Invited Speakers
Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, College of Design. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the use of digital techniques and theory in design, including introductory and advanced 3D modeling, Building Information Modeling, visualization, fabrication, computational design and Virtual Reality. His research interest is in perception and use of Virtual Reality in the design process.
Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch
Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches courses in first-year writing, technical communication, computer and online pedagogy, and usability testing of online interfaces. Her research addresses writing theory and pedagogy in technical disciplines, composition, and online environments.
Bradley Cohen
Brad enjoyed his first foray into using technology in education as a philosophy professor at the University of Evansville, where a relatively crude website had a substantial positive effect on his teaching and his students’ learning. The experience ultimately led him to the Digital Media Center, Office of Information Technology, at the University of Minnesota. Brad has been working with faculty and staff at the University of Minnesota for over six years to help them improve student learning in technology rich learning environments. As assistant director at the Digital Media Center, Brad is actively engaged in exploring the impact of technology on teaching and learning in higher education, and in designing and evaluating effective programs to help students, staff and faculty learn and use technology to enhance student learning.
- Toby Cryns
- Toby Cryns is a visually-oriented website developer currently working on his Master of Education with an emphasis in learning technologies at the University of Minnesota. His company, The Mighty Mo! Design Co., seeks to create new experiences on the web utilizing cutting edge technologies. An avid blogger, Toby is owner and Editor-in-Chief of the popular music review blog, Lunch of Champions. Prior to founding The Mighty Mo!, Toby had successful careers in politics, journalism, and also in student life at the U.
Aaron Doering
Aaron Doering, Ph.D. University of Minnesota, is one of the world’s leading experts in the area of adventure learning. His research involves the design, development and evaluation of online learning environments, technology integration in K-12 preservice and inservice settings, and the innovative use of technology to support teaching and learning. Most recently, his research and projects have focused on hybrid online adventure learning environments, online scaffolding environments, and online community-building environments. He has also continued his research in content, cohort-specific technology integration within preservice teacher education programs.
- Ann Hill Duin
- Dr. Ann Hill Duin is committed to excellence in higher education through engagement and partnership. Currently Ann is Associate Vice President and Deputy Chief Information Officer in the Office of Information Technology at the University of Minnesota. Ann is responsible for Academic and Distributed Computing Services (ADCS), Enterprise Application Systems (EAS), and Network and Telecommunications Services (NTS), working to serve as a catalyst for innovatively leveraging technology to advance and support extraordinary education, breakthrough research, and dynamic public engagement.Ann’s over 30 years of teaching, scholarship, and administrative experiences focus on collaboration and excellence through innovative uses of technology. Most recently as senior associate dean, she provided transformational leadership in the development of a new College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, spearheading the development of IT service clusters. She also has co-lead statewide and system-wide IT partnerships in previous associate provost, vice provost, and director positions, and at the invitation of the Higher Learning Commission, facilitates inter-institutional teams in the design of sustainable partnerships.Ann is also a tenured professor in the Department of Writing Studies in the College of Liberal Arts. Her over 60 publications include books and journal articles on the social construction of knowledge, success indicators for partnerships, and most recently, change in higher education. She co-authored the book, Partnering in the Learning Marketspace, and her most recent publication, with co-authors Linda Baer and Judith Ramaley, is titled “Smart Change” (Planning in Higher Education, Jan.-March, 2008).
Sumanth Gopinath
- Sumanth Gopinath is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Minnesota. He is currently working on two book projects, one on issues of race and ethnicity in Steve Reich’s music and another on the ringtone industry. His other research interests include post-WWII (American) art- and popular musics, cultural theory (especially Marxism), intersections of politics and music (or culture generally), and the globalization of cultural production.
