Crystal Deitz

Crystal is an Administrative Support Assistant at World Campus Learning Design. In her role, she handles purchases, travel, meeting scheduling, and many other responsibilities. She is proficient in SIMBA and SAP.

Crystal lives in Lemont, where she and her husband have raised four great daughters. She loves planning vacations and trips, gardening in the summer, and reading in the winter. She and her family love to spend their summers with family while camping, boating, swimming, and eating dinners on the deck.     

Otis Statham III

Otis is an Alternative Materials Specialist at Penn State World Campus Learning Design. In his current role, Otis advises Disability Specialists on the best applications for students with disabilities, and he procures or creates materials to make course content accessible, handling most of the content remediation for all World Campus students (as well as some University Park students).

Otis was born in Louisiana and came to State College in 1991 to help his wife get her education. She did and then some, getting bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Performance Violin, as well as a master’s and Ph.D. in Music Theory and History (Musicology) from CUNY Graduate Center in New York. In the process, he found his true purpose in life: taking care of the four people he helped create.

Otis has a passion for learning and has studied a wide range of subjects, including business, business law, fine art, philosophy, and even hardwood flooring. His degree is in Information Sciences and Technology. Otis loves to use his knowledge to help others. He has developed a passion for making good food, but especially Cajun cuisine.

Dawn Gill

Dawn joined Learning Design as an instructional production specialist in July 2021. She brings with her a varied skill set developed from her experience in the worlds of medicine, education (K-12, higher education, and adult education), and global manufacturing.

Dawn has bachelor’s degrees in health science/athletic training (1995) and elementary education (2005), both from Lock Haven University. She loves to spend time with family, travel, and cook.

Dawn lives in Lock Haven with her husband, daughter, granddaughter, two “bonus” sons, and two fur babies.

John Alexander

John Alexander is a newly hired instructional production specialist at World Campus Learning Design. He comes to this new role with previous experience as a World Campus student, a lead teaching assistant, and a course instructor in both in-person and online settings.

He earned an masters degree from Penn State in curriculum design and instruction with an emphasis in STEM education and also has a bachelors in criminal justice, a certification in information technology, and was a classroom teacher in the State College and Bellefonte areas for kindergarten through 8th grade for 12 years. He was also one State College Magazine's 2017 Teachers of the Year.

John is a married father of two college-aged daughters. In his free time, he enjoys the hobby of 3D printing, playing tabletop games, and reading books along the rivers and streams where his wife is fly-fishing.

Kate Morgan

Instructional Designer

Kate Morgan is an instructional designer for the Penn State World Campus Business Program. Prior to joining the World Campus, she worked at Penn State Lehigh Valley for 21 years in various roles, including graphic designer, Director of University Relations, and ultimately Director of Virtual Education. She has focused a lot of her energy on integrating new technologies, including immersive reality and 3D printing, into face-to-face and online learning, and she has taught classes in both modalities for the past 10 years. She holds a master’s degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design in interactive design and game development.

Kate is from the Lehigh Valley, but she and her husband, Mike, are Air Force veterans and have lived overseas and in various states during their military duty. At the end of 2020, they relocated to an Air Force base in Mississippi. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She looks at life as a series of opportunities and doesn’t want to miss anything!

Melissa Burns

Instructional Production Specialist

Melissa is an Instructional Production Specialist (IPS) at Learning Design.

Matt Dingo

Assistant Director of Faculty Development

Matt Dingo’s diverse career is unified by a curiosity about the elements of teaching and design that contribute to learner success. During his undergraduate studies in composition and rhetoric at The Ohio State University, he ran a tutoring program for under-resourced youth. This experience formed the basis for his honors thesis, The Subject Teacher. After graduating with honors in liberal arts and distinction in English, Matt joined the Peace Corps, where he taught English in Poland.

Starting in 2000, Matt focused on performing and teaching music. During this time, he began his career in higher education as the founder of the guitar program at the University of Minnesota, Morris. In 2013, he received a master of education degree from James Madison University, where he studied online-networked music performance and pedagogy. After graduating, Matt taught in James Madison’s Educational Media program until 2018.

Matt started his first instructional design position in higher education at Ohio University in 2014. There, he designed the online version of one of the university’s most popular courses, The History of Rock, and launched the Financial Economics and Public Administration master’s programs. In 2018, Matt joined the leadership development firm DDI. His leadership courses have been translated into seven languages and are facilitated in corporate environments worldwide.

In 2020 Matt followed his passion for higher education, joining Penn State World Campus to develop non-credit educational development courses that help instructors become better online teachers and students become more successful online learners.

