Alan Knox chairs the Department of Continuing and Vocational Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the Chair of the Teaching Academy. He has been a professor of continuing education there since 1981. He completed four degrees at Syracuse University and was a faculty member there and at the University of Nebraska, Teachers College, Columbia University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where he also served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director of Continuing Education and Public Service. He is consulting editor for the series on New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education which he initiated in 1979 and for which he served as editor-in-chief until 1984. He also initiated the Adult Education Research Conference and served as its chair.
He is a past president of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (1984-1985) and has chaired national commissions on adult education. Honors include the Adult Education Association's 1977 and 1980 Okes Award for outstanding research and the 1980 Syracuse University School of Education distinguished alumnus award.
International activities include conducting the World Perspective comparative study of educational programs for adults in many countries throughout the world and a Fulbright Research Grant in 1987.