Mary-Ann Winkelmes is Coordinator of Instructional Development and Research and an Associate Graduate Faculty member in the Department of History at the University Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where her aim is to promote teaching and learning initiatives, student success, faculty development and instructional research in all the University’s academic units. She also serves on UNLV’s Path to Tier One Executive Committee. She is a Senior Fellow of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and a partner in the AAC&U’s LEAP project—Transparency and Problem-Centered Learning. She also serves on the Nevada Humanities Board of Trustees.

Dr. Winkelmes (Ph.D., Harvard, 1995) has held senior leadership roles in the campus teaching centers at Harvard University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. She has consulted and provided professional development programming for faculty through the Lilly Endowment’s higher education grant-making and teacher training programs, and for teaching centers in the U.S. and abroad. She has also served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Development Network in Higher Education (POD Network), and Chair of its Research Committee.

Her work to improve higher education learning and teaching, especially for historically underserved students, has been recognized nationally by the Chronicle of Higher Education and by the POD Network’s Robert J. Menges Award for Outstanding Research in Educational Development. She founded and directs the Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Project (TILT Higher Ed), which promotes direct conversation between teachers and students about methods of teaching and learning, and helps faculty to share data on students’ learning across institutions and countries. The impact of this project on students’ learning has been the focus of publications in the National Teaching and Learning Forum, Project Information Literacy, the National Education Association’s Higher Education Advocate and AAC&U’s Liberal Education.

Dr. Winkelmes advocates her view that research, teaching and learning are best practiced as a unified enterprise that benefits students and society in An Illinois Sampler: Teaching and Research on the Prairie. Dr. Winkelmes has also published book chapters and peer-reviewed articles on college teaching and learning and on the history of art and architecture in Renaissance Italy, Benedictine church design and decoration, acoustics, and religious architecture. She has received numerous teaching awards as well as grants for her art historical research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Kress, Delmas, and Mellon foundations.

Kelly Hermann is the Director of Disability Services at SUNY Empire State College. She is responsible for ensuring that all students with disabilities are granted equal access to the college’s programs ‌and studies. She updates college faculty and staff on issues regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, lends support and expertise to the disability representatives at centers, and reviews documentation and determines accommodations for students. She has a M.S. Ed. in communication disorders and is pursuing a Ph.D. in educational administration and policy studies. Kelly served as the chair of the public policy standing committee of the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) from 2009-2013 and is the current co-chair of the online and distance learning special interest group. She has frequently presented on issues of accessibility in online and distance education at state and national conferences, including the New York State Disability Services Council, AHEAD and the Online Learning Consortium and has been an invited presenter for several colleges, audio conferences and webinars.

For the past three decades, Dr. Hap Aziz has been transforming learning through play as an interactive software developer, education entrepreneur, and learning technology visionary. Dr. Aziz has worked extensively to invent new ways of providing compelling and high-quality learning experiences that consider pedagogy through the lens of narrative, interactivity, and engagement.

In the private sector, Dr. Aziz has partnered with organizations such as Disney, Sony, the Orlando Magic, and a variety of other companies worldwide to provide interactive software solutions for business and entertainment industry needs. In the mid-1980s, he worked with Motorola in the development of the first test cellular phone system in Washington, DC, and a decade later he launched the first commercial Internet Service Provider in Central Florida. Working in higher education, Dr. Aziz developed and launched over 700 individual online courses and nearly a hundred online degree programs in subject areas ranging from History to Linear Algebra; from 3D Animation to Cybersecurity. He has assisted dozens colleges and universities in establishing strategic online operations for global markets as well as redesign and redeploy their digital identities to enable the integration of institutional websites, portals, and learning management systems.

Dr. Aziz speaks regularly at public events and conferences, and he frequently appears on television to discuss learning and technology and entertainment topics of the day. He has broad knowledge of both personal and enterprise learning and entertainment technologies, and he enjoys demonstrating the connection between technology and culture throughout history. Currently Dr. Aziz provides strategic consulting services to higher education institutions and private organizations that are committed to using technology in support of improving the learning experience. Dr. Aziz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rollins College, a Master’s in Instructional Technology and Distance Education from Nova Southeastern University, and his doctorate in Education from the University of Florida is focused on Curriculum and Instruction.

Kathleen S. Ives, D.M. has worked in online technology for over 20 years and is currently the Online Learning Consortium’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director where she oversees the organization’s strategic direction. Dr. Ives assumes this leadership role after serving as interim CEO and Executive Director since October 2013. Additionally, she serves as faculty for the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (sponsored by Penn State and OLC) and on the Leadership Advisory Board for the Center for Learning Innovations & Customized Knowledge Solutions (CLICKS).

Formerly, Dr. Ives oversaw all forms of alternative instruction at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA (distance learning, accelerated programming). She serves as adjunct faculty for University of Phoenix, Denver-based American Sentinel University, and Bay State College in Boston.

Dr. Ives began her career at CBS and helped to develop the service that evolved into Prodigy. She then spent fourteen years designing and implementing consumer online information services, first at AT&T and then at Verizon where she spearheaded the development of the nation’s first online Yellow Pages product, now called superpages.com. Dr. Ives has degrees in communication, communication management, and organizational leadership from the University of California at Davis, the University of Southern California, Annenberg School of Communication, and the University of Phoenix-Online, respectively.

Sam is best known for How to Speak Pittsburghese and How to Speak Bostonian, popular folklore titles since the 1980s. He has also co-authored three books on topics about total quality management and higher education. An innovator in composition studies, Sam has designed, developed and taught online and hybrid courses since the mid-1990s. In 2008 and 2009, he received Blackboard Catalyst Community Collaboration Awards and in 2010, the Staff Development Program Award. That same year, he co-chaired the successful Southwest Technology Conference hosted by NSC in Henderson, NV. Since then, he has led NSC’s transition from Bb Vista 8 to Canvas, the adoption of 2 lecture capture systems, and the development of an instructional media library on YouTube. Sam is currently coordinating a statewide project to accelerate the transition of high school and first-year college students to college level math and composition courses.

Leeann Fields is the Assistant Director of Professional Development and Compliance for the Office of Online Education at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Leeann has been with UNLV for 1 ½ years and prior to that the University of Colorado Denver (16 years), and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (5 years). Working in the area of Instructional Design specifically in distance/online education for the last 22 years, her special interest is in promoting professional development for those developing online and hybrid courses and programs and for those teaching in the online environment. In addition to fostering professional development opportunities in online education for faculty and staff, Leeann still takes the lead as an instructional designer for online courses and programs, and most recently is heading up efforts to guide UNLV through the complex web of state authorization reciprocity agreements. Leeann has an MA in Administration, Supervision, and Curriculum Instruction with an emphasis in Instructional Technology from the University of Colorado Denver, and is currently working toward her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at UNLV.