{"id":60104,"date":"2025-11-18T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60104"},"modified":"2025-11-19T09:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T14:43:15","slug":"emu-lancasters-new-leader-excited-to-continue-forward-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/emu-lancasters-new-leader-excited-to-continue-forward-momentum\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU Lancaster\u2019s new leader excited to continue forward momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Dr. Jamie Mak<\/strong>, who stepped into her role leading <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/lancaster\/\">EMU Lancaster<\/a> on Oct. 27, appreciates that the site is already on strong footing. &#8220;Sometimes you take a job and you don\u2019t know what you are really stepping into,\u201d said Mak, whose formal title is assistant vice president of academic and program growth. &#8220;With EMU Lancaster, I&#8217;m excited with how well the site is already doing and having the opportunity to help make it even greater.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The longtime higher education innovator and industry professional said she\u2019s excited to expand access to EMU Lancaster\u2019s transformative learning opportunities and continue building onto the site\u2019s established presence as a trusted educational partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI want people to recognize that we have a gem here,\u201d Mak said. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re kind of hidden, so let\u2019s shine a spotlight on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EMU Lancaster continues to experience growth in its program enrollment and course offerings. Among its recent successful developments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/lancaster\/aviation\/\">aviation program<\/a> welcomed another large cohort of students for the fall 2025 semester. Sky-high demand for the program led to a waitlist for the 2025 cohort.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The site launched an evening <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/lancaster\/nursing\/cna\">Certified Nursing Assistant<\/a> (CNA) cohort, expanding access for working adults and meeting critical needs of the regional health care workforce.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/lancaster\/graduate-teacher-education\/trauma-resilience\">Trauma and Resilience in Educational Environments<\/a> (TREE) program continues to see enrollment growth and is now a fully online asynchronous graduate certificate program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The school introduced a new <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/graduate\/continuing-and-professional-education\/drone-certification\">drone certification course<\/a>, demonstrating its responsiveness to emerging market demands and professional development opportunities.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Mak said she looks forward to working with the rest of the EMU Lancaster team and the Lancaster community at large to explore new and meaningful partnerships and new ways of delivering innovative and quality educational programs that are relevant to the workforce and professional development needs of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prior to her expanded role leading EMU Lancaster, Mak helped strengthen the online programs at EMU, particularly at the graduate level. She collaborated with faculty across campus to implement online education best practices, partnered with the Graduate Recruitment Team to enhance prospective student experiences by streamlining website content and lead collection, and worked with the Advancement Team to establish the Online Education Advisory Committee of EMU Alumni, achieving early successes with industry partnerships.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before joining EMU in 2024, she served as managing director of the Global Innovation Partnership Program in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems at Drexel University. The program, which she launched, provides valuable remote and in-person educational experiences to students, professionals, and faculty across three continents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She holds a doctorate in education with a concentration in higher education leadership and management, a master of science in biomedical engineering, and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering. Each of those degrees is from Drexel University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mak has more than 30 years of business executive experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, including serving as vice president of commercialization at Helius Medical Technologies and head of strategy of operations for multiple functions at Bristol-Myers Squibb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She brings a collaborative and student-centered approach to leadership, along with a deep commitment to EMU\u2019s mission and values. \u201cAt the end of the day, I chose EMU because of its values,\u201d she said. \u201cI really like the values of peacebuilding, social justice, community service, and serving with compassion. Those values resonated with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Jamie Mak, who stepped into her role leading EMU Lancaster on Oct. 27, appreciates that the site is already on strong footing. &#8220;Sometimes you take a job and you <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2025\/emu-lancasters-new-leader-excited-to-continue-forward-momentum\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about EMU Lancaster\u2019s new leader excited to continue forward momentum<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":60134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5583,17562,8845,5642],"tags":[17724,18464,17878,18692,17495,12784,18689,18690,18691],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-60104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-community","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","category-faculty-and-staff","tag-aviation","tag-certified-nursing-assistant","tag-cna","tag-drone-certification","tag-emu-at-lancaster","tag-emu-lancaster","tag-jamie-mak","tag-trauma-and-resilience-in-educational-environments","tag-tree","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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