Thursday Speakers

	Susan Adams Instructional Designer Achieving the Dream Susan Adams is the instructional designer for Achieving the Dream and works to support and strengthen their network impact through the design and delivery of high-quality online and in-person learning experiences by collaborating across all of ATD’s departments to analyze instructional outcomes and provide expertise in planning, development, and delivery. She also supports ATD’s participation in the Every Learner Everywhere network to provide advice, training, and community-vetted resources that support the adoption and implementation of adaptive courseware.
	Maria Andersen CEO and Co-founder Coursetune Maria Andersen has spent most of her career teaching at the college level and developing digital products for learning. She built iPad games to teach algebra, launched the Canvas Network MOOC platform, designed adaptive learning platforms used by McGraw Hill, and worked as the director of learning design for Western Governors University (a fully-online CBE institution). Currently, she is the CEO of Coursetune, a software platform that helps educational institutions to design and manage their curriculum. Andersen is a professor, software designer, CEO, and learning futurist.
	Meredith Archer Hatch Senior Associate Director for Workforce and Academic Alignment Acheiving the Dream Meredith Archer Hatch is responsible for directing initiatives to support network colleges as they help all students—particularly the most underserved—realize substantial value from their postsecondary experience and earned credentials. She directed Achieving the Dream’s work with two Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training Program Grants and has strong experience advising colleges on offering credit for prior learning in different forms. Archer Hatch leads the Community College Women Succeed initiative #CCWomenSucceed.
	Brenda Boyd Senior Academic Director, Program Services Quality Matters, Inc. Brenda Boyd currently serves as senior academic director, program services, for Quality Matters. She leads the professional development team, oversees the quality assurance department, and is responsible for the regular updating of QM Higher Education Rubrics. Boyd holds an M.S. in education from Capella University and is a WCET Steering Committee Member.
	Rosa Calabrese Manager, Digital and Project Support Services WCET Rosa Calabrese has been with WCET since 2014. She is responsible for creating graphic design in print and for the web to support the organization. She also organizes and maintains the web presence for both WCET and SAN. Calabrese received her bachelor's degree in 2013 from the University of Denver where she double majored in electronic media arts design and sociology, with a minor in gender and women's studies.
	David Dannenberg Director, Academic Innovations and eLearning University of Alaska Anchorage David Dannenberg is the director of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Academic Innovations & eLearning (AI&e). Reporting to a senior vice provost, he leads UAA’s efforts to innovate teaching through the use of instructional technology. In this role, he oversees the instructional design, eLearning/distance education, professional development, online student and ePortfolio Services.
	Van Davis Principal Foghlam Consulting, LLC Van Davis is principal at Foghlam Consulting, LLC where he helps colleges, universities, non-profits, and policymakers understand where higher education is heading and how to navigate that future. Davis has spent over 20 years in higher education as a faculty member, academic administrator, policymaker, and consultant. Most recently he served as associate vice president for higher education policy and research at Blackboard Inc. Prior to his time at Blackboard, he served as director of innovation at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board where he was responsible for the development of competency-based education programs, distance education policy, the development of the state's adult degree completion project, course redesign, and online faculty development. Prior to the Coordinating Board, Davis spent a decade as a professor of history and an academic administrator.
	Kathryn Dobeck Professor, Mathematics Lorain County Community College Kathryn Dobeck received her B.S. degree in Mathematics from Bowling Green State University and her M.A. degree in Applied Mathematics from Indiana University. She is currently serving her 16th year as a professor of Mathematics at Lorain County Community College. She gets excited about utilizing educational technology in effective ways which allow her to reallocate her time for personalized student interventions.
	Cheryl Dowd Director, SAN WCET Cheryl Dowd is the Director of the State Authorization Network (SAN)for WCET and Cyber Fellow for WICHE. Dowd directs the activities and research for institutions and other related organizations to understand and manage regulatory compliance requirements for the out of state activities of the institutions. As Cyber Fellow, Cheryl is developing relationships with national education and security agencies to develop institutional data protection and privacy resources and training opportunities to share with the WICHE community.
	Lindsey Downs Assistant Director, Communications, Community, and Social Media WCET Lindsey Downs has a background in Communications, Marketing, Instructional Design, Higher Education, and Educational Technology. She holds a M.Ed in Adult and Higher Education and a Certification in College Teaching from Montana State University and is a certified Instructional Designer. Downs' interests include teaching with technology, effective classroom facilitation, training, higher education policy, and classroom design. When not enjoying her work, she spends time in beautiful Helena, MT with her husband, new baby, and boxer dog Piper. You can follow her adventures on Twitter @lindsey0427.
	Ryan Faulkner Director of Online Learning College of Eastern Idaho Ryan Faulkner has worked professionally in education technology for over 19 years. He holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration, and an M.Ed. in Instructional Technology. Since January of 2018, Faulkner has been the inaugural Director of Online Learning Services at the College of Eastern Idaho (CEI) and has been developing an online program from scratch for Idaho's newest community college. In the first year of the online program, CEI has served students in 16 counties in rural eastern Idaho, seen a 717% increase in online course enrollments, and as of Fall 2019, one quarter of the student population are enrolled in at least one online course. In his free time Faulkner rides his motorcycle, explores Idaho with his girlfriend and their two dogs, and is the proud papa of a 13-year-old southern painted turtle named Poky.
	Myk Garn Assistant Vice Chancellor for New Learning Models Board of Regents, University System of Georgia Myk Garn is an academic innovator and strategist with over 30 years of experience developing, deploying and leading college and state system instructional, operational, organizational, policy and strategic models. He is a committed academic change agent, focusing on the development and deployment of new instructional and educational operations with an emphasis on competency-based, student-driven, and advancement-by-mastery models. He emphasizes the roles of faculty and needs of students throughout his work. His experience includes strategic planning, affordability, emerging trends, disruptive innovation, quality standards, governance, accessibility, and accreditation.
	Karen Gebhardt Director of the Online Economics Program University of Colorado Boulder Karen Gebhardt is the director of the online economics program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on research interests, publications, and presentations involving economics education and how to use technology to improve student outcomes. She is an early adopter of technology in the classroom and advocates strongly for it because she sees the difference it makes in student engagement and learning. Gebhardt was the recipient of the Water Pik Excellence in Education Award in 2006 and winner of the CSU Alumni Association Best Teacher Award for 2015.
0	Jessie Guy-Ryan Associate Director of Online Learning New York University Tandon School of Engineering Jessie Guy-Ryan has worked in higher education for over eight years in both online and on-campus engineering and health science programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She holds a Master’s degree in learning design and technology from San Diego State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University. Guy-Ryan is particularly interested in designing engaging, interactive learning experiences, and exploring the potential of online courses to provide learner-centered instruction and collaboration.
0	Darcy Hardy Associate Vice President Blackboard, Inc. Darcy Hardy currently serves as an associate vice president at Blackboard Inc. Previous positions held by Hardy include assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and executive director of the UT TeleCampus at University of Texas System, and as an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) appointment with the US Department of Labor and US Department of Education. She is chair emerita with the United States Distance Learning Association, and is founder of the International Forum for Women in E-Learning. Darcy has received the Wedemeyer Outstanding Distance Learning Practitioner Award and the WCET Richard Jonsen award. Darcy received her Ph.D. in instructional technology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1992.
	Cynthia Jimes Director, Research & Learning Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education Cynthia Jimes serves as director of research and learning for the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME). Since 2006, she has led large-scale studies of the use of OER and other adaptable learning materials at the K-12 and post-secondary levels to support enhanced teaching and learning. With a background in the field of management consulting, Jimes has experience working on projects to support the development of new services and models based on evaluation of stakeholder needs. Jimes has a Ph.D. in information science from Sweden’s Uppsala University.
	Tanya Joosten Director, eLearning Research and Development University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Tanya Joosten, Ph.D., is a senior scientist, the director of digital learning research and development, and co-pi and co-director of the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is nationally recognized in her work in blended and online learning as an Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Fellow and works to guide strategic digital learning efforts, including her current involvement on the University of Wisconsin System Learning Technology Executive Council, the CourseWare in Context (CWIC) Executive Committee, the McGraw Hill Learning Sciences Research Board, the SXSW EDU Advisory Board, the OLC Research Board, Distance Teaching and Learning (DTL) Advisory Board, and others. Joosten's expertise has led to invitations to planning the future of digital education events at the White House, Harvard, Stanford, and Arizona State, among others.
