John LaBrie, dean of North­eastern Uni­ver­sity Col­lege of Pro­fes­sional Studies, received the Lead­er­ship Award ear­lier this week from the Asso­ci­a­tion for Con­tin­uing Higher Edu­ca­tion. It is the organization’s highest award.

LaBrie was rec­og­nized at the ACHE 74th Annual Con­fer­ence and Meeting, held in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 12–14. The Lead­er­ship Award rec­og­nizes “an indi­vidual who has made extra­or­di­nary con­tri­bu­tions in lead­er­ship, theory, and prac­tice in con­tin­uing higher edu­ca­tion on a national or inter­na­tional level.” As stated in its mis­sion, ACHE is “ded­i­cated to pro­moting life­long learning and excel­lence in con­tin­uing higher education.”

In rec­og­nizing LaBrie, the asso­ci­a­tion noted that he has ded­i­cated his career to serving working adults who are seeking higher-​​education oppor­tu­ni­ties. The asso­ci­a­tion cred­ited LaBrie’s inno­v­a­tive and pro­gres­sive approach to dis­tance learning that has resulted in improve­ments in the capa­bil­i­ties of pro­grams as well as cur­riculum quality at the Col­lege of Pro­fes­sional Studies.

He was also rec­og­nized for his lead­er­ship on the college’s inter­na­tional expan­sion — including part­ner­ships with insti­tu­tions in China, Turkey, Hong Kong and Sin­ga­pore — and his role in Northeastern’s national expan­sion through its grad­uate campus ini­tia­tive. LaBrie worked with aca­d­emic and admin­is­tra­tive col­leagues across the uni­ver­sity to launch grad­uate cam­puses in Char­lotte, N.C., and Seattle.

“It is an honor to receive this award from an orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cated to life­long learning and excel­lence in con­tin­uing higher edu­ca­tion,” LaBrie said. “As edu­ca­tion evolves, it is impor­tant to con­tinue to enrich the stu­dent learning expe­ri­ence so that stu­dents are equipped with the edu­ca­tional tools they need to stay com­pet­i­tive in the workplace.”

The Col­lege of Pro­fes­sional Studies was also rec­og­nized with two other awards at the annual meeting: the Crystal Mar­keting Award for the Col­lege of Pro­fes­sional Studies Spring 2012 Grad­u­a­tion live streaming and asso­ci­ated dig­ital media out­reach; and a Pro­gram Award for Out­standing Ser­vices to Under­served Pop­u­la­tions for Northeastern’s inno­v­a­tive first-​​year col­lege pro­gram, Foun­da­tion Year.