Biographical Information

Claudine SchWeber currently leads the Office of Distance Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Maryland University College, and is a Graduate professor in the Executive Master's Degree Program at UMUC. Her own professional experiences are a testimony to the realities of "lifelong learning" and the need to be comfortable and proactive with change. Her work in distance ducation is the result of her earlier activities as a mediator (especially for ADA cases) and her interest in using technology to bring services to the client. She has written about distance education, and given innumerable presentations and workshops. In Fall 2000, the US State Department is sending her to Australia to discuss distance education and the issues faced in America.

Prior to coming to UMUC (a decade ago), Dr. SchWeber was the training director for the Coucil of Better Business Bureaus in the Mediation-Arbitration Division; in that capacity she and her staff traveled around the United States training volunteers in arbitration skills for business disputes (a major client was the auto industry!) And before that, she was an associate professor of Criminal Justice specializing in ethics, labor relations, women and crime—a field of study which drove her to look for better solutions to resolving conflicts and to the use of technology for those with limited finances or disabilities.

She is the author of dozens of articles, one book (on court-mandated change), hundreds of presentations in the U.S. and around the world. She has been on the Board of Directors of conflict management organizations (D.C. SPIDR), the Washington (Free) Health Clinic, the Key Bridge Foundation (dealing with American with Disabilities Act issues.) At present she is a Commissioner of the University Continuing Education Association and on the national steering committee for the Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) Annual Conference.

In her home community of Takoma Park, Maryland, Claudine has been a Housing Commissioner and, at present, a member of the Citizens' Task Force on Gun Violence. Claudine is a native of Paris, France and a U.S. Citizen.