Overview

Accomplished senior educational project manager, theorist and educator with fifteen years’ progressive experience in private and academic sectors, including seven years of education theory, research, project management and teaching at Columbia University. Expert in pedagogically-driven educational technology design, development, implementation and evaluation. Proven talent for recruiting and engaging world-class subject matter experts in educational projects that transform teaching and learning within their field. Expertise in identifying core educational needs and translating them into technical and experiential deliverables in academic, private and public sectors.

Unique combination of technical and educational leadership and experience. Articulate and persuasive in defining the benefits of progressive pedagogies, educational technologies, and demonstrating teaching and learning enhancements over time. Highly self-motivated and enthusiastic about guiding innovation in higher and professional education for the 21st Century.

Professional Competencies

Strategic Partnership Development
Relationship Management
Online Learning Portal Development
Information Architecture Design
Strategic Initiative Management
Emerging Educational Technology Consulting
Academic Writing and Research
Cognition and Computers
Education Project Management
Grant Writing
Pedagogy, Teaching and Learning Instruction
 
Team Building and Leadership
Technology Project Management
Experience Design and Research
Communication History and Theory
Large Audience Presentation and Instruction

Work History

Senior Educational Technology Project Manager
Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), Columbia University, New York, NY                           2006-2014
  • Partnered with departments, schools and faculty across Columbia University to innovate in education practice.
  • Assembled and led project teams to invent new educational technologies that enable and encourage rich, transformative educational experiences.
  • Designed, developed, implemented and evaluated educational technology solutions to teaching and learning challenges using the Design Research methodology, emphasizing agile, iterative technological, pedagogical and instructional design. 
  • Successfully created and led partnerships resulting in pedagogical, programmatic and student experience interventions with Mailman School of Public Health, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia Business School, Columbia College, Teachers College, Earth Institute, Columbia Journalism School, Barnard College and others. Projects revolved around the design, development and implementation of new educational technologies for improving teaching and learning, typically concentrated on systems thinking, multimedia case study, decision-making and the study of complexity.
  • Project manager of several hallmark projects at CCNMTL, including Mediathread, Millenium Village Simulation, Country X, Relief Sim, Brownfield Action, GroundWork and others.  
 Select Project Descriptions
  • Co-creator and project manager of Mediathread, an open-source platform for analyzing video, images and audio, used in over 300 courses for 1000+ students at Columbia, as well as dozens of schools beyond, including Harvard, Dartmouth, M.I.T., The New School, Wellesley, and The American University in Cairo.
  • Co-creator and project manager of Country X, a web-based simulation/case study application created for the Center of International Conflict Resolution at the School of International and Public Affairs. The simulation was introduced into SIPA’s Spring 2009 Genocide Prevention Course, and has since been used in trainings with US State Department International Visitors Program, the Economic Consortium of West African States (ECOWAS), the Budapest Centre for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, and other conflict and atrocity prevention groups worldwide.
  • Three promotions over seven years of service at CCNMTL. Responsibilities grew to include staff management and professional development. Creator and director of “Studio”, a weekly professional development seminar for all 11 project managers, designers, and the Director of Projects.  Manager and organizer of the Center’s Design Research site: http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/dr/
Education Practice
Columbia University                                                                                                                                                                 2006-Present
  • Instructional workshops on pedagogy, teaching with technology, teaching case studies, educational simulations and teacher professional development at the Mailman School of Public Health, CCNMTL’s ReWired professional development series, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Teaching Center, Columbia’s Teachers College, the E-Learning Faculty Fellowship, and other seminars and workshops across the university.
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY                                                                      2010
  • Co-taught full semester course “Prevention of Mass Killing and Genocide.”
  • Received excellent student evaluations for the design and value of the course.
United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington, DC.                                                                                                              2009
  • Contract awarded for educational program design and implementation for conflict early warning analysts and two department leaders from ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. Content included theory and pragmatic policy related to the early warning and prevention of identity-based political violence including mass killing and genocide.  
  • Delivered an institutional reassessment of the metrics and indicators ECOWARN utilizes to monitor identity-based violence in the sub-region. 
Economic Community of West African States, Abuja, Nigeria.                                                                                        2010-Present
  • Coordinated and facilitated visit and sharing of mandates between ECOWARN leadership and the UN Office of the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide.  Outcomes of the meeting included increased knowledge of institutional early warning and a commitment by both entities to increase cooperation at the UN and sub-regional level.
US State Department International Visitors Program
  • Contract to train lawmakers from the DR Congo in pragmatic policy decision making related to the early warning and prevention of identity-based political violence. Emphasis on understanding unintended consequences of rational decisions in rapidly destabilizing political scenarios.
Budapest Centre for the International Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, Budapest, Hungary.                           2014
  • Trained 22 officials representing Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior, and Justice from Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic in theory and pragmatic policy related to the early warning and prevention of identity-based political violence including mass killing and genocide.
  • Contract awarded for second training, Bratislava, Slovakia, with the Visegrad Group, June, 2014.
Ilia State University (ISU), Tbilisi, Georgia.                                                                                                                                        2014
  • Designed and led professional development training in partnership with G-PAC (Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia) with a grant from USAID to train Georgian Public Policy educators in “21st Century Teaching and Learning” practices and technologies.
Dynamical Systems Theory Innovation Lab, Earth Institute, New York, NY.                                                              2013-Present
  •  Director of Education Programming for DST Innovation Lab, an organization that brings 40 of the world’s leading scholar-practitioners working with complexity science, conflict and peace to share leading-edge ideas, methods and practices in order to inspire and support collaborative work, and increase the utility of dynamical systems theory in direct conflict work. 
Select Publications and Engagements
  • Author: “Educational Technology and a World Core for Classic Literature." Classics for an Emerging World, eds. Wm. Theodore de Bary, Shang Wei and Rachel E. Chung, New York: Columbia University Press: 2008.
  • Author: "Leveraging Web-Based Environments for Mass Atrocity Prevention." Simulation & Gaming, 44: 94-117 (2013).
  • Author: “Current and Potential Uses of Technology to Enhance Social and Emotional Learning: What’s Now and What’s Next”, Durlak, J. A., Domitrovich, C. E., Weissberg, R. P., & Gullotta, T. P. (Eds.). (in press). Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice. New York: Guilford: 2014.
  • Author: “The Development of Future Faculty Peer Networks in Educational Technology Training.” In M. Searson & M. Ochoa (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2014 (pp. 159-164). Chesapeake, VA: AACE, 2014.
  • Speaker: First International Conference on Classics for An Emerging World, the Association for Core Texts and Courses, the Committee for Asia and Middle East and the Heymen Center for the Humanities at Columbia University, January 2008. 
  • Speaker: New Media Consortium Summer Conference, Princeton University, 2008.
         “Simulations in Global Humanitarian Aid and Sustainable Development, Applications of Emerging Technologies.”
  • Speaker: Conflict Security and Development Series 2009, New York University Wagner School, 2009.
         “Preventing Mass Killing: Moving Educational Theory to Policy Practice”
  • Speaker: International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace, 2009.
         “Intelligent Simulation Technology for Training Humanitarian Practitioners.”
  • Chair: “Teachers College Educational Technology Conference 2009: Technology, Media & Designs for Learning”, Columbia University, 2009.
  • Speaker: National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS), 2013.
         Digital Content: Fostering Usage Through Practical Functionalities and Policies.
  • Speaker: Moving Images and the Digital Humanities: Towards Best Practices for Teaching and Learning, Columbia University, 2014.
         "Media Analysis and Close Reading Tools."
  • Speaker: Teagle Summer Institute, Columbia University, Summer 2014
         "Net-Gen Students", "Case Studies for Teaching and Learning", "Educational Simulations". 
Cofounder and Senior Partner
Harding and Whitlock LLC (est. 2010) New York, NY                                                                                             June 2010-Present
  • Educational Technology and Conflict Analytics Global Consulting 
Project Manager                                                                                                                     Nov. 2001-June 2006 
Pegasus Associates Business Consulting (IT) Co. Ltd. Beijing, China
  • Produced investigative and analytical reports forecasting wireless market trends in China for major international telecom and research firms. Managed a team of market researchers tasked with gathering primary data on China’s telecom industry.  
  • Responsibilities included on-site investigations, conversations and communications with management and regional workers. Maintained consistent channel checks on business productivity and workflow.
  • Cross referenced and validated legal documentation and data provided by management to assess risk of foreign investment and viability of business model.
  • Designed programs in business case development. Created conceptual models that better situated telecom market reality against the complexities of business in China.
  • Created multivariable, scenario-based simulations to formulate and evaluate wireless business plans. Key metrics analyzed include NPV analysis, Payback period, Return on Investment (ROI), and Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
  • Chief editor of “Wireless China Insider,” the company’s successful proprietary monthly research journal for overseas executives.
  • Co-Creator of the company’s proprietary “Wireless Landscape Map” and “Wireless Wheel” models that put various market data into a unique and valuable geographical perspective.
Curriculum Designer/Business Lecturer                                                                                    Sept. 2003-July 2006
Informatics College, Xiamen, China
  • Created and implemented innovative business training programs for major corporations with operations in China including Canon, Kodak, and Dell.
  • Designed debate-based, highly interactive courses that emphasized presentations and other collaborative approaches to learning.
  • Received consistently high student evaluations and rewards for excellence in teaching.

