Diane Engelhardt, a veteran educator and entrepreneur and Woodbury resident, was recently named president of DeVry Institute of Technology's Long Island City campus.

Engelhardt has broad experience in management and education. Prior to joining DeVry, Engelhardt held senior positions at the Katherine Gibbs School, which offers degree and certificate programs in several technology and business disciplines, for six years. As president of its Melville school since 1999 she successfully led all operations of a campus with more than 1,000 students.

"I made the change from Catherine Gibbs to DeVry because I believe their mission and goal, which is the same as Gibbs, is to provide high quality, career-oriented education to students and the move for me was professional - DeVry offers bachelor's degrees and Gibbs only offers associate degrees," said Engelhardt.

Earlier in her career, Engelhardt founded and led International Technology Development, a Woodbury-based company specializing in business and aerospace electronics education. Before that she served for 15 years at the City University of New York as a professor, technology instructor and administrator.

Engelhardt earned a bachelors and masters degree in business education from Bernard M. Baruch College of CUNY and did graduate work at New York University. She also received the "Women of Distinction in Business" citation from the Town of Oyster Bay in recognition of her outstanding and lasting contributions to the community.

"Diane is a seasoned educator and administrator who is committed to providing students with high-quality, career-oriented education," said Jerry Murphy, vice president, campus operations, DeVry Inc. "Her leadership will be invaluable in growing the Long Island City campus and strengthening DeVry's role in providing private post-secondary education in New York."

Engelhardt is excited about beginning her new position at DeVry. "DeVry offers unparalleled degree programs in technology and technology-based business," said Engelhardt. "Even in today's soft economy, there is a significant demand for students with strong technology skills, particularly at traditional businesses that have made technology central to their operations over recent years. I look forward to working with DeVry's stellar faculty and eager students as well as continuing to develop the campus' strong relationships with local business, community and legislative leaders."

Engelhardt has set many goals for herself and the school. She hopes to double the enrollment, which is now just over 2,000 students. Also, she wants to get the word out that DeVry is not a trade school. "Some people have the wrong image of the school and I want to change that," said Engelhardt. "I want to get our name out there."

Developing employer relations is something that Engelhardt really values. This week, the students had a career fair where they had the opportunity to meet with various companies, including Time Warner, MTA Transit, GE Medical Systems, Cannon and AT&T. "By developing good employers relations, our students have better career opportunities," said Engelhardt.

DeVry/Long Island City offers bachelors degree programs in accounting, business administration, computer technology, computer information systems, electronic technology, information technology and telecommunications management. It also offers associate of applied science degree programs in electronics and computer technology.