Cynthia Golden

Cynthia Golden currently serves as director of the Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education at the University of Pittsburgh. This Center serves the teaching and learning mission of the university by providing support for instructional excellence and innovation through instructional development and support, faculty development, online learning, and media services.

Prior to joining Pitt, she was Vice President of EDUCAUSE, the professional association whose mission it is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. At EDUCAUSE she led professional development activities as well as the association's content and knowledge management initiatives. Her portfolio included program and curricula development for management and leadership institutes, web-based seminars and other programs that serve higher education. She was also responsible for creating relevant and compelling learning experiences for members through the annual EDUCAUSE conference program, as well as the regional and special-topic conferences. Cynthia had general oversight for EDUCAUSE services and operations, and coordinated efforts with affiliate organizations.

Before joining EDUCAUSE in 2001, she served as Executive Director of Computing and Technology Services at Duquesne University, where she had been the CIO since 1998. Before coming to Duquesne, Golden was manager of business applications in the Information Systems division at MIT, where she also coordinated administrative computing architecture. She was Associate Director of Administrative Systems at Carnegie Mellon University before joining the staff at MIT.

Golden has been a consistent contributor to professional development, as editor of the book "Cultivating Careers: Professional Development for Campus IT;" scores of articles, and even more conference presentations. She served on the Boards of Directors of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, the Seminars of Academic Computing and CAUSE; participated on two national program committees for EDUCAUSE; and served as a member of many professional association committees over a twenty-year period. She is a sought after speaker both in the U.S. and internationally, most recently at an invitational international conference in Japan in the summer of 2009.

Updated August 2009.