Education

Columbia University, 2007-Present, New York, NY
  • M.A., Ed.D. Communication and Education
Xiamen University, 2003 Xiamen, China
  • Mandarin Chinese.
Pegasus Associates, 2002 Beijing, China
  • Mentorship in technology project management. Selected for full-time employment upon completion.
Beijing Sports University, 2001-2002 Beijing, China
  • Program in full-contact Chinese martial arts. Mandarin Chinese.
Bates College, 1996-2000 Lewiston, Maine
  • B.A. East Asian Studies, concentration on Japan. Crew team member.
Kyoto Institute of Art, 1999 Kyoto, Japan
  • Study of Japanese language, history, religion. Credits approved by Bates College.
Tokyo International Center, 1998 Tokyo, Japan
  • Study of Japanese language, religion. Credits approved by Bates College.
Central Maine Technical College, 1997 Auburn, Maine
  • EMT-B Certification with Wilderness First Responder curriculum.
Officer Candidates School, United States Marine Corps, 1997-1999 Quantico, Virginia
  • Platoon Leaders Course. Graduated with an award.
Woodstock School, 1995-1996 Mussoorie, India
  • Second oldest international school in the world, located in the Himalayas.

SKILLS

Skilled in working collaboratively with experts in a wide variety of disciplines for common goals. Substantial general knowledge accumulated from years of working closely with faculty on a large variety of projects across many disciplines. Vast knowledge of East Asian history. Talent for visualizing complex phenomena and creating models that describe them. Expert in the use of educational technology for improving teaching and learning.

Languages: Proficient in Mandarin Chinese. 
Leisure: Fly-fishing, photography, guitar, hiking.