Dr. Douglas Caprogrossi

Dr. Douglass Capogrossi is a member of GIDE Advisory Council. Dr. Capogrossi who is the President of Akamai University, Hawaii earned his Ph.D. in Adult and Continuing Education from Cornell University, where he completed an extensive dissertation investigating the effectiveness of the American education system. He also holds a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction, and Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Cornell University. Dr. Capogrossi has directed a variety of successful formal and non-formal education programs including trade apprenticeships, work experience projects and on-the-job training within industry and the human services, and adult job training through center-based programs. He has served as President at three distance learning institutions and has provided leadership in achieving recognized institutional accreditation with one and guided faculty in all toward world class curriculum and institutional integrity.

Douglass facilitated development of the New York State Rural Literacy Initiative, a state-wide community-based project initiating adult literacy and community development ventures in the poorest counties, funded by the Community and Rural Development Institute at Cornell University. He holds permanent teaching credentials in commerce and social studies with special certification to teach special education for the emotionally disturbed. He has held leadership roles with two major federal pilot studies in the USA, identifying effective models for educating at risk youth outside the traditional school environment. He has coordinated innovative community-based education projects for troubled youths through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services in New York State. He also served as Instructor with the Office of Continuing Education at Cornell University, where he developed and instructed distance-learning courses in basic and corporate accounting for career track employees.

Douglass is an experienced human service administrator, having worked as Executive Director of South Valley Collective, The League, and the United Minority Coalition, Assistant Director of Tompkins County Economic Opportunity Corporation and Director of Planning with the Community Service Organization in San Jose, California. He has held top management positions in industry, serving as General Manager of Micrographic Systems, a medical camera-manufacturing firm in Santa Clara, California. For a number of years, he operated America Builders, a successful licensed general contracting firm in California. Dr. Capogrossi has extensive community volunteer experience emphasizing implementation and development of nonprofit organizations, preparing founding documents and serving as an officer of the Board of Directors. He was instrumental in developing an international professional membership organization dedicated to the amelioration of major world problems, a community legal center serving moderate-income communities, a human service coalition, an emergency service corporation, and an athletic league.