Tony K. Cho
Vice President and Director
Mr. Tony K. Cho has been leading UMGC Europe as vice president and director since Fall 2017 following a tenure as the associate vice president and deputy director of UMGC Asia. He retired as a colonel after 26 years of duty in the United States Army, and from a culminating assignment as the Northeast Asia Policy Division Chief for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon. His educational background includes a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University; a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University; a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from the U.S. Army War College; and a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois. Prior to his military service, Mr. Cho also worked as an engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems and at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
Ms. Patricia Coopersmith has served as the associate vice president and deputy director, UMGC Europe, since January 2017. Patricia has over 26 years of business and advisory experience in academic, government, and corporate environments. Prior to UMGC, Ms. Coopersmith served at the National Defense University (NDU) as the director of Outreach, International Relations, and Academic Partnerships. There, she was responsible for NDU's iCollege Academic Partnership Program, growing it from eight university partners to thirty. UMGC was the first NDU partner. Ms. Coopersmith has worked extensively with DOD and other federal government agencies, as well as with international Defense Ministries in Europe and in Asia. She has taught as an adjunct professor at NDU and at the University of Mary Washington. Prior to her tenure at NDU, she served as a management consultant for IBM and for PricewaterhouseCoopers; and as an industrial engineer for Westinghouse Corporation. Her education includes an MBA from Augusta University, and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Penn State University.
Dr. Andrew D. Boone was appointed associate vice provost for UMGC Europe Academic Affairs in 2017. As senior academic officer, he provides leadership for all undergraduate and graduate programs in Europe. His primary goal is to ensure students receive quality learning experiences that provide them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to be competent professionals and citizens. Passionate about excellence in teaching, he also directs the management of the faculty corps who teach at over 50 sites across Europe and the Middle East. Dr. Boone has taught statistics, math, economics, and business courses on two continents for the better part of three decades with UMGC. In addition, he has taught at Houston Community College, the University of Houston, and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Dr. Boone holds a BS in Economics from the University of Arizona. Additionally, he earned an MS and a PhD in Economics from the University of Houston.