2021 Presenters
Bryan Aylward, PsyDDr. Bryan Aylward is the Associate Director of Academic Operations for the University of Arizona Global Campus. My division encompasses all Faculty Scheduling department for the university across 50+ start dates annually, the Contracts & Payroll Compliance department, as well as the Data and Academic Systems department for the university. Bryan has over 13 years of experience in higher education operations across numerous departments including student services, registrar, curriculum operations, as well as academic operations. In addition to this experience, Bryan has been an associate faculty member for the Forbes School of Business and Technology since 2012 with focused instruction on leadership and management courses for the college. Bryan is an advocate of high-quality education, with experience in online, traditional classroom formats, as well as hybrid classroom formats (Online and Classroom) and is well versed in the challenges that exist for both students and faculty.
Bryan received his Doctorate in Business Psychology from the University of the Rockies in 2017. Presentation: Instructor Reflections |
Christine VelaChristina Vela is a Technology Learning Consulting for McGraw Hill education and eLearning Consultant in digital learning and higher education. She has worked with several software programs and cloud-based services specializing in learning management systems and digital learning resources. Christina partners with schools and instructors, helping them implement digital resources that support their desired outcomes inside the classroom, virtually or blended.
Christina has over a decade of experience working in private sector education and corporate training in the adult learning space. She has a passion for the adult learner and understands the risk factors and barriers to learning these students encounter. Christina thrives at helping instructors and students remove barriers, embrace technology and ultimately see success! Christina completed her undergrad work at Oregon State University and continued on to complete her Masters Degree in Management and Project Management Certificate. She is married and resides in Portland, Oregon where she an avid snowboarder and soccer fan of her 13-year-old son. Presentation: Leveling Up Your Virtual Classroom |
Cole McFarrenMr. Cole McFarren received his bachelor’s degree from Illinois College where he double majored in Communication and Rhetorical Studies in addition to Theatre. Shortly after graduation, he began working for Ashford University (now University of Arizona Global Campus) in 2010 as a writing instructional specialist and teaching assistant, where he also received his master’s degree in organizational management. He was later promoted to manager of Writing Services. Cole worked on Ashford’s campus in Iowa as an academic technology administrator supporting faculty and students with both on-ground classroom and online classroom technology. Cole served as a manager in UAGC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning from 2016 to 2021, where he has been dedicated to classroom innovation and building professional development opportunities for faculty. In his role as a manager, Cole supported major initiatives such as a learning management system transition, implementation of classroom technology such as Civitas Inspire for Faculty, professional development and badging initiatives for faculty, and he daily champions the faculty classroom experience. Recently, Cole transitioned from his previous managerial role to the newly created title of Teaching and Learning Innovation Project Manager. As a passionate educator, Cole has been an associate faculty member since 2015 teaching first year students. Cole was also a member of the Online Learning Consortium’s 2020 cohort of the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning.
Presentation: Inspiring Faculty: Improving Student Outcomes through Increased Faculty-Student Engagement |
Colin EasomColin Easom has taught online for Pima for 10 years and has worked in a full-time administrative role for 8, first as the Online Faculty Coordinator and, more recently, leading academic operations as the Assistant Director for Online Education. He has volunteered his time as a Distance Education evaluator with our institutional accreditor, ABHES, since 2014 and provides guidance on distance education regulatory standards for Pima’s online courses.
Presentation: Welcome to the Jungle: Dodging Accreditation Pitfalls |
Deborah Riemer, Ph.D.Deborah Riemer is the Online Education Director for Pima Medical Institute. She is passionate about finding innovative ways to reach all corners of our communities with quality learning experiences. Deb has been in the field of higher education for 26 years with nearly 20 of those years working within the Online learning space. She has held leadership positions at Open Education, Next U, Ashford University and Apollo Group/University of Phoenix. Deb grew up hiking and skiing in the mountains of northern Arizona, but over the years has lived in many locations spanning four continents. She is thrilled to be able to say that she is a proud member of the Pima family.
