Meet the 2024 Speakers

Nicole Allen

Nicole Allen is the Director of Open Education for SPARC (sparcopen.org), leading the organization's efforts to advance openness and equity in education. Inspired as a student to make knowledge more accessible to the world, she has dedicated her fifteen-year career to advocating for open education and college affordability. Her impact includes passing legislative reforms, mobilizing grassroots campaigns, and building up the open movement nationally and internationally. At SPARC, Nicole leads a broad portfolio of initiatives to advance open education, spanning state and federal policy work, community organizing, and leadership development.

Michael Callaghan

Michael Callaghan is a Mesoamerican archaeologist who specializes in the study of the ancient Maya with an emphasis on ceramic analysis. He is interested in how ceramic technology, the organization of production, and exchange of ceramics contributed to the growth of social complexity. Dr. Callaghan's research informs the study of how technology and production contribute to changes in social structure. He has been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, American Philosophical Society, and the Fundacion Patrimonio Cultural y Natural Maya (PACUNAM) in Guatemala. Dr. Callaghan teaches courses for graduate and undergraduate students at UCF in the areas of General Anthropology, Maya Iconography, Ethics in Archaeology, Archaeological Ceramic Analysis, Archaeology and Pseudoscience, and the Anthropology of Walt Disney World, FL.

Kevin Corcoran

Kevin Corcoran is the Assistant Vice Provost of the Center for Distributed Learning. Kevin has over 25 years of experience in the development and support of strategies for the effective use of digital learning tools and content that focuses on quality standards and practices, student engagement, accessibility and affordability. Kevin has supported system, state, and national open education efforts over the past decade, including chairing the statewide Connecticut OER Coordinating Council and the DOERS3 collaborative.

Lily Dubach

Lily Dubach, Textbook Affordability Librarian at the University of Central Florida, collaborates across campus to promote and transition course content to affordable options such as open educational resources and library-sources eBooks, in conjunction with statewide and national affordability initiatives, she provide library leadership on projects supporting student success. Lily is also the subject librarian for the School of Communication Sciences & Disorders. Her research interests include leveraging technology, such as artificial intelligence tools, for discovering or enhancing open educational resources, as well as analyzing student outcomes and perceptions of open or library-sources material course adoptions. Lily is the 2024 recipient of the Excellent in Librarianship Award which recognizes outstanding contributions and support given to the university's faculty and students.

Amanda Groff

Dr. Groff is a senior lecturer of anthropology who specializes in archaeology and bioarcheology. Dr. Groff received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Florida in 2015. Her primary area of research utilizes stable isotopes to determine migration and social mobility of ancient individuals. Dr. Groff joined the UCF faculty in 2009 and teaches various sections of online courses for the UCF Department of Anthropology. Currently, Dr. Groff also participates in research associated with the Cape Canaveral Archaeological Mitigation Project (CCAMP) in Florida and the Kerkenes Archaeological Project in Turkey. In addition to teaching, Dr. Groff also serves as the Online Coordinator for the UCF Department of Anthropology.

Wendy Howard

Wendy Howard is the Director the Pegasus Innovation Lab (iLab) at the Center for Distributed Learning. She has a diverse background in both corporate training and higher education. In additional to her Doctor of Education degree in Instructional Design & Technology from UCF, Wendy has also earned a BA in Mathematics and Secondary Education and an MA in Corporate Communication & Technology from Rollins College. Her current research is focused on faculty development, digital learning in STEM, collaborative online learning and internationalizing the curriculum through technology. She also provides a practitioner's perspective based on over twenty years of experience in both design and instruction.
As the director pf UCF's iLab, Dr. Howards, primary focus is to strategically align, promote, and provide project management support for initiatives that contribute to the lab's mission to serve as an incubator for the next generation of digital learning by supporting faculty and staff in piloting, refining, and evaluating innovations that positively impact student success at scale.

Dr. Denise Lowe

Dr. Denise Lowe holds and Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership, Higher Education; an M.Ed. in Guidance and Counseling; a B.S. in Psychology; and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC). At the University of Central Florida, Denise served as an Instructional Design Team Lead from 2009 - 2018, where her duties included oversight responsibilities for several Strategic Initiatives, including faculty development and open educational resources. Denise also teaches as an adjunct lecturer in the LEAD Scholars Academy and the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Her research foci are faculty development, emotional intelligence and leadership, and online design and teaching effectiveness. Denise currently holds a faculty rank of Senior Instructional Designer and is a member of the Open Education Resources team at UCF.

Sarah Norris

Sarah Norris is Scholarly Communication Librarian at the UCF Libraries. In this role, she leads the Libraries' Scholarly Communication and open access efforts, with an emphasis on scholarly publishing and copyright training and education. Her research interests include the expanded use of OERs in the classroom and open data, and utilizing technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to support research, teaching, and learning. In 2023, she was awarded a UCF Research Incentive Award (RIA) for outstanding research and scholarly activity that advances the body of knowledge in a particular field.

Anne Prucha

Anne Prucha is Senior Instructor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at University of Central Florida (UCF), where she teaches Spanish and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She is active in UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning Pegasus iLab, working with colleagues to incorporate Personalized Adaptive Learning (PAL) and OER content into first-, second- and third-year Spanish courses. In 2022, she and her colleagues, including Kacie Tartt, were recognized by UCF's Affordable Instructional Materials (AIM) Initiative with the AIM High Group Impact Award for using OER, increasing affordability and accessibility for students.

Kacie Tartt

Kacie Tartt is Senior Instructor in the department of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where she teaches Spanish and Latin American Studies. Kacie works to taketh goals of accessibility and affordability to the next level in her courses. She also collaborates with UCF's Center for Distributed Learning to further distance learning initiatives within the Spanish division at the university, most recently exploring Adaptive Learning methods and technologies, as well as OER, within her discipline in a third round of the Course Redesign Initiative sponsored the Pegasus Innovation Lab & UCF Board of Trustees.

Karen Tinsley-Kim

Karen Tinsley-Kim is part of the Instructional Development, or iDev, Team that creates online tutorials and training to equip faculty, staff, and students to effectively use Webcourses@UCF and other online instructional assess. She coordinates Deaf/Hard of Hearing (DHH) online reactive accessibility content reviews and support for instructors who have enrolled students connected with Student Accessibility Services (SAS). Karen has a BS in Studio Art from FSU, MA TESOL from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and is continuing her academic development the Texts & Technology graduate program at UC. Before joining CDL's iDev Team in 2012, Karen taught ESL/EFL for over two decades, including in East Asia and at UCF-CMMS. Throughout her careers, she has contributed her skills in writing, editing, graphic and web design, and online teacher training. Karen is also the utility patented product developer of the Redema Ottoman Footrest, which she uses under her desk every day.

Sandra Wheeler

Sandra Wheeler is a Senior Lecturer and Anthropology Undergraduate Coordinator. Dr. Wheeler teaches Primatology, Ancient Plagues: Archaeological and Skeletal Evidence of Infectious Disease, and Mummies, Zombies, and Vampires: Anthropology of the Undead, among others. Several of her courses have received Quality, High Quality and Blended Quality designations. Dr. Wheeler also developed Beyond the Anthropology Major: Careers Applying Anthropology, and undergraduate professional development course aimed at non-academic and alt-academic jobs; this course received a high-impact Integrative-Learning Experience designation. Dr. Wheeler is committed to student-centered learning and providing low-to-no-cost accessible course materials. As Undergraduate Coordinator, Dr. Wheeler helped spearhead the adoption of OER course materials in all of the Anthropology General Education Programs. By 2025 the Anthropology Department aims to adopt OER course materials for ensure all lower level Anthropology courses.

Lana Williams

Lana Williams, a bioarcheologist specializing in research of human health and diet. She works in Egypt with the Dakhleh Oasis Project (2002-present) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven project at Dayr al-Barsha (2006-present), and as a team member with various archaeological projects in Europe, the Near East, and Mesoamerica. isotopic and elemental analysis of hair, seasonality in fertility and disease, musculoskeletal biomechanics and patterns of activity, and placement of the dead in the physical and social landscapes. Dr. Williams regularly teaches introductory general education courses in Anthropology and upper-level courses on Ancient Egypt, the Viking World, Human Biological Diversity, Biobehavioral Anthropology, and History of Anthropological Thought.