New Member Introduction: Ryan McCabe from Genesee Community College

Ryan McCabe is the Director of Workforce Development at Genesee Community College, a SUNY institution serving students, employers, and communities across Western New York. He leads the BEST Center, the college's workforce development division, which connects regional employers and residents with the training and credentials they need to grow.

As Director of Workforce Development, Ryan oversees technical training programs, professional development certificate programs, career enrichment courses, and customized contract training for business and industry, along with grant-funded initiatives in health care and clean energy and the college's Rural Police Training Academy. His work centers on building employer partnerships, expanding access to short-term and stackable credentials, and aligning the college's workforce offerings with the needs of the regional labor market. Ryan's passion is ensuring that each student reaches their ultimate goals, and he sees it as his job to make that happen in the easiest way possible.

Ryan came to GCC from Finger Lakes Community College, where he served most recently as Associate Provost of Academic Innovation and Learning Resources and, before that, as Associate Vice President of Academic Technology and High Impact Practices. In those roles his responsibilities included curriculum development and oversight, online learning, career and workforce solutions, adult basic education, applied learning, global learning, articulation agreements, academic technology, professional development, library services, tutoring, and the Center for Teaching and Learning. Ryan has presented regionally and nationally on the HyFlex learning framework, grew FLCC's online degree offerings from 12 to 23 fully online programs or certificates while increasing online enrollment from 25 to 47 percent, and led a professional development day session on "Leading with Empathy." He has also taught in higher education for 18 years. 

Ryan earned a baccalaureate in History from SUNY Potsdam in 2002 and an MS in Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching from Buffalo State University in 2011. He is currently completing his Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Louisiana Monroe, where his dissertation examines faculty adoption of artificial intelligence in community colleges. 

Ryan has been published in NILOA regarding assessment in online learning, co-wrote the Faculty Advisory Council on Teaching and Technology Task Group report Examining Pedagogy in Online Domains, and has been published in the Online Learning Journal (OLJ), the official journal of the Online Learning Consortium. He was also interviewed by EdTech Quarterly (Spring 2022) about the changing landscape of adult learning. Ryan received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Professional Service in 2015 and the SUNY Faculty Advisory Council on Teaching and Technology's inaugural FACT2 Excellence Award in Administrative Leadership at a Community College, a system-wide honor recognizing consistently superior professional achievement.

At FLCC he served as Principal Investigator on a $2.25 million federal Title III grant focused on first-year student success. He also serves on a range of SUNY advisory committees spanning curriculum, workforce development, and online learning.

When not in the office, Ryan enjoys traveling. He loves New Orleans and plans to move there when he retires; in 2024 he rode in a Mardi Gras parade with the Krewe of Morpheus and counts it among his favorite experiences. He loves spending time with his kids, life long learning, and watching and playing sports.