- Christine Greenhow
- Dr. Christine Greenhow is a postdoctoral associate in Learning Technologies within the department of Curriculum and Instruction at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. She completed her doctorate from Harvard University where she was a Larsen Scholar. Her research goals are to advance scientific understanding of how people learn, teach, and collaborate using emerging networked technologies. She is especially interested in the social aspects of learning and teaching in technology-enhanced formal and nonformal learning contexts, while contributing to the design of innovative learning environments and policies that increase all learners’ development of disciplinary competencies. She has published on K-16 technology integration, the evaluation of e-learning environments, and the ethical and policy issues surrounding learning technology research and use. With interests that cross disciplinary boundaries, including education, communications, and new media, she is the founder and chair of the Social Networks Research Collaborative. Her current work investigates urban teens’ access, use and capacity to learn with interactive Web-based technologies, such as social network sites, in non-school settings. This work informs her research and instruction of pre- and in-service teachers; she has been active in national reform efforts, including the revision of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) and is a former K-12 public school teacher and co-founder of the award winning educational non-profit, Admission Possible.
- Alok Gupta
- Alok Gupta is a Professor and Chair of Information and Decision Sciences at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota; from 1996 to 2001 he was an Assistant Professor at Dept. of OPIM, University of Connecticut. He received his Ph.D. in Management Science and Information from the University of Texas, Austin. His research has been published in various information systems, economics, and computer science journals such as ISR, CACM, JMIS, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Computational Economics, Decision Support Systems, IEEE Internet Computing, International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Information Technology Management, and Journal of Organizational Computer and Electronic Commerce. In addition, his articles have been published in several leading books in the are of economics of electronic commerce. He was awarded a prestigious NSF CAREER Award for his research on dynamic pricing mechanisms on the internet. From 1999-2001, he served as co-director of Treibick Electronic Commerce Initiative (TECI), an endowed research initiative at Dept. of OPIM, University of Connecticut. He is also an affiliate of the Center for Research in Electronic Commerce (CREC) at the University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the editorial boards of DSS and Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics. He teaches courses in the areas of computer networking, electronic commerce, decision support, IT infrastructure, and computer programming at the undergraduate, MBA and Ph.D. levels.
- Laura Gurak
- Dr. Laura J. Gurak is a nationally recognized scholar in technical communication and Internet studies. She is Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Writing Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. She co-founded the Internet Studies Center and has been a regular on Minnesota Public Radio’s Future Tense and the University of Minnesota’s Tech Talk programs. Among her many publications, Gurak is author of Cyberliteracy: Navigating the Internet with Awareness (Yale 2001) and Persuasion and Privacy in Cyberspace: The Online Protests over Lotus MarketPlace and the Clipper Chip (Yale 1997), the latter of which was the first book-length study to document an Internet-based protest about computer privacy issues. She and several graduate students from her program co-edited the edited collection Into the Blogosphere, which is published entirely online in a blog format. Her current work looks at the use of the Internet for social interactions, focusing on online communities, digital literacies, and the Internet-based research.
- Joan E. Hughes
- Dr. Joan Hughes is an Associate Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and teaching focuses on teacher learning and technology integration in preservice and inservice teaching contexts. Her current work examines content-based approaches to educational technology instruction and inquiry approaches to professional learning among PK-12 teachers. Her publications introduce empirically-based theories of teacher technology learning and technology knowledge (technological pedagogical content knowledge) and explicate how such theories impact technology integration and practice in classrooms with children. Recent projects focused on understanding the merits and challenges of developing or using online learning environments that promote inquiry for PK-12 teachers’ learning. She has explored Moodle, wikis, and to a limited extent, Second Life, as environments for collaborative inquiry learning.
- Jeremy Iggers
- Jeremy Iggers is Executive Director of the Twin Cities Media Alliance. Iggers recently ended a 20+ year career with the Minneapolis Star Tribune to become executive director of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, a non-profit organization that brings together media professionals and engaged citizens to improve the quality, diversity and accountability of local media. TCMA publishes the Twin Cities Daily Planet, a local news site that highlights the best of the neighborhood and community press, as well as original reporting by citizen journalists. TCMA also offers citizen journalism classes and media skills workshops, and holds public forums on media issues. Iggers has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Minnesota (1993); his doctoral thesis on the ethics of journalism was published as Good News, Bad News: Journalism Ethics and the Public Interest (Westview Press, 1998).