Meagan Wilkinson

Instructional Designer

Meagan is an Instructional Designer for World Campus Learning Design. She previously served as an Instructional Production Specialist in the unit for 4 years before completing her M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technology and moving into the ID role. She is a frequent Quality Matters internal reviewer and is passionate about high-quality courses and implementing Universal Design for Learning principles.

Before Learning Design, she worked as a high school teacher for 5 years, first teaching English in Chile and then teaching Spanish in the United States. Now, she works remotely from Nashville, Tennessee, where she enjoys the live music and endless events the city provides.

In her free time, Meagan enjoys visiting our breathtaking National Parks, competing in triathlons, and getting involved with the local Spanish-speaking population in an attempt to keep her bilingual status. 

Angela Simparosa

Project Manager

Angela is a project manager for Penn State World Campus Learning Design.

Prior to joining Learning Design in 2018, Angela has worked as a business analyst, IT consultant, system design specialist, and various other positions within the University over the past 20 years.

Outside of work, Angela enjoys activities such as hiking, running, and playing video games.

Ellen Rodgers

Project Manager

Ellen is a project manager for Penn State World Campus Learning Design.

Prior to joining Penn State in March 2019, Ellen's failed pursuit at finding work-life balance in the hospitality industry led her to project and program management in the corporate sector. With her PMP and Scrum Master certifications under her belt, she focused on the continuous improvement of process and communication in order to foster collaboration and achieve efficiency, transparency, and adaptability.

Outside of the office, Ellen enjoys hiking, gardening, and collecting cookbooks as well as traveling with her husband, cuddling with their four Labrador retrievers, and talking to her free-range chickens.

Abby McDonald

Instructional Production Specialist

Abby McDonald is an instructional production specialist in World Campus Learning Design. She is responsible for the production of high-quality online courses for the Public Administration and Nursing programs.

Abby has worked in hospitality throughout most of her career. Prior to joining Learning Design in December 2018, she worked at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel for five years. Additionally, she enjoys working with computers and is studying cybersecurity and Russian at Penn State.

When she isn’t studying or working, Abby enjoys playing the piano, dirt-bike riding, skateboarding, traveling, and making jewelry.

Megan Hill

Instructional Designer

Megan Hill is an instructional designer with Penn State’s World Campus Learning Design and joined the unit in August 2018. She has completed a variety of course design projects related to the arts and faculty development, and she particularly enjoys when design projects include collaborative opportunities. Megan whole-heartedly prescribes to the sentiments of author C.S. Lewis who famously said, “two heads are better than one.”

Megan received her bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and psychology from Saint Francis University in 2012. In 2013, Megan accepted a position at Penn State University as an administrative assistant. In 2016, she earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in educational technology integration and moved into an instructional production specialist role. She later completed her master of education in learning design and technology in May 2018.

In her free time, Megan loves to spend time with her children outdoors and attending her son’s baseball games. She enjoys hiking, fishing, boating, and tubing. Megan also enjoys reading a good book and watching criminal investigation shows or documentaries.

Lisa Byrnes

Instructional Designer

Lisa has been an instructional designer with Penn State since 2007. She spent 11 years with the College of the Liberal Arts learning design group and was the lead instructional designer for the Political Science Program before making the move to Penn State World Campus in 2018.

Prior to working at Penn State, Lisa worked as a Blackboard administrator and technology training coordinator at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, PA. Lisa also has been teaching online since 2007, and she started her career in 1994, teaching grades 7–12 at Conemaugh Valley Junior/Senior High School in Johnstown, PA.

Lisa earned her bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, with an emphasis in Teacher Preparation, from Penn State University. She earned a master’s degree in Instructional Technology from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania—100% online!

Lisa works remotely from Tucson, AZ, where she resides with her wife, Dr. Melissa Levine, her two step-sons, Josh and Jeremy, her three rescue dogs, and one rescue cat.

In her free time, Lisa enjoys spending time with family and friends; experiencing the great outdoors while playing ultimate frisbee and soccer, golfing, and hiking; and enjoying life!

Anna Godura

Programmer/Analyst

Chris Millet

Director of Learning Design

Matt Farley

Accessibility Consultant

Matt is an accessibility consultant with Learning Design’s user experience team. Matt was born and raised in the State College area, and he graduated from Penn State in 2012 with a bachelor of science degree in Information Sciences and Technology and a certificate in Media Studies.

