Stefanie Buck, 2022-2023

Director of Open Educational Resources, Oregon State University (Oregon, USA)

Stefanie is the Director of Open Educational Resource at Oregon  State University where she manages the open educational resources unit. This unit is responsible for supporting faculty in their move to affordable course materials. She helps coordinate affordability efforts on campus and helped draft the university’s affordable learning plan. Previously she was a SPARC Open Education Leadership Program Fellow. She has an MLS and an MA from the University of Hawai’i and an MEd from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Prior to taking the director position, she was an academic librarian specializing in distance education and online learning.

Brandon Carson, 2022

Learning Technology Specialist/Part-time Professor, Durham College (Ontario, Canada)

Brandon Carson has worked in higher education for 14 years, in roles to expand the use of innovative technologies. Brandon is an OER advocate and recently held the position of Program Manager, Open at Scale – Business OER at eCampusOntario, allowing him to collaborate with institutions throughout Ontario and beyond. He holds a Master of Arts in Learning and Technology from Royal Roads University, where his research focused on the barriers faculty face when using Open Educational Resources (OER) in their teaching practices and solutions to overcome those barriers. Brandon was recently accepted into the Doctor of Education program at Ontario Tech University, where he will continue his research in the area of open education.

Tonja Conerly, 2022-2023

Professor of Sociology, San Jacinto College (Texas, USA)

Tonja R. Conerly, full-time Sociology Professor at San Jacinto College.   She has exhibited her leadership talents as being a “trailblazer of diversity and equity” both inside and outside academia.  Inside the College she facilitates and develops DEI workshops for faculty, staff, and students.  In promoting equity, she was the former Achieving The Dream– OER Grant Director at SJC, where she lead the efforts in saving SJC students over $3 million in textbook cost.

Outside of the College, she is the  founder of Houston Area OER Consortium (HAOER) which consist of a representative of every higher education institution  in Houston and their goal is to make textbook cost affordable for students by using Open Education Resources (OER);  elected to the Board of Directors for OpenEd Conference;  appointed as Co-VP of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity for Community College Consortiums for Open Educational Resources (CCOER); and in 2010, she piloted the OpenStax Introduction to Sociology – 1st edition and in 2022, she is the contributing Senior Author to Introduction To Sociology – 3rd Edition. 

Manisha Khetarpal, 2022

Librarian at Maskwacis Cultural College (Alberta, Canada)

Manisha Khetarpal is the open education team lead and the Dean of Library and Information Services with the Maskwacis Cultural College in Alberta, Canada. Maskwacis Cultural College is a First Nations Institution located on Maskwacis reserve. She launched the open education initiatives in 2015 at her college. Maskwacis believes open education is as open as possible and as closed as necessary for digital knowledge bundles. Adopting open education resources and practices is helping indigenous student succeed in their academic journey because the content can be localized and is more meaningful from Nehiyaw perspectives. Open Education is about collaboration and she regularly hosts open education gatherings. Prior to coming to Canada she was working with the Italian Trade Commission in Dubai.

Amanda C. Larson, 2022

Affordable Learning Instructional Consultant at The Ohio State University (Ohio, USA)

Amanda is the Affordable Learning Instructional Consultant at The Ohio State University where she creates professional development opportunities for staff, librarians, and instructors around open pedagogy and open educational practices. In this role, she also liaises to the Affordable Learning Exchange to support instructors who receive affordability grants. Previously, she was the Open Education Librarian for University Libraries at Penn State University where she coordinated affordable content initiatives across all Penn State campuses. She serves on the SPARC Open Education Advisory Board, the Open Education Network’s Pub101 committee, and the Ohio OpenEd Collaborative Steering Committee. Previously she was a SPARC Open Education Leadership Program Fellow, an OpenEd Group OER Research fellow, and member of the Open Education Network’s Steering Committee. She’s helped organize the Open Education Network’s Summer Summit and Institute three times, and served on the Program Planning and Strategic Planning committees for Opened 20/21.

Rachel Meisner, 2022-2023

Director of Education and Engagement, ActiveClass (Colorado, USA)

Rachel is the Director of Education and Engagement for ActiveClass. She was previously a Course Designer and the Open Educational Resources Coordinator for Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She holds a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Education specializing in Curriculum and Instruction, and is currently completing coursework for her Ph.D. in Education, specializing in Learning, Instruction, and Innovation. Before becoming a Course Designer and Open Educational Resources (OER) Coordinator in higher education, Rachel was an elementary school Library Technology Educator and community college History Instructor. She is passionate about equity in higher education, college affordability, technology integration in higher education, innovative curriculum, innovation diffusion, and open pedagogy.

Veronica Moreno, 2022

Former Director on the Standing Committee on Research Exchange, International Federation of Medical Students Association (Nuevo León, Mexico) 

Veronica Anayansi Moreno Mares is a Mexican medical doctor graduated from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. Currently, she is enrolled on her second degree in International Businesses at Universidad TecMilenio. Veronica has a vast interest in and advocates for global health, mental health, and especially for the Open Movement. She is a youth leader and has held local, national, regional, and global positions at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, mainly in the Research Exchange Committee. She has represented medical students at several meetings such as the WHO Regional Committee and Open Education Conference. Veronica aims to continue advocating for the involvement of the youth at high-level meetings and their inclusion in the decision-making process. 

Elita Partosoedarso, 2022-2023

Senior Teaching Professor, OntarioTech University (Ontario, Canada)

After getting her PhD in pharmacology and neurogastroenterology, Elita Partosoedarso worked in the area of drug discovery research. She started teaching in higher education 15 years ago almost on a whim and liked it so much that she went back to pursue a Master in Education. Elita has been recognized by Ontario Tech with an Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020. She currently uses an OpenStax textbook and has developed student resources to use with it and is looking forward to doing the same with another course that she teaches regularly. She has given numerous workshops promoting the developing of non-disposable assignments and creating student centric LMS pages.

Susan Payne, 2022

Education Specialist at the Oregon Department of Education (Oregon, USA)

Susan Payne is an experienced instructional leader, who has spent over 20 years working in K-12 education as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, school principal, and district administrator.  She holds a BA in English from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MS in Educational Leadership and Policy from Portland State University. Currently, she is the Educational Standards and Systems Specialist at the Oregon Department of Education and the professional learning lead on the agency’s Oregon Open Learning team. Susan’s work focuses on leveraging the power of Open Educational Resources to positively impact educational equity, agency, and efficacy.

Samantha Veneruso, 2022

Chair of General Studies & Professor of English at Montgomery College (Maryland, USA)

Samantha Streamer Veneruso is a professor of English and the Collegewide Chair of the General Studies program at Montgomery College. With over 23 years of higher education teaching experience in community colleges, she is a passionate advocate for equity and access in education. She believes deeply in the transformative possibilities of higher education. She holds a BA in Humanities, an MA in Instructional Design and TESOL, and is completing her Doctorate in Organizational Leadership in Spring 2022 focused on leadership development for emerging faculty leaders. In her roles at Montgomery College, she instituted the first z-degrees at Montgomery College as well as the first fully online degree, and all of her courses are developed using OER and open pedagogy. She is invested in faculty professional development particularly around innovative pedagogy including open pedagogy, eportfolio, critical pedagogy and designing transformative learning opportunities. She has a chapter published in “Open at the Margins” and was a lead author for a chapter on integrative learning in the AAEEBL/AACU’s “Field Guide to ePortfolio”. She is faculty for the AACU’s General Education Institute providing workshops on Transfer Equity, Scaling High Impact Practices, and Using Principles of Design Thinking for General Education Program Reform. She is an ardent supporter of Open Education and an eager change agent.