Scholar Communities focused on dissertation preparation and defense. At the University of Maryland, Baltimore Graduate School, she designs and teaches online courses in the PhD in Health Professions Education program, focusing on curriculum theory and leadership in higher education. In these roles, she mentors practicing professionals across education, health, and organizational contexts, helping them frame and address complex problems of practice in their own institutions.
Jane’s professional footprint also includes entrepreneurial and advisory work that reflects her identity as a boundary-spanner. As Founder and Managing Partner of Neapolitan Solutions, she built a client-centered consulting practice providing just-in-time services in writing and editing, research and evaluation, faculty development, online learning, and organizational change. She has served on the Executive Board of the Teachers College Alumni Council, the Editorial Board of Teachers College Record, the Advisory Board of the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, and as an Advisory Board Member for a post-master’s certificate in college teaching and learning science. Within professional associations such as the American Educational Research Association and the Association of Teacher Educators, she has led special interest groups, organized research agendas, and been recognized for decades of service and leadership.
Throughout her career, Jane has remained a prolific contributor to the literature on teacher education, professional development schools, and academic transformation. She has served as lead editor and co-editor on seminal volumes about PDS partnerships, sustainability, and transformation, and has authored journal articles that examine the lived experience of educators engaged in change efforts. Her book review and editorial work for Teachers College Record, and her role as co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of School–University Partnerships, underscore her reputation as a careful, critical reader of the field and a curator of high-quality scholarship.
Underlying Jane’s professional achievements is a clear set of personal values. She believes that excellence in teaching is not accidental; it emerges from structures, supports, and cultures that treat both students and faculty as learners. She values collaboration over hierarchy, evidence over anecdote, and long-term sustainability over quick fixes. Whether she is advising a university, guiding a doctoral student, partnering with an edtech company, or speaking on an international stage, she approaches her work with integrity, humility, and a deep respect for the transformative power of education.
At this stage of her career, Jane is especially interested in serving on boards and advisory councils for organizations that develop human capital through education and learning—particularly those in adult education, professional and executive learning, and technology-enabled learning solutions. She brings the vantage point of someone who has led from inside universities, collaborated across systems, and helped external partners navigate the complex “insider–outsider” dynamics of higher education. Her goal is to leverage her experience to help companies and institutions design programs and products that are not only innovative, but also aligned, measurable, and genuinely impactful for learners.
Character:
Dr. Neapolitan consistently demonstrates integrity, humility, and a deep sense of responsibility to learners and colleagues. She is known for honoring multiple perspectives, especially in complex partnerships where power and influence are unevenly distributed. Her reputation as a trusted collaborator stems from her reliability, fairness, and unwavering commitment to doing what is best for students and the institutions that serve them.
Knowledge:
Her expertise spans curriculum theory, adult learning, digital pedagogy, and institutional change, grounded in decades of scholarship and practice. She has authored and edited books, journal articles, and white papers that have shaped thinking in professional development schools and academic innovation. Colleagues and leaders regularly seek her counsel when they need research-informed guidance on program design, evaluation, and strategic transformation.
Strategic:
Jane excels at seeing the larger system while also understanding the concrete steps needed to move from vision to implementation. She has repeatedly built and scaled initiatives—such as course redesigns, UDL networks, and quality assurance systems—that align institutional goals with measurable learning outcomes. Her strategic thinking is marked by a balance of ambition and pragmatism, ensuring that ideas can be sustained over time rather than remaining one-off projects.
Communication:
Whether teaching doctoral students, advising executives, or writing for academic and practitioner audiences, she communicates complex concepts with clarity and nuance. Her oral and written communication skills enable her to translate between faculty, administrators, technologists, and external partners, creating shared understanding and buy-in. She is equally adept at listening, asking incisive questions, and framing discussions in ways that move groups toward thoughtful, informed decisions.