While earning his degree, Matt worked for the University’s Office for Disability Services as an assistive technology consultant. Before coming to World Campus, he spent several years working as a freelance writer for a variety of businesses, organizations, and publications.

Outside of work, Matt enjoys relaxing with his family and friends, and he spends most of his free time reading and writing fiction, keeping up with U.S. politics, and playing video games.

Heidi Kline

Instructional Production Specialist

Heidi works as an instructional production specialist at Penn State World Campus.

She previously worked for a defense contractor where she tested and developed web-based applications used by military and government agencies. Prior to that, Heidi worked for an e-learning company where she initially developed online courses and then moved into testing courses and simulations for functionality and usability.

Heidi earned a B.S. in Computer Science and an A.S. in Network Administration. She enjoys taking online courses for professional development and personal enrichment.

In her spare time, Heidi enjoys traveling, reading, and watching movies.

Andrea Tinsley

Assistant Director of Instructional Production

Andrea is the Assistant Director of Instructional Production, providing oversight of the Instructional Production Specialist (IPS) team, developing quality processes, and monitoring execution of all course setups to ensure they meet World Campus quality standards. She began her career at Penn State in July 2009 in an administrative support role for Counseling and Psychological Services, where she gained experience in web content management and digital media production. Andrea joined the World Campus Learning Design team in December 2015 as an IPS, becoming a supervisor for part of the IPS team in January 2019.  

Andrea obtained her associate degree in occupational therapy (2000) from Penn State Berks as well as dual bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice (2004) and behavioral science (2005) from Wilmington University. 

Andrea was born and raised in Delaware and currently resides in State College with her husband, daughter, and their cats. Andrea enjoys running, reading, movies, trips to Disney, and is a die-hard Penn State football fan (We Are!). She also volunteers as a Girl Scout troop leader and holds the titles of "Soccer Mom" and "Karate Mom." 

Malena Moore Gittler Ph.D.

Senior Instructional Designer

Malena is a senior instructional designer with World Campus Learning Design and lead designer for the BSBIC program.

During her doctoral studies at Penn State, she worked with educators to help them transform learning experiences with technology through her affiliation with Pennsylvania’s Link-to-Learn initiative, Penn State’s College of IST Solutions Institute, and the Pennsylvania Faculty Academy.

Over the course of 10 years, Malena worked as a workplace learning and instructional design consultant to address training and learning needs of corporations, the federal government, and higher education institutions. Success with these varied audiences required that she be adept at utilizing alternative learning strategies. For example, she worked with a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company designing online courses and ancillary materials in compliance with their well-established global training model. She helped a regional water services company establish a foundation for a new training program that included face-to-face seminars, online learning modules, and hybrid learning experiences. She worked with Turner Construction, the U.S.’s largest “green contractor” to develop online courses for the Turner University LEED certification series. And most relevant to her current position, Malena worked as a contract instructional designer with Penn State’s World Campus. In this role, she worked with Penn State faculty to design and develop online courses that pair academic rigor with the flexibility of learning anywhere around the world in an asynchronous format.

Formerly, Malena worked as a sales specialist in both the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. She also holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in instructional systems from Penn State and a B.S. in business administration from Bucknell University.

When she’s not designing courses or taking her daughter to her endless activities, Malena works as a certified LesMills BodyPump® instructor and dreams of being a Nashville singing sensation.

Cathie Massaro

Instructional Production Specialist

Cathie joined Learning Design as an instructional production specialist in August 2015. She supports a variety of repeat course sections by collaborating with instructional designers and instructional support specialists. Previously, she worked at Penn State Altoona for 10 years, providing A/V and IT classroom support to the university.

Cathie enjoys a wide range of activities, including home improvement projects, cooking, reading, playing video and board games, and singing. She loves spending time with friends and family and spoiling her pets: two pot-bellied pigs, a duck, and a turtle.

Cathie frequently quotes movies, TV shows, and song lyrics. She also has a strong appreciation for silliness and believes that we should be serious only when necessary.

Leah Salter

Senior Instructional Production Specialist

Leah is an instructional production specialist and supervisor, where she works with instructional design teams to maintain and develop the Learning, Design, and Technology Master of Education program portfolio of online courses as well as a variety of other programs.

Leah graduated from Penn State with a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering and served in the United States Air Force. Prior to returning to her home state of Pennsylvania, she worked as an IT business analyst in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

In her free time, Leah enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, traveling, and many outdoor activities, including biking, running, swimming, golfing, and various winter sports as well.

Damien Bilka

Technical Communications Specialist

Damien is an editor with Penn State World Campus. He reviews and edