George H. Axinn is Professor Emeritus at Michigan State
University in the area of
International Rural Development. He has
directed major institutional development projects in Nepal and Nigeria, served
as Executive Director of the Midwest Universities Consortium for International
Activities (MUCIA) and headed the Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) Nepal program
for several years, and later the Regional Office for India and Bhutan. Over
the years he has taught many different classes on agricultural extension, on
non-formal education, and on International Development. He resides in Arizona and regularly
teaches a graduate seminar in Michigan
via distance education (especially when there is snow in Michigan!). He is also heavily involved in
the care and feeding of homeless people in the Tucson area.
Tim Brannan is
Assistant Professor, Department of Teacher Education & Professional
Development, Central
Michigan University,
Mt. Pleasant,
Michigan. Previously he has held positions as Director,
Instructional Technology and Distance Education at Lansing Community College
(Michigan)
and Director of Staff Training for Michigan State University Extension. His academic and research background is in
distance education and online professional development. Tim has been awarded several grants to
explore the integration of technology in K-12 curriculum from the Michigan
Department of Education.
Jose Chotguis is Professor in the Department of Rural Economics and
Extension at the Federal University of Parana (Brazil). Prior to joining the university he served as a
rural extension agent. Currently he offers
classes in agricultural extension to undergraduate and graduate students and
serves as Director of the Continuing Education Program that includes distance
education graduate courses in Agribusiness, Forest Management, Regional
Development, and Natural Resources Management.
His distance education program provides a major learning opportunity for
both alumni and professionals throughout Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia.
Marguerite Cotto is Vice President for Lifelong and Professional
Learning at Northwestern
Michigan College
in Traverse City, Michigan.
Previously she directed NMC’s University
Center - a unique
partnership between Northwestern
Michigan College
and senior universities located throughout Michigan.
Steve Evans
is Senior Television Producer-Director, Communication and Technology Services, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. In addition he is Director of LearnNet - a web-based video-on-demand delivery network
from Michigan State University Extension.
Diane Golzynski in a member of the staff of the Michigan Department
of Community Health and a key contributor to the Michigan Nutrition Network, a multidisciplinary,
community-based, public-private collaboration to build and strengthen alliances
focused on nutrition and physical activity.
She has been an academic faculty member at Michigan State
University (Dept of Food
Science and Human Nutrition) and California
State University,
Fresno (Dept of
Food Science and Nutrition). Her Food Service 2000 distance education
program has become an industry standard for the
training of food service employees throughout the United States.
Kathleen Guy
is the Executive Director for College Relations and the NMC Foundation of
Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse
City, Michigan. She is also a partner of the Eaton Cumming
Group and a nationally known consultant in the areas of strategic planning and
fundraising counsel for nonprofit organizations and community colleges.
Bernard Gwekwerere is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of
Educational Administration at Michigan
State University.
Previously he served as an Agricultural Extension Specialist and Training
Manager in Zimbabwe.
His research interests focus on issues of persistence among online
learners. He combines his experience
working with adult learners in the developing world and his studies in online
learning to research issues of integrating technology and lifelong learning.
Rory Hoipkemeier is Director of Life Justice for the Catholic Diocese
of Lansing, where she attempts to communicate all the Social Teachings of the
Church throughout 95 parishes in the state of Michigan. She is a graduate of Michigan State University
in Extension Education, Special and Elementary Education as well as Social
Studies. She examined community-based radio stations and their role in
providing nonformal education for her Master’s thesis. Her educational interests have led her to
teaching in Indonesia
and Thailand
and homeschooling her own children.
Simone Jonaitis Simone Jonaitis is the
Executive Director for Continuing Education at Grand Valley
State University
(Michigan). She has spent most of her academic career in the
field of Adult and Continuing Education and has taught and directed programs
for adult learners both in the States and in Latin America.
She is the past president for the Council for Continuing and Higher Education
and has been recognized as an
Outstanding Continuing Educator by the University Continuing
Education Association. Her main interest
is enhancing access to higher education and promoting the success of
non-traditional learners.
