Stop Counting Credits and Start Rethinking Degrees
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Author Profile
Holly Tapper | Dean, School of Advancing Studies, Saint Mary's University
Current Position and Past Experience
Holly Tapper is the founding Dean of the School of Advancing Studies at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, where she leads the development of innovative educational models designed to expand access, affordability, and career mobility for adult learners. Her work spans academic strategy, online education, workforce partnerships, credit innovation, and the development of new pathways connecting education with workplace learning.
Tapper has played a leading role in the development and launch of Saint Mary’s FastTrack 90™ initiative, which includes HLC-approved 90-credit bachelor’s degrees designed to provide adult learners with a rigorous, accelerated alternative to the traditional 120-credit bachelor’s degree. Her broader work includes developing workforce-aligned associate and bachelor’s pathways, expanding opportunities for credit for prior and workplace learning, and creating new approaches to professional and continuing education.
Throughout her career, Tapper has worked at the intersection of academic innovation and institutional strategy. Before becoming Dean, she served in leadership roles spanning online operations, graduate education, business development, academic program management, and enrollment strategy at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Concordia University–St. Paul, Ruffalo Noel Levitz, and other institutions. Her experience enables her to bring together academic affairs, accreditation, enrollment, marketing, workforce needs, and institutional operations to move new educational ideas from concept to implementation.
Tapper is also a professor and experienced educator who has taught at the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and law-school levels in business, human resources, employment and labor law, strategic management, ethics, and related disciplines. Earlier in her career, she practiced law and held corporate legal and marketing leadership roles, giving her an interdisciplinary perspective on higher education, business, workforce development, and organizational change.
Education, Honors, and Achievements
Tapper earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies with highest distinction, a Juris Doctor with distinction, and a Master of Business Administration in Management and Organization, all from the University of Iowa.
Personal Details and Community Involvement
Tapper is an active contributor to the higher education and professional communities, including service as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and participation in professional and community boards. She has presented nationally on academic innovation, online education, artificial intelligence, workforce-aligned learning, and reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees. Earlier in her career, she received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award for teaching business management and business law courses in Russia during the country’s post-Soviet transition.
Holly Tapper is the founding Dean of the School of Advancing Studies at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, where she leads the development of innovative educational models designed to expand access, affordability, and career mobility for adult learners. Her work spans academic strategy, online education, workforce partnerships, credit innovation, and the development of new pathways connecting education with workplace learning.
Tapper has played a leading role in the development and launch of Saint Mary’s FastTrack 90™ initiative, which includes HLC-approved 90-credit bachelor’s degrees designed to provide adult learners with a rigorous, accelerated alternative to the traditional 120-credit bachelor’s degree. Her broader work includes developing workforce-aligned associate and bachelor’s pathways, expanding opportunities for credit for prior and workplace learning, and creating new approaches to professional and continuing education.
Throughout her career, Tapper has worked at the intersection of academic innovation and institutional strategy. Before becoming Dean, she served in leadership roles spanning online operations, graduate education, business development, academic program management, and enrollment strategy at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Concordia University–St. Paul, Ruffalo Noel Levitz, and other institutions. Her experience enables her to bring together academic affairs, accreditation, enrollment, marketing, workforce needs, and institutional operations to move new educational ideas from concept to implementation.
Tapper is also a professor and experienced educator who has taught at the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and law-school levels in business, human resources, employment and labor law, strategic management, ethics, and related disciplines. Earlier in her career, she practiced law and held corporate legal and marketing leadership roles, giving her an interdisciplinary perspective on higher education, business, workforce development, and organizational change.
Education, Honors, and Achievements
Tapper earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies with highest distinction, a Juris Doctor with distinction, and a Master of Business Administration in Management and Organization, all from the University of Iowa.
Personal Details and Community Involvement
Tapper is an active contributor to the higher education and professional communities, including service as a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission and participation in professional and community boards. She has presented nationally on academic innovation, online education, artificial intelligence, workforce-aligned learning, and reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees. Earlier in her career, she received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award for teaching business management and business law courses in Russia during the country’s post-Soviet transition.
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