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The Honorable Raymond Allen “Ray” Lutzky, Ph.D., is an American professor and communications expert with 25 years of experience growing the reach of the world’s most innovative institutions.
Professional Leadership
Dr. Ray Lutzky is Vice President of University Partnerships at Academic Partnerships, helping universities launch successful, high-quality online degrees. He previously served as Director, University Partnerships at InStride; a company focused on online workforce education founded by Arizona State University.
Ray held enrollment leadership roles at Cornell, NYU, Pace University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). At these universities he oversaw admissions, international recruitment, teaching assistants, and financial aid.
Because of his academic training in digital media and user experience design, Dr. Lutzky is also an experienced professor. He holds the rank of Adjunct Lecturer at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism where he teaches digital media. He is also an Adjunct Professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Prior to his work in higher education Ray worked in marketing and business development. At the award-winning speakers bureau CAMPUSPEAK he supported speaker training, technology, and sales, later serving as a nationally-recognized speaker on hazing prevention and community relations. While at the pioneering analytics consultancy Ipsos MMA (Marketing Management Analytics), he supported business development and public relations. At GYMR Public Relations in DC, Ray worked on media campaigns for clients including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The George Washington University Hospital.
Volunteer Experience
Ray is a volunteer for the Ukraine Global Faculty; a group of distinguished global university professors providing free online lectures for Ukrainians during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Dr. Lutzky has served on the Board for NAGAP, the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management, Study New York, and the Colorado LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. In 2007, the Governor of Kentucky awarded him a commission as a Kentucky Colonel for his volunteer work.
In 2023, Ray was re-elected to the Board of Trustees of the Rensselaer Alumni Association (RAA), having previously served as Vice President of the RAA from 2008-2013. He was awarded the RAA Alumni Key Award in 2006 for outstanding service to the university’s alumni. Ray also volunteered for his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity International, as a speaker and trainer, and served as an advisor for his collegiate chapter, Epsilon-Eta Zeta.
Ray’s lifelong passion for education technology started at Pelham Memorial High School. As a teenager Ray taught the school’s first Internet teacher training and upgraded school computers. In 1998 he was awarded a Silver Medallion by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for fiction writing. So, he unquestionably formed early interest in the intersection of education, technology, and creativity.
Education
Ray earned both his B.S. in electronic media, arts, and communication and his Ph.D. in communication and rhetoric from RPI. Ray’s dissertation “Diversifying STEAM: Culturally Situated Drawing for Math Education with African-American Youth” explores the relationship between culture, math, and technology.
He also holds an MS in public relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and an MS in digital audience strategy from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. In December 2020, Ray completed a Certificate in Leadership Principles at Harvard Business School Online.
Dr. Lutzky also completed online certificate courses in leadership, technology, and digital media from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Arizona State University, Cisco, Coursera, Udemy, ed2go, Arti Academics, Google, LinkedIn, and HubSpot.