Brown and Diaz Join The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative

July 10, 2009, Boulder, Colorado--The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), the major teaching, learning, and technology program of EDUCAUSE, the association for information technology in higher education, announces the appointment of Malcolm Brown as director and Veronica Diaz as associate director of ELI effective August 1, 2009.

Malcolm Brown joins ELI after more than 17 years at Dartmouth College, where he founded the Department of Academic Computing and served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Jewish Studies. Brown conceived and managed Dartmouth’s Learning Technology Venture Fund, a $1 million grant program supporting innovation in the curriculum using information technology. He also co-founded the Active Learning Institute, a two-day professional development seminar for faculty to immerse themselves in active learning strategies and practices, as well as the Student Center for Research, Writing, and Information Technology (RWiT).

Brown has served for many years on the advisory board for the Horizon Report, a joint publication of ELI and the New Media Consortium (NMC), which projects the emerging technologies likely to significantly impact teaching and learning. He currently serves on the ELI Advisory Board and is a past secretary and chairman of the NMC Board of Directors. In 2003, Brown helped pioneer the concept of learning spaces through a co-authored article in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, and he continues to be a prolific speaker, writer, and commentator on the topic.

“Malcolm’s extensive experience as a thought leader and campus innovator in teaching and learning with technology is a perfect fit for ELI’s mission,” says Julie Little, EDUCAUSE director for teaching, learning, and professional development. “We look forward to the future directions he will set for ELI.”

According to Brown, “It’s an honor to join ELI. The program has established a rich tradition of innovation, experimentation, and pushing the leading edge of practice. It will be my goal to sustain this tradition, which of course means that ELI will not stand still; it will continue to actively evolve with the field and member needs.”

Brown is a graduate of the EDUCAUSE Frye Leadership Institute and the Harvard Management Development Program. He holds a PhD in German studies from Stanford University and bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and German literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He studied as a Fulbright Scholar at Albert Ludwigs Universitat in Freiburg, Germany.

Veronica Diaz most recently served as the learning technology manager at the Maricopa Community Colleges’ Center for Learning and Instruction. In that role, she led learning technology initiatives supporting faculty development at the 10 Maricopa colleges. She also developed and led the Maricopa Blended Learning Faculty Development Initiative, which has supported more than 200 faculty members in developing blended and online courses; managed the district-wide Teaching and Learning with Technology Grants Program that rewards faculty research and development in emerging technologies and assessment; and led and coordinated Maricopa’s Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference, a multiday event that draws more than 200 participants each year to explore emerging technologies and active pedagogies.

Diaz recently served as chair of the EDUCAUSE Advisory Committee on Teaching and Learning and as a board member for the Arizona Technology in Education Alliance. She has served on numerous conference and event planning committees, including the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference Planning Committee and the steering committee for the Sloan-C Emerging Technologies Symposium Annual Meeting.

“Veronica brings both faculty development expertise and endless energy to ELI,” says Little. “Through her years of service to both EDUCAUSE and Maricopa, she has proven herself a tireless advocate for campus faculty and an innovative thinker on the implementation of emerging technologies for teaching and learning.”

According to Diaz, “Being part of this vibrant community as a practitioner has been a high point of my career, and now I look forward to supporting the community as part of the ELI team. Today's technology has great potential to improve learning and teaching, and with creativity to innovate we can improve access and student success. My hope is that we can innovate together and realize those opportunities to transform higher education.”

Diaz is a graduate of the Frye Leadership Institute and the EDUCAUSE Learning Technology Leadership Institute. She received a PhD in higher education (science and technology) from the University of Arizona and a master’s in education (counseling) from the University of San Diego. She holds a BA in political science from the University of California, San Diego.

About EDUCAUSE

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association and the foremost community of IT leaders and professionals committed to advancing higher education. EDUCAUSE programs and services are focused on analysis, advocacy, community building, professional development, and knowledge creation because IT plays a transformative role in higher education. EDUCAUSE supports those who lead, manage, and use information technology through a comprehensive range of resources and activities. For more information, visit www.educause.edu.

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