PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY - Dennis R. DeLong


Updated 6/4/10


 

Dr. Dennis R. DeLong currently operates the consulting firm, Going Places Consulting, which he and his wife Deborah began in 2003. In late May 2010, Dr. DeLong resigned his postion as Dean for the Center of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Caldwell College in NJ - a position he began July 1, 2007. In this role, which continued a 35+ year career in higher education, he was responsible for undergraduate adult (degree completion) students, graduate programs in Business, Education, Pastoral Ministry and Psychology, as well as traditional continuing education activities.

In June of 2005, Dr. DeLong resigned his position as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Graduate and Continuing Education at Marist College, to devote more time to other pursuits.  During the period between the Marist and Caldwell positions, he operated, Going Places Consulting,   In this role he wrote grants for local municipalities and developed and taught part-time for SUNY Empire State College (ESC), Kaplan University and Marist College. All of Dr. DeLong's recent teaching has been online. For ESC, he is teaching a graduate course, Analyzing Public Policy. For Kaplan he has taught an UG course, Social Problems; and for Marist, a graduate course, Research Methods and Statistics. He also supervises an occasional Master's thesis for ESC graduate students.

In late 2006,  Dr. DeLong also completed a science fiction novel which is entitled: Encounter With the Trigorian Extraterrestrials. He is currently seeking a publisher for the novel.  In addition, Fall 2006, Dr. DeLong was licensed by NYS as a real estate salesperson and accepted an affiliation with Prudential Rand Realty in Briarcliff Manor, NY . He assisted buyers and sellers in Westchester, Putnam and Southern Dutchess Counties, but terminated this activity in June 2007 to devote full-time energy and time to the Caldwell position. 

Dr. DeLong was born in Oxford, N.Y., a small town in Chenango County about 35 miles North of Binghamton.   He was raised on a large dairy farm which his family operated in the Oxford area and attended and graduated from elementary and secondary school at Oxford Academy and Central School (OACS).  He earned a BA in Secondary Social Studies from SUNY College at Cortland and attended graduate school at the University at Albany (Rockefeller College of Public Policy) earning an MA and Ph.D. in Political Science.

From 1973-1978, Dr. DeLong served as Assistant Professor of Political Science at the SUNY College at Plattsburgh where he taught a variety of courses on national and state politics. During this time he also provided election analysis for WPTZ-TV - the NBC television station in the North Country. 1978-1981, Dr. DeLong was the "Professor-in-Residence" with the NYS Assembly Intern Program in Albany providing academic guidance each legislative session to 120-140 undergraduate interns from over 50 colleges and universities in NYS. 

Fall 1981, Dr. DeLong came to SUNY Empire State College (ESC) as a Mentor in public affairs and to administer the Albany Semester Program - an intern program which places students from throughout the SUNY system in NYS agencies. In 1982, Dr. DeLong was named by ESC as Director of its Albany-based, Public Affairs Center and in 1986 he was promoted to the position of Dean of the College's Capital District Regional Center also located in Albany. In 1992, ESC restructured its administrative operations and created regional deans. Dr. DeLong was asked to assume the Dean, Eastern Region position based in Syracuse. October 1, 1996, Dr. DeLong became Dean of Graduate Studies for ESC, based in Saratoga Springs.

Dr. DeLong has written a number of articles and professional papers on nontraditional learning, internships and public policy in NYS. He has taught part-time in ESC's graduate program in policy studies since its inception in 1985 and also served as an adjunct professor at the University at Albany, the College of St. Rose and with Russell Sage College. In 1989, Dr. DeLong received an Outstanding Alumni award from the University at Albany in recognition of his career success. 

January 1999, Dr. DeLong commenced service in a staff role in Academic Affairs Office with the Connecticut State University System Office in Hartford. January 2000, he was promoted to Deputy Chief Academic Officer and in July 2001 was named Interim Chief Academic Officer (CAO). With CSU, Dr. DeLong assisted the Chancellor in providing system-wide coordination and oversight for the CSU Board of Trustees. The CSU System is comprised of Central, Eastern, Southern and Western Connecticut State Universities and currently enrolls over 35,000 students. Dr. DeLong assisted the CSU universities in adopting distance learning, performance indicators and in the development of a number of new innovative academic programs, including CSU's first fully online  Master's programs and its first doctoral programs. He also played a lead role in securing external funding to assist CSU on several initiatives. 

September 2001, Dr. DeLong moved to California to assume the position of Dean, University College for Chapman University in Orange, CA (in Southern California, 25 miles SE of Los Angeles). He served as the Chief Executive Officer for Chapman's non-traditional operation which enrolls 7000 students annually. University College (CUC) has over 31 locations in California, Washington State and Arizona.  Dr. DeLong was responsible for all aspects of  CUC's operations, including educational services, marketing and a budget which exceeds $50 million annually. 

Dr. DeLong came to Marist College in September 2003. In the Asst. AVP and Dean position, he was responsible for graduate and continuing education programs on and off Campus, including extension sites at Fishkill, Goshen and Kingston, NY as well as at Sullivan County Community College in Monticello and Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge.  Dr.DeLong provided oversight to the operation of the BA in Integrative Studies Major and, in collaboration with the Schools offering the programs, the following graduate programs, Master of Business Administration (MBA), MA in Communications, Master of Public Administration (MPA) ,  M.A. in Educational Psychology, M.A. in Psychology, M.A. in School Psychology, M.S.in Computer Science - Information Systems (MS IS)and M.S. in Computer  Science - Software Development. The MBA, MPA, MA in Communications and MS IS are available fully online.

Dr. DeLong is married to the former Deborah Davis, a graduate of Empire State College. Deborah also has completed graduate courses at Central Connecticut State University and Marist College.  Dr. DeLong and his wife currently reside in Ossining, NY.  Since August 1, 2005 Deborah has been serving as Director of Housing for rhe Department of Planning with Westchester County.  Dr. DeLong and Deborah continue to be active in the mid-Hudson region.  Until June 2007, Dr. DeLong was a member of the Board of Governors of the Dutchess County United Way and, January 1, 2007,  become Chair of the Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board on which he has served since 2003.  As WIB Chair, Dr. DeLong also served "ex officio" on the Board of Directors for the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation. He resigned from these roles, effective June 1, 2007, to enhance his ability to engage with the Essex County, NJ communities near Caldwell College.  Deborah continues service on the Board of Trustees for the NYS Rural Housing Coalition. Dr. DeLong and Deborah have three grown children - Robert, Andrea and Tami and six grandchildren.