- Linda Jorn
- Linda Jorn launched the Digital Media Center (DMC), Office of Information Technology, over ten years ago. The DMC team is committed to working with faculty. educational technologists, and instructors as they take a scholarly and collaborative approach to enhancing learning through the thoughtful design of technology-rich learning activities. Linda is part of the Office of Management unit-leadership team and focuses on providing support for learning technologies that are used by over 50,000 learners every semester. Linda serves on international advisory committees such as the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), CIC committees, and frequently presents as an invited speaker at international learning technologies conferences. She is a PhD candidate and has a Masters degree in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota. Her research and grant writing interests occur at the intersection of rhetorical theory, learning sciences, leadership, and emerging technologies.
- Steve Kelly
- Steve Kelley is a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute and the director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy. He served in the Minnesota Senate from January 1997 through December 2006 and the Minnesota House of Representatives from January 1993 through December 1996. He was chair of the Senate Education Committee for four years. He has also run for statewide office.
- Meredith M. McQuaid
- Meredith McQuaid is associate vice president and dean of international programs for the University of Minnesota system, where she promotes the global dimensions of teaching, research, and engagement across all colleges and campuses of the University. Prior to her role as dean, McQuaid served as associate dean for international programs in the U of M Law School. She holds an adjunct faculty position and teaches Introduction to American Law and Legal Research and Writing for Foreign Lawyers. She created and supervised the Judicial Observation Program for Foreign Lawyers, unique in U.S. law schools. Before entering academia, she practiced immigration and civil litigation law in Minneapolis. Active in the American Association of Law Schools, McQuaid is immediate past-Chair of the Section for Graduate Programs for Foreign Lawyers. She has also served on several selection committees for prestigious international fellowships, including the USIA Edmund Muskie Scholars Program.
- PZ Myers
- PZ Myers is a developmental biologist at the University of Minnesota, Morris, with international notoriety as an advocate of evolutionary biology and opponent of creationism. He is a science columnist for Seed magazine and maintains a popular weblog, Pharyngula, at scienceblogs.com.
- Joanna O’Connell
- Joanna O’Connell is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Portugese Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Her current research concerns the ways that Mexican writers are using digital media not only to replicate traditional print media in the literary institution, but also to create new relationships with readers, collaborate in innovate multimedia objects, and counteract some of the gate-keeping activities of traditional publishing. She is also interested in the potential for scholars to collaborate internationally using blogs, and is developing a platform for collaboration of a group of scholars of Mexican literature between the UK, the US and Mexico.
- Nora Paul
- Nora Paul is Director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota. Nora was previously (1991-2000) at the Poynter Institute teaching news library management, computer-assisted research, and new media leadership. She was editor for information services at the Miami Herald from 1979-1991. Nora is the co-author of Behind the Message: Information Strategies for Communicators. She is a member of the board of the World Press Institute, and has traveled worldwide presenting seminars and lectures on research methods and on innovation in online news. Her work at the Institute focuses on evolving digital storytelling forms.
- Loren Terveen
- Loren Terveen is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Minnesota. His research interest spans a variety of topics in human-computer interaction and social computing, including creating more effective online participation and bringing local and online communities together. He helped develop one of the early recommender web sites (PHOAKS) and now is a co-leader of the CommunityLab project. Dr. Terveen received his Ph.D. 1991 from the University of Texas at Austin. He has served the human-computer interaction community in various leadership roles, including co-chair of the CHI and IUI conferences and program chair of CSCW.
Billie Wahlstrom
Billie Wahlstrom has published on the impact of technology, pedagogy, and technical communication. She authored two books: Human Communication and with several of her colleagues, Technical Communication. She co-edited with Mary Lay The Technical Writing Teacher for many years. Her primary interests are in new and emerging technologies and their impact on learning and higher education organizations. She currently serves as the Vice Provost for Distributed Education and Instructional Technology at Minnesota.
