The OLC Board of Directors is ringing in 2023 with two new board officers – President Patsy Moskal and Vice President Paige McDonald – and two new board members – Vincent Del Casino Jr. and Vickie Cook. The newly elected members and officers will guide the OLC’s strategic mission in advancing digital learning leadership worldwide.
Board Officers and Members, who serve a one-year term and three-year term, respectively, are chosen by the current OLC Board for their in-depth knowledge and leadership in higher education.
“The OLC community benefits from the visionary direction of our distinguished Board of Directors,” says Jennifer Mathes, OLC CEO. “Their leadership is foundational to our mission of engaging digital learners across the globe.”
New Officers
Board President: Patsy Moskal
University of Central Florida
Dr. Patsy Moskal, previously the OLC Board Vice President, is Interim Executive Director of the Center for Distributed Learning and Director of the Digital Learning Impact Evaluation at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Since 1996, she has served as the liaison for faculty research involving digital learning technologies, supporting the scholarship of teaching and learning at UCF. Patsy specializes in statistics, graphics, program evaluation, and applied data analysis. She has served as a co-principal investigator on grants from several government and industrial agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Gates Foundation-funded Next Generation Learning Challenges.
“It is my privilege to serve as the President of the OLC Board of Directors and work alongside such a distinguished group of experts in higher education,” Moskal says. “The colleagues that I have met and worked with through the Online Learning Consortium over the past 25 years have become cherished mentors, professional collaborators, and personal friends. It is an honor to help continue to advance the mission of OLC in creating community and knowledge around quality online, blended, and digital learning.
Board Vice President: Paige McDonald
George Washington University
Dr. Paige McDonald is an Associate Professor at George Washington University (GW) in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Vice Chair of the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership. Paige is an educational researcher who has focused on integrating technology into health professions education to achieve pedagogical goals, with an emphasis on blended learning design. At GW, Paige teaches complexity science, knowledge translation, implementation science and innovation leadership courses in an interdisciplinary, blended Ph.D. program on Translational Health Sciences. Within OLC, she has previously served as a conference program chair, track chair, reviewer, and guest editor for Online Learning.
“It has been an honor to serve as a member of the board of directors, particularly as we emerge from COVID lockdown and think toward engaging our community once again in face to face forums,” McDonald says. “Working with my fellow board members, many of whom have served as my mentors and guides in online and blended learning and the staff of OLC to ensure that we continue to set the global standard in online and blended learning is a career achievement for me.”
New Members
Board Member: Vincent Del Casino Jr.
San Jose State University
As San Jose State University’s provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, Vincent J. Del Casino Jr. serves as a key member of the university president’s leadership team with primary responsibility for ensuring academic excellence in undergraduate and graduate studies as well as a continual commitment to research, scholarship, and creative activities that benefit all students and society at large. With more than 18 years of academic and administrative experience in higher education, he has also provided leadership at the University of Arizona and California State University, Long Beach.
“I am excited to be joining the Board at this important time when online education and digital learning have become top of mind nationally,” Del Casino says. “I look forward to engaging with all members of the Board as the OLC positions itself as a critical organization in the larger higher education conversation.”
Board Member: Vickie Cook
University of Illinois Springfield
Vickie S. Cook is the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment & Retention Management at the University of Illinois Springfield. For the past 10 years, she has overseen Online Learning through the Center for Online Learning, Research and Service, Continuing and Professional Education, Office of Engaged Learning, and Center for Faculty Excellence and served as a member of the Provost leadership team. As a Research Faculty member, she has authored several works discussing the intersection of capacity building through leadership. Her research interests focus on generational learning, multi-generational teaching in the online space, and comparisons of Generation Z and Generation Alpha expectations for learning.
“I am humbled and honored to be joining the OLC Board of Directors,” Cook says. “The OLC board consists of a collaborative group of innovative leaders who are focused on excellence in the digital learning experience. I am thrilled to be a part of the good work of OLC in advancing high quality teaching and learning experiences through digital learning.”