Pauline Rankin, who served two years as interim dean of the University of Arkansas Global Campus, passed away Thursday, March 12, in Hot Springs.

The funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Monday, March 16, at Shaffer Funeral Home, 2315 W. Commercial St., Ozark.

Rankin, 71, began and ended her professional career in Arkansas, but she devoted almost 30 years to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she retired as dean of the Division of Continuing Education in 2006.

The Global Campus hired Rankin as a consultant in 2008, before naming her the director of non-traditional and adult programs in 2009. Serving as interim dean from July 2010 to June 2012, she worked with the Global Campus team, as well as deans and academic units across the Fayetteville campus, to foster growth and promote quality in online and distance education. She retired from the U of A in June 2013.

Rankin, who held a doctorate in educational technology, served as administrator of the Louisiana Consortium for the Advancement of Distance Education (LaCADE) in Baton Rouge from 2005 to 2007, and she was an adjunct professor in the learning systems technology program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 2006 to 2009.

Before becoming dean at LSU, Rankin served four years in Academic Affairs there, as vice provost from 2001 to 2003 and as associate vice chancellor for instruction from 1999 to 2001. She worked as the associate director, director and then executive director for the LSU Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching from 1977 to 1999.

At different times, Rankin was a member of the Arkansas Distance Learning Association, American Association of University Women, International Forum for Women in E-Learning, and Association for Continuing Higher Education.

In Arkansas, Rankin landed her first job at North Side Elementary School in Morrilton in 1962. She went on to be the assistant director of the Educational Media Lab at the El Dorado School System in El Dorado from 1968 to 1970. Rankin then moved on to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville from 1970 to 1977, serving first as assistant director and then director of its Instructional Service unit.

Before earning her doctorate at LSU in 1977, Rankin gained her master's degree in elementary education from the University of Arkansas in 1966 and her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Arkansas Tech University in 1962.