	Whitney Kilgore Chief Academic Officer iDesign Whitney Kilgore, Ph.D. is co-founder and chief academic officer of iDesign. Kilgore has led the development of programs across the U.S. and the world, and serves as adjunct faculty at the University of North Texas. She has received numerous recognitions including inclusion in the Top 10 Research Articles for her work on Bot-Teachers in MOOCs. She researches care theory and the impact of humanizing online teaching and learning. Kilgore is also an editor of the International Journal of Innovations in Online Education and has edited and published OER.
	Kassy Mies Assistant Teaching Professor and General Chemistry Coordinator, Department of Chemistry Colorado State University Kassy Mies received her B.S. in chemistry from Randolph-Macon College and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University. She served on the faculty at Meredith College for six years after graduate school where her duties included being the program coordinator for both the Chemistry Department and the Dual Degree Engineering Program. She then gave up tenure in order to take a position at her alma-mater, Randolph-Macon College, for two years before joining the faculty at Colorado State University where currently serves as the general chemistry lecture coordinator. Mies loves engaging and challenging students to foster their growth as learners.
	Diane Miller Instructor, Computer Information Systems Colorado State University Diane Miller has spent the last several years as an instructor in the Computer Information Systems Department, College of Business at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. She has enjoyed not only giving students a bit of reality, based on her career as a member of the technical staff (read: programmer) at Hewlett-Packard but loves to introduce New Tech to her students and coworkers to see what can be discovered from it from a technical, ethical, and practical point of view.
	Cali MK Morrison Associate Dean, Alternative Learning American Public University System Cali M.K. Morrison, Ed.D. is associate dean, alternative learning at American Public University System. Previously Cali was the assistant director, communications and analysis at the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). Current research interests include competency-based education and the future of credentials. Cali lives near Bozeman, MT with her custom homebuilder hubby, two daughters, and dogs where she is active in the community, especially with Bozeman Area Community Foundation, Thrive, and Girls for a Change.
	Richard Nelson President Nicolet College After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in fermentation science from UC Davis, Richard Nelson went on to earn his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University. He worked in the U.S. and Canadian food and beverage industry for twelve years managing product, process, and business development. Nelson then directed a Minnesota state agency for value-added agriculture and business development before choosing a career in higher education. He served as a department chair and as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, and in 2006 moved to Paul Smith’s College in northern New York State where he served as provost for nine years. In 2015, Nelson was named president of Nicolet College in northern Wisconsin where he continues his advocacy for high quality, accessible education as the only enduring foundation for sustained rural prosperity and social well-being.
	Gloria Niles Director of Distance Education University of Hawaii West Oahu Gloria Niles is an enthusiastic educator devoted to advancing teaching and learning with technology. With over 25 years of experience in various levels of education, Niles joined the University of Hawai’i - West O’ahu in 2015. Currently, she serves as the director of distance education, and the co-coordinator of the Office of Professional Development and Academic Support. Niles values interactive pedagogies, faculty partnerships, and data-driven decision making. As a former special education teacher, her scholarship focuses on the intersection of neurodiversity and digital learning.
	Brenda Perea Director of Educational and Workforce Solutions Credly Brenda M. Perea, director of educational and workforce solutions brings nearly fifteen years of experience in the secondary-postsecondary educational field along with ten years in the corporate world identifying and targeting workforce skills not apparent in transcripts, degrees, certificates and courses. She successfully led the Colorado Community College System to implement a system-wide workforce driven digital badge initiative, building collaboration between 13 colleges, 39 campuses and Colorado’s leading businesses and industries. She is nationally recognized to mentor digital badge initiatives into developing deeper collaboration with business and industry around workforce skills. Perea speaks nationally on digital badges and participates in the international Open Recognition Alliance weekly calls and IMS Global workgroups to shape the national conversation on higher education badging, industry and business interest and workforce participant credentialing. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico, a Master’s of Science degree from Shenandoah University.
	Gonzalo Perez Associate Provost for Academic Affairs Coconino Community College Gonzalo Perez currently serves as the associate provost for academic affairs at Coconino Community College in rural Northern Arizona. He oversees the pre-college programs, online education, adult education as well as curriculum and assessment. He is also directing a Southern Nevada, Northern Arizona NSF LSAMP which is focused on increasing minority participation in STEM degrees. Furthermore, he and his team are also engaged in a GED Exam Prep project with the Havasupai Tribe located at the base of the Grand Canyon. Perez teaches various courses in Computer Science, and Information Systems studies and his research interests include information security and biometrics. He has published numerous papers on behavioral biometrics, an adaptation of NoSQL databases as well as innovative outreach programs to better engage students in STEM fields.
	Laura Polk Director, Online Education Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University Laura Polk is the director of Online Education for the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University (ASU). She currently manages online degree and executive education programs serving students all around the globe. She also teaches Organizational Leadership, Organizational Diversity, and Managing People at ASU.  As part of her commitment to providing higher education to underserved communities, she has developed programs using VR/AR technology for delivery on blackboard/canvas and MOOC platforms (edX, Coursera). Polk has over ten years of experience working in leadership and specializes in organizational leadership, succession planning, small businesses management, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense. In the research for her dissertation, she oversaw the engineering and building of many metal parts at a manufacturing plant which now reside in NASA’s Exploration Rover on Mars (MERS), defense weapons mechanisms for the US government, and medical equipment. She can be reached at laura.polk@thunderbird.asu.edu
	Russell Poulin Executive Director WCET Russ Poulin leads WCET, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, which focuses on the practice, policy, and advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. WCET’s members hail from all fifty states and a few from Canada. As WICHE vice president, he advises on policy and projects for the regional higher education compact. Poulin represented the distance education community on federal negotiated rulemaking committees and subcommittees. He has received recognition from the Presidents’ Forum, Excelsior College, and the National University Technology Network for his contributions to policies for technology-enhanced postsecondary education. Poulin received a bachelors from the University of Colorado Denver and a masters from the University of Northern Colorado. He is also partial to movies, cats, and his wife, Laurie.  Contact him at: rpoulin@wiche.edu or @RussPoulin.
	Shannon Riggs Executive Director of Course Development and Learning Innovation Oregon State University Ecampus Shannon Riggs serves as executive director of course development and learning innovation for Oregon State University Ecampus. In this role, she supports Oregon State’s land grant mission by providing leadership and direction for course development and learning innovation throughout the division. Active nationally in the field of online education, Riggs regularly presents at conferences and has written for publication about online course development, faculty development, leadership, and innovation. She is currently serving a three-year elected position for the Quality Matters Instructional Design Association leadership team and a three-year elected position on the WCET Steering Committee. She is the author of "Thrive Online: A New Approach for College Educators" (Stylus, 2019).
	Cyndi Rowland Director, WebAIM; NCDAE Utah State University Cyndi Rowland is the founder and executive director of WebAIM and the National Center on Disability and Access to Education both housed at Utah State University. Since 1999 she has focused on research, tool and resource development, training, and policy initiatives for web accessibility in education. The work of both WebAIM and NCDAE are viewed as important resources in web accessibility. Both groups have a rich history of research and product development to benefit the broader community and an inclusive web. WebAIM is consistently in the top eight Google returns when searching for “web accessibility”, where there are typically millions of returns. Rowland has engaged in her accessibility work at top tier national and international levels. Examples include sitting on the U.S. Section 508 refresh committee, and working on initiatives out of UN organizations. Examples include the ITU and UNESCO where she was an invited expert to assist in the creation of global guidelines for online distance education. Accessibility plays a role for UN Member States.
	Judith Sebesta Executive Director Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas Judith Sebesta has served as a faculty member at such institutions as the University of Arizona and University of Missouri. She worked in a variety of positions for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board before serving as executive director of the Institute for Competency-Based Education, and currently, the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas