With over 32 years of experience in community leadership, administration, instructional design, technology, and distance education, I am passionate about advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion using anti-racist/anti-bias practices. I feel fulfilled in leadership roles that involve advocacy, collaboration, outreach, and education to make a positive impact.
Accomplishments
In my 30 years, I have been fortunate to continuously grow in responsibilities. Some of my accomplishments that I am most proud of thus far include…
- Founding The UP Center of Champaign County, a community center for members of the queer community, a diverse and marginalized community in the Midwest where I led a group of volunteers through the incorporation, strategic planning, and program development processes.
- My ongoing journey to remove systemic barriers and address racism and bias through multiple trainings and actions. For example, I have been trained and served as an Inclusion Advocate on over 35 hiring committees for executive, faculty, classified, and exempt positions, ensuring a fair and equitable process.
- Developed HR Department from scratch, creating systems recognized and shared nationally with other co-ops. The department transitioned from a paper-based structure to one where all files were maintained digitally. Created an online recruitment process that seamlessly moves candidates through the hiring process while drastically reducing paper consumption.
- Led and orchestrated the merger of three eLearning departments, achieving a unified mission and expanded support services, which enhanced services, extended hours or operation, and increased student and faculty satisfaction – accomplishing our first-year goals in four months.
- Led the transition and merger of three Canvas LMS mergers into a single instance resulting in more effective, efficient and timely support to students and faculty across a three-college district.
- Served as Chair Elect, Chair, and Past Chair for the SBCTC eLearning Council, during a global pandemic, providing state-wide leadership in areas of DEIA, accessibility, Open Education, instructional design, LMS administration, and course modalities.
- Achieved recognition from accreditation teams for data-driven evaluation methods, stating “the eLearning Department uses data and is a model for assessment college wide.”
- Managed substantial budgets with a focus on participatory and open book management, setting a standard for financial transparency and accountability within educational institutions.
- Designed sophisticated budgeting tools adopted across a three-college district, enhancing financial planning, and reporting accuracy.
- Led program and systems review for academic self-paced program experiencing decline in enrollment and revenue; Implemented an action plan, returning the program to self-sustaining and revenue generating in less than two years.
- Presented keynote address at 9 conferences in the fields of education, distance education, and child development.
- Designed and taught 11 graduate and 12 undergraduate courses and conducted numerous professional development workshops, reinforcing my expertise in pedagogical innovation and commitment to lifelong learning. Based on student evaluations, I’m in the top 5% of faculty within my program, college, and university.
- Created a faculty development program that provided over 2,000 hours of instruction to 220 faculty in the first year of implementation around pedagogy, accessibility, and technology tools.
- Published 4 books and multiple articles in the fields of leadership, education, distance education, and change management.