Presentation: PMI Online - A Left Turn to the Future |
Heidi ChavezHeidi Chavez is the Academic Support Manager for Pima Medical Institute Online. She served as Campus Director for the Albuquerque West PMI campus prior to the campus closure in March of 2021. Heidi has been in educational roles her whole career, working as a certified teacher, tutor, college director for several institutions and student advisor. She spent ten years as the director of a private, for-profit tutoring company. In her current role with PMI, she manages the Writing Center and writing tutors, other tutoring services and projects tasked to the Academic Operations team.
Presentation: The Online Writing Center |
Jerry FordJerry Ford is a an Academic Systems Administrator at the University of Arizona Global Campus and also an Associate Faculty member teaching upper-division undergraduate courses within the Forbes School of Business and Technology. He has an MA in Organizational Management, a solid background in software development and project management, and also 18 years as a small business owner/entrepreneur prior to joining Ashford/UAGC in 2007.
Jerry enjoys innovating with faculty and staff to streamline business processes and ideas while delivering technology-based solutions that yield insights not previously available. Most recently, he helped implement the Course Feedback process and Faculty End of Course Survey which will be discussed in our presentation. Presentation: Instructor Reflections |
Jessica EvansJessica Evans is an Instructional Designer at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in Grand Junction, Colorado. Jessica received her M.Ed. in Educational Technology from Arizona State University and her B.Ed. in Elementary and Special Education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
With over thirteen years of experience in education, Jessica has a very diverse set of skills and experiences that make her a creative and approachable instructional designer. Her passion is helping faculty learn and grow in their online teaching endeavors. In addition to being an Instructional Designer, Jessica has served as the ePortfolio Coordinator, LMS Administrator, Quality Matters Peer Reviewer, and develops training courses for faculty new to teaching online. Before becoming an Instructional Designer, Jessica was an elementary educator in both Hawaii and Colorado. Recently, Jessica started a new venture by creating Digital Learning Academy, a website designed to help instructors better navigate the online teaching world. Her site includes helpful articles, downloadable templates and guides, and she is currently developing courses designed to give instructors in higher education the skills needed to teach online. Presentation: Don’t Turn into a Bot Online: Three Easy Strategies to Let Your Personality Shine in Your Online Course |
John Roberts
John Roberts has been involved with online education for over fifteen years. He has helped to guide many schools in developing their own K-12 online and blended learning programs.
Additionally, he has been fortunate to be able to pursue his passion for coaching fellow educators in many different settings. He has been a part of the Pima Medical Institute family since 2012 as an adjunct instructor and as the Online Faculty Coordinator since 2019. Presentation: Avoiding Grading Bias |
Josie StrahlleJosie Strahle is the Learning Design and Production Manager for PMI Online. Before joining PMI in 2020, she worked at the University of Arizona’s Digital Learning Department where she led the STEM instructional design team. Prior to her career in online learning, she spent seven years teaching high school science. She is passionate about education and interested in how technology and evidence-based design practices can be leveraged to improve learning experiences and outcomes.
Presentation: Best Practices for Accessibility in Online Courses |
Kathleen GibsonKathleen Gibson is the CEO and Founder of APL nextED, a comprehensive academic operations platform that provides workflow support and links faculty and student data to optimize teaching, advising and mentoring to increase student success.
Kathleen has worked as a lawyer, college dean, program developer, professor, and writer. She is a wife, mother, avid reader and yoga enthusiast. Kathleen has studied and written about trends in higher education for the last 20 years. Kathleen has been described as an audacious leader who knows how to solve big problems by building executable plans and by assembling strong, talented teams. Kathleen has a contagious passion for connecting diverse people around a common vision. Presentation: The role of metacognition in obtaining learning outcomes |
Kenya Jenkins FletcherKenya Jenkins Fletcher has been teaching first-year writing courses at Boise State University since 1999 and has been teaching online courses since 2005. She is always on the lookout for ways to make her (online) courses more personal, more meaningful, and just-plain more magical for her and for her students.
