Nicholas H. Allen is Provost Emeritus and Collegiate Professor at University of Maryland University College (UMUC). From 1998 until his retirement from that post in 2007, Nick served as the University's first provost and chief academic officer and as Interim President during the University's search for a new president in 2005. For nearly a decade of dramatic growth in online education, Nick provided leadership and strategic direction to UMUC's worldwide academic operations as the institution emerged as the largest public university in the United States and one of the world’s major virtual universities with online enrollments reaching 177,000 in 2007.

Nick joined UMUC’s Graduate School of Management and Technology in 1987 as a senior faculty member and Director of General Management and Executive Programs. In 1991, he became Dean of the Graduate School and saw it emerge as one of the largest schools of management on the east coast with more than 7,000 graduate students.

Prior to UMUC, Nick served 23 years with the U.S. Coast Guard where, among other assignments, he commanded two cutters and served as a program manager at the Coast Guard Institute, responsible for professional qualification courses and service-wide promotion examinations for the Coast Guard enlisted workforce.

He received his B.S. degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, M.B.A. from Oklahoma City University, and M.P.A. and D.P.A. degrees from The George Washington University.

Nick is a strong voice for continuing and higher education, and an advocate for using technology and process reengineering to achieve scalable access to high quality, affordable education.  He currently serves on the Executive Strategic Council of the IMS Global Learning Consortium and on the Commission for Lifelong Learning of the American Council of Education. He is a frequent speaker at various national and international fora.