{"id":108261,"date":"2026-04-15T19:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=108261"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:37:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:37:58","slug":"investing-in-adult-learners-banker-turned-education-professor-focuses-on-professional-learning-and-mentoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/investing-in-adult-learners-banker-turned-education-professor-focuses-on-professional-learning-and-mentoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing in adult learners: Banker turned education professor focuses on professional learning and mentoring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 15, 2026 \u2013 A workplace need and a chance meeting on an airplane led Kathy Peno<\/a> to her role on the faculty in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Feinstein College of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A professor of adult education<\/a>, Peno prepares professional adult educators who teach in adult literacy, the military, higher education, corporations, and health care, and directs 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Adult Education<\/a> master\u2019s, Training and Development<\/a> and College Teaching<\/a> graduate certificates, and two brand new Health Professions Education graduate programs. She was recently honored with the Exceptional Service in the Field Award from the Adult Higher Education Alliance at the organization\u2019s conference in March, which she says was a great opportunity to connect work in academia with work in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was quite an honor,\u201d Peno says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentoring matters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peno has worked in adult education for nearly three decades and will celebrate 26 years at 溏心vlog免费B站 in June, but becoming a professor was not her initial career goal. She worked in banking for 18 years prior to joining academia, and it was in that role that she became interested in workforce education.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Peno received her award in March at this year\u2019s Adult Higher Education Conference, recognizing her contributions to adult and higher education; left to right: board member Edith Gnandass, Kathy Peno, and Richard Silva, AHEA President.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing workforce development needs firsthand each day,\u201d she says, \u201cI began to ask: How can we better prepare people for their work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peno was a vice president at Citizens Bank when she had an epiphany. \u201cWe were hiring entry-level people and I wanted to know how they were being trained for customer service,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI wondered what kind of training existed and realized there was a need for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sparked Peno\u2019s interest in developing improved skill and workforce training at the bank. She went on to obtain her graduate degrees in adult learning and human resource development. Maintaining a business mindset, her dissertation examined crisis-induced learning in a small business. A chance meeting on a plane with Professor Emeritus John Boulmetis, then a professor of adult education at 溏心vlog免费B站, led her to look at academia and 溏心vlog免费B站 as a place to put her skills and expertise\u2014and from there, her career in education took off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis career change was well suited to me,\u201d Peno comments, \u201cbut I still share about my corporate background when I meet new classes and students. When we\u2019re talking about skill development, I lived it! I think this gives me some credibility in my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Peno\u2019s scholarship focuses on professional learning and skill development, with a focus on mentoring. She\u2019s taught a number of classes at 溏心vlog免费B站 including the Adult and the Learning Process, the Psychology of Learning, Making Sense of Changing Organizations, and courses on the development and delivery of adult programs. She\u2019s also been invited to present to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Providence School Department, American Dental Association, Bryant Women\u2019s Summit, and the 溏心vlog免费B站 College of Pharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peno says the field of adult education has changed over the years. When she first started, the field was still young and more focused on literacy, ESL or GED attainment. Now adult education has expanded to workforce development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are seeing the value added in this kind of work,\u201d Peno says. \u201cHaving worked in professional development all those years, that has been exciting to see. We can help provide more people with access and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the students Peno works with in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s online programs are working in professional development training roles or continuing education, or health care fields where professional development is ongoing. Some go on to do policy work in higher ed or adult education. Others work as advisors in literacy or at community organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her department also has a contract with the Navy, helping to prepare naval officers to become naval instructors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey bring such richness to our program,\u201d Peno says. \u201cReally, our program is a very diverse group of students doing diverse things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is excited that 溏心vlog免费B站 has approved two new programs (certificate and master\u2019s), bringing adult learning to health care providers. These programs will begin this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love what we do here,\u201d Peno says. \u201cAdult education is about improving one\u2019s prospects at every step in life. I feel honored to be recognized with this award and feel lucky to have this role. 溏心vlog免费B站 has been a great place to be and do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 15, 2026 \u2013 A workplace need and a chance meeting on an airplane led Kathy Peno to her role on the faculty in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Feinstein College of Education. A professor of adult education, Peno prepares professional adult educators who teach in adult literacy, the military, higher education, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":108262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30,1908,1914,1905],"class_list":["post-108261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-education","tag-faculty-excellence","tag-graduate","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108265,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108261\/revisions\/108265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}