 | Dr. Kristen Betts is a Clinical Professor in the EdD Program in Educational Leadership & Management in the School of Education at Drexel University. She has 20 years of experience in higher education serving in key leadership positions within private, public, and for-profit institutions. Dr. Betts’ expertise is in higher education, online and blended learning, curriculum and instructional design, strategic planning, and evaluation. Dr. Betts publishes and presents nationally and internationally on critical issues in higher education, online and blended learning, neuropedagogy, neuro-instructional design, accreditation, accessibility, student/faculty recruitment and retention, eStudent Affairs, eAdvising, Online Human Touch, alternative instructional equivalency, and faculty development. Dr. Betts serves as a conference reviewer for several national and international associations and councils. She is a Quality Matters certified peer reviewer and she has also been a reviewer for eleven journals and publishers. Dr. Betts has received distinguished national awards for her work in higher education and online learning including the CITE 2015 Award by Pearson for Excellence in Online Administration. Dr. Betts has also been a keynote speaker at conferences and government-supported events in Sweden, South Korea, Canada, and across the United States. |
| | |
 | Kaye Shelton, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the College of Education's Center for Doctoral Studies at Lamar University. Previously as the Dean of Online Education for Dallas Baptist University, she led the development and ongoing operations of their online education programs with over 55 majors and degrees offered fully online. She is certified as an online instructor, teaching online since 1999, and also an online education consultant. Her education includes an M.S. in Education emphasizing Online Teaching and Learning from California State University-East Bay and a PhD in Educational Leadership (Higher Education) from the University of Nebraska. She has published numerous articles and chapters in the field of online education, including a book entitled An Administrator's Guide to Online Education. Winner of two exemplary online course awards, a Sloan-C Effective Practice award and the John R. Bourne award for her research on the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs, the NCPEA Morphet Dissertation award, and 2014 CITE award, she has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops, regarding the creation of an online education program and the best practices for teaching online and faculty support. She has also served as an adviser regarding online education programs for several peer institutions. Dr. Shelton has been a mentor with the Sloan-C teaching certificate program since its inception and teaches workshops on the Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs. |
| | |
 | Dr. Karen Pedersen recently stepped into the role as Chief Knowledge Officer for the Online Learning Consortium (OLC). Prior to joining OLC, Pedersen served as the Associate Vice President for Extended Campuses at Northern Arizona University. In this role she was responsible for leading a system-wide enrollment management transformation as well as managing marketing, technology, and academic operations. Previously, she served as the Vice President for Professional Studies at Southwestern College (Kansas) for eleven years. Her responsibilities included envisioning and building an online program from the ground up (including seeking regional accreditation approval) and launching over 25 innovative online programs. Additionally, Pedersen had responsibility for expanding military partnerships, engaging in strategic infrastructure projects, as well as positioning the institution in an enrollment growth trajectory. Pedersen also held the academic associate dean and dean roles at Upper Iowa University’s Extended University. In these roles she was responsible for curriculum development, resolving academic issues, supporting learner success, as well as faculty hiring, training, and evaluation. She also built the foundations for an online operation and traveled internationally to develop partnerships in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia while at UIU. Prior to starting her administrative career, Pedersen served as a faculty member at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Pedersen holds bachelor of science and master of science degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a doctor of philosophy degree from Oklahoma State University. She has been active with the OLC Quality Scorecard, deploying it at two institutions and serving as an OLC instructor and reviewer. |
| | |
 | Corey Westbury is currently a Student Advisor and Business Analyst Lead at Colorado State University – Global Campus, the first 100% online public institution founded in the United States. Her primary duties include advising a caseload of over 700 primarily non-traditional students on all academic and financial policies at CSU – Global while also acting as the key knowledge expert within the Student Advising Department. Corey is also responsible for collaborating and cultivating relationships with university faculty and staff in order to identify and support at-risk students. Corey is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Higher Education Administration and Leadership with a secondary concentration in Global & International Education through Drexel University and is expected to graduate in April 2016. She earned her BA in International Development Studies with minors in German and Sociology from West Virginia University, and was also able to spend a semester studying cultural anthropology, African politics, and development geography at Macquarie University in North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia during her undergraduate studies. |
