Hi there!

My Story

I grew up in a city located near Buffalo, New York. The houses in my neighborhood were tight enough that from our kitchen table, we could see what our neighbor was having for dinner at their kitchen table. 

My parents yearned for more space to raise the kids. So when I was in high school, my family moved to the country adding cats, dogs, beef cows, chickens and more to the clan. Soon after it was time for me to enter SUNY Potsdam college, and Northern New York has been my home ever since.

 

My Work

I have been blessed with wonderful professional opportunities and people that have been a huge influence on my life.

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• My career began in economic development as a project manager. We worked on community informational initiatives including the impacts of electricity deregulation on business in the region. We hosted sessions to meet with business managers to hear their concerns and to help them navigate the new environment. Soon we moved onto bringing broadband Internet to rural communities in the region. Grant writing, community listening, partnership building and project planning to deploy fiber optic networks in municipalities and neighborhoods helped create opportunities for communication and data sharing for those organizations.
   

• Soon I transitioned to the private sector as a Marketing Director at a small privately owned telephone company. We deployed informational campaigns to customers and community partners to expand services deployment of high speed internet service into their homes. Dial up was quickly being replaced by high speed and residences were beginning to demand higher quality service experiences. In small rural communities, information infrastructure is the lifeline. Service, quality and reliability are key measures to stand by. 
   

• As my husband and I started a family, it became abundantly clear that a real challenge of rural living is the complete absence of early child care. This forced our hand for me to stay home to raise the children while they were young - an experience that I am forever grateful for. I spent that five year time period digging full-on into mom-life, which gave me the space to learn life skills like cooking, gardening, household management, and more. These are skills I am passing on to my kids and use to enjoy living. In addition, I was elected to a county level public office and served in that seat for four years. I also pursued consulting work and enjoyed the project based work I could get my hands on.
   

• When the time was right, my community service and contract work opened the door for me to return to the workforce in higher education. One of my first tasks was to teach faculty how to use Adobe Connect in the classroom. At the time, faculty were resisting. I needed to first learn the technology, and then figure out how to help others. There were some growing pains, but eventually we got there, and today we have more than fifty classrooms equipped to conduct lecture recordings and web conferencing and we are offering flexible learning experiences for our students.
   

• In the decade since joining Clarkson and advancing with promotions, I have had the opportunity to serve on multiple strategic planning initiatives, website redesigns, assessments of new tools, classroom technology planning, professional leadership development and I've conducted countless educational campaigns for our faculty and staff. Most prominently, I was a part of the team that hired the first instructional designers (both 100% remote) to work at Clarkson. We created a team called the Teaching & Learning Corner (TLC). We have successfully standardized tools that are adopted across the institution including a syllabus template, a course development process, and support mechanisms all designed to ensure quality learning experiences for students. Our team led the response to pivoting to remote learning during the COVID pandemic. Together we designed and deployed a professional learning experience which helped more than 200 faculty members develop skills and utilize tools as they pivoted to a remote classroom during the 2020-2022 academic years.

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My Bio

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I champion innovative teaching and learning using technology; create strategic opportunities for faculty development; build flexible, active learning spaces; contribute to the scholarship of digitally-enhanced teaching and learning through research, and inspire excellence in teaching and learning. 

 

My teams and I are dedicated to delivering direction and support for instructional design and educational technologies, including learning management, lecture capture, web conferencing, classroom engagement, Google/Microsoft applications, and others. 

 

Since 2017, my team's work includes applying the Quality Matters rubric as a standard of quality for online learning; delivering development and leadership to facilitate the University's pivot to remote learning in Spring 2020; and are now collaborating with units across the institution to build varied learning experiences including micro credentials, executive seminars, graduate, and undergraduate online learning experiences. 

 

I hold a M.S. in Management Systems from Clarkson University and a B.A. in Industrial and Labor Relations and Speech Communications from SUNY Potsdam. I am currently pursuing a M.S. in Instructional Design and Educational Technology from SUNY Potsdam.

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My husband of 23 years, Stephen M. Perry, and I are parents to son, Jacob (17) and daughter, Jordan (15). We enjoy most our time together at watching school athletic or drama events, or having adventures as a family.