Presentation: Creating Magic in Your Online Classroom |
Melissa A. Venable, Ph.D. Melissa Venable is a writer and education advisor for BestColleges.com where she leads a survey research initiative reporting trends in online education. Melissa is also an adjunct instructor at Saint Leo University and a certified career coach with a background in career development services. She currently serves as a features co-editor for the National Career Development Association’s Career Convergence magazine and has been an associate editor for eLearn Magazine since 2012. Melissa earned her doctorate in instructional technology at the University of South Florida with research interests in distance education and career services for online students.
Presentation: 2021 and Beyond: Evolving Work and Expectations in Higher Education |
MJ RodriguezOver the past ten years, MJ Rodriguez has combined her background in health care with her passion for higher education to bring student-centered learning experiences to PMI students. As PMI’s first Learning Architect, MJ collaborates with Administrators, Program Directors, Instructional Designers, Faculty, and other stakeholders to spread curriculum love and ensure comprehensive and effective learning frameworks for PMI’s online programs.
Presentation: Rubrics: Best Practices for Grading |
Morgan JohnsonMorgan Johnson is the Vice President of Faculty Affairs at The University of Arizona Global Campus. In her role she leads the University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, including faculty support and development, academic operations, and teaching and learning innovation lab, which support nearly 2,500 online faculty. Morgan is currently pursuing a PhD in Organizational Development and Leadership. Her research focuses on teaching practices in online classrooms. As a passionate educator, Morgan has taught over 60 online courses during her career. Her research and consulting have focused on faculty management, teaching and learning, and academic operations.
Presentation: Inspiring Faculty: Improving Student Outcomes through Increased Faculty-Student Engagement |
Nicole BerndNicole Bernd is a part of the Learning Designer Team. She is a 2008 graduate of the Denver Pima Respiratory Therapy (RT) Program. After practicing clinically, Nicole returned to Pima as an RT faculty member in 2016 and then the programmatic clinical director. In 2021 she excitedly accepted a position on the Learning Design team.
She has been a part of the coding and web design community for over 18 years, providing ample opportunities to learn about and implement strategies to improve online accessibility in her work. She frequently applied this knowledge in her online instruction during COVID and is always excited to learn more about and share knowledge on the subject. Presentation: Best Practices for Accessibility in Online Courses |
Rhonda Baughman, Ph.D.Dr. Rhonda Baughman has been a teacher for 19 years and a writer/editor for 29 years. She has been teaching for Pima Medical Institute since 2015, leading courses in English Composition, Technical Writing, and Business Communications. She enjoys all aspects of the writing process and understands everyone needs assistance on their educational journeys. Dr. Baughman states she was no different and even as a professional now (and for many years) still has many awesome mentors and important relationships to guide her through the writing and publishing world.
She is now taking the PMI Writing Center on along with Heidi Chavez and Allison Hubley. Presentation: The Online Writing Center |
Teresa Kuruc, Ph.D.Dr. Teresa Kuruc is the Director of Faculty Support and Development (FSD) at the University of Arizona Global Campus. FSD teams provide real-time classroom support, produce and manage professional development opportunities for faculty, and operationalize the institution's adjunct faculty-specific policies and procedures.
Teresa has nearly 15 years of experience in higher education, including: teaching upper-division undergraduate foreign language, culture, and literature courses at The Ohio State University, Indiana University, San Diego State University, and the University of California San Diego; managing community outreach for academic programs at Ohio State and UC San Diego; and, serving as resident director for a study abroad program at Ohio State. Prior to becoming Director of Faculty Support and Development, she served as Associate Director both of Academic Operations and of Instructional Services at Ashford University. Dr. Kuruc earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC San Diego. She has an MA in Russian Literature and a BA in Russian, both from The Ohio State University. Presentation: Instructor Reflections |