S. Joseph Levine is Professor Emeritus of Adult Education/Extension Education at Michigan State University.
His academic and research background is in the area of adult learning and he
enjoys combining that with his long time interest in radio and technology. He has degrees in music education, guidance
and counseling, and curriculum research.
His strong interest in distance education was initiated in 1966 when he
received a grant from the Library of Congress to develop the Recorded Aid for Braille Music – a
complete learn-at-home recorded method to assist blind learners in playing a
musical instrument. When not designing
distance education programs he is usually speaking around the world as an
amateur radio operator (W8JRK).
Stephen D. Lowe
is Professor of Christian Education and Associate Dean of Distributive Learning
at Erskine Theological Seminary in South
Carolina.
Stanley Mpofu is Professor and Director of the Centre for
Continuing Education of the National University of Science and Technology (Zimbabwe). He has published extensively on many aspects
of adult and continuing education, including open and lifelong learning. His professional career began as a faculty
member in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Zimbabwe
in 1987. He has also worked in the adult education departments of the University of Botswana and the University of Namibia,
where he served as head of department from 2001 to 2003. He serves on the "Series Editorial
Board" of the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult
Education Association (IIZ/DVV) which produces books with a strong emphasis on African
perspectives of adult education and training.
Zobeida Ramos is Professor and head of the Department of Faculty Development at the
National Open University (Universidad Nacional Abierta
– UNA) of Venezuela.
She has a bachelor and graduate degrees in education, and has developed wide
experience as a teacher in secondary and higher education in Venezuela, as
well as in the design and administration of distance education programs offered
by UNA. She has served as Cluster Coordinator for the Instructional Technology
& Distance Education (ITDE) Graduate Program in the Fischler
Graduate School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern
University. Her research
interests are in the areas of adult and continuing education, faculty
development and curricular and instructional design, especially applied to
distance education.
Diane Sams has been involved in distance education both as a
student and a facilitator. She earned
her degree in Human Development from Washington
State University's
Distance Degree Program, becoming interested in the process as well as the
content of the distance education program.
Her graduate studies include the online Master of Distance Education
program at the University of Maryland University
College (UMUC), with an emphasis on student support and motivation. She is an exam administrator for UMUC
distance education exams and a volunteer member of the family readiness team at
a US Air Force family support center.
Ryan Shaltry has been involved with many areas that support the
technical side of distance education. He
is an experienced Internet developer, system administrator, and technology
aficionado. Currently he is a Systems
Operations Engineer for a major communications company.
Lyn Smith is
an Educational Designer/Senior Lecturer for the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland. Since1995 Lyn has been
involved in the development of distance Teacher Education programs in New Zealand and
her passion for high
quality interaction in e-learning has stemmed from this work. A 2004/5 fellowship allowed her to travel in New Zealand and
overseas to study
issues related to the design and evaluation of e-learning
environments. Some consultancy projects
have grown out of this work, including advisory work with Australasian organizations
and tertiary institutions, and the further development of national e-learning
professional networks.
Gary Teja has been involved in leadership development
at-a-distance in the U.S.
and Latin America for the past 30 years, most
recently through Christian Reformed Home Missions, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He also is director of an online Master’s program at Calvin Seminary and
adjunct professor at Reformed Bible College. His hobbies (and therapy) are
antiquing and restoring a turn-of-the-century Victorian home in downtown Holland, Michigan.
Laura Trombley is the Extended Education Representative for the
Southwest Region of Michigan State University Extension. Her graduate studies have been conducted at a
distance from Athabasca Univerity - Canada's
leading distance-education and online university - with a focus on
instructional design. Her interest in
becoming an online student was initially sparked by participation in one of
MSU's first distance education courses, conducted via e-mail in 1996.
Neil VanderVeen is a Senior Instructional Systems Developer with the
Camber Corporation and consults with governmental agencies in the areas of
program planning and evaluation with particular emphasis on leadership
training. He has previously held
positions in training and organization development with The University of
Toledo and the State of Michigan in addition to a wide range of consulting
clients in the manufacturing sector.
** *** **