Dixie Abernathy is an associate professor of education at Queens University of Charlotte and coordinator of the master of arts in educa–tional leadership program in the Wayland H. Cato, Jr. School of Education. She has served as teacher, assistant principal, principal, assis–tant superintendent for the ninth largest school system in North Carolina and was recognized as the 1992 NC Teacher of the Year. She holds a bachelor of arts in education from Wake Forest University, a master of arts in school administration from Winthrop University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from East Carolina University. Her research interests include academic freedom and student rights, school violence prevention, school leadership efficacy, and student engagement in online learning.
Adeyemi Adelakun is an information technol–ogy master’s graduate from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from Southwest Minnesota State University.
Jeanette Abrahamsen was an instructor at the University of South Florida for 7 years while pursuing a PhD in instructional technology. She taught 1,300 hours of in–person and 550 hours of live online classes. She designed and taught seven different courses ranging from TV production, virtual and augmented reality. In 2021, she won the university’s Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, which recog–nizes innovation in teaching. Her classes were recognized with five Telly awards, three Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists awards and one National Academy of Televi–sion Arts and Sciences award.
Sara Fier is a professor and department chair for social sciences and humanities at North–western Health Sciences University in Bloom–ington, Minnesota. Her background includes teaching psychology courses and provision of services as a licensed psychologist and certi–fied mental performance consultant.
Shane Kelley obtained his EdD from Maryville University. As a faculty member and administrator with over twenty years of higher education experience in student sup–port, faculty administration, and the online classroom, he previously served as academic chair for undergraduate and graduate public safety programs. Dr. Kelley is currently the associate dean for public safety and legal Studies programs in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Purdue University Global.
Michelle Kilburn obtained her EdD from University of Missouri–Columbia. She served as the first director of Online Programs at Southeast Missouri State University and is cur–rently a full professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work and Sociology. She has led a statewide evaluation of Mis–souri’s probation and parole programs, as well as served as an external reviewer for the Department of Education in Arkansas. Her most recent work is a coedited book entitled, Invisible Victims and the Pursuit of Justice.
Maureen Walsh Koricke is an associate pro–fessor of health administration at Queens Uni–versity of Charlotte and program director for the online master of health administration pro–gram in the Blair College of Health. She teaches quality improvement in healthcare and healthcare economics and policy. Her research interests include graduate online learning and health care quality and patient safety. Dr. Walsh Koricke is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. She received her PhD in public policy from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, an MS in health service administration and BSN from D’Youville University in Buffalo, NY.
Carrie Lewis Miller is an instructional designer with information technology solutions at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She holds a PhD in educational technology from Arizona State University. Carrie has been an instructor in higher education for over 15 years, both in face–to–face and online classes. Her research interests include OER, gamifica–tion, performance improvement and technol–ogy integration.
Michael Manderfeld is an instructional designer with Minnesota State University, Mankato. His research interests include Qual–ity Matters, effective online teaching practices, Hyflex learning experiences, and online course design.
Teneal Messer Pardue is an assistant profes–sor of mathematics at Queens University of Charlotte in the College of Arts and Sciences and quantitative literacy coordinator in the General Education program. She has been teaching mathematics for over 20 years, focusing on statistics. She received her PhD in cur–
riculum and instruction, urban mathematics education from UNC–Charlotte, her MS in mathematical sciences from Clemson Univer–sity, and her BA in mathematics from UNC—Asheville. Her research interests include statis–tics education, online education, and learning communities.
Mary Risacher is an associate professor of education for Southwest Minnesota State Uni–versity in Marshall, Minnesota. Her back–ground includes teaching early childhood, kindergarten, and serving as the director of an Early Childhood At–Risk Program. She cur–rently teaches introductory educational and early childhood licensure courses for the School of Education at SMSU.
Glenn Gordon Smith conducts research on discussion in distance learning. He also con–ducts research on how discussion and com–puter games can help people learn science, language arts, second language learning and other disciplines, partly by embedding com–puter games into web–based eBooks. He has a patent that reinvents the digital book technol–ogy to include online games and social interac–tion, to increase comprehension skills, content learning and the experience of the story. He teaches graduate courses in computer game design, computer game analytics, web pro–gramming, and computer–based educational media design. He has a master’s degree in computer science with a focus on 3D computer graphics and a PhD in educational media and computers.
Vanya Tsvetkova is a research project man–ager at the University of South Florida and an interactive learning designer at MediaWise Poynter Institute. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Tampa for 5 years where she taught data journalism and multimedia storytelling. She is a PhD student with a focus on instructional technology. She received a master’s degree in digital journalism and design, and a bachelor’s degree is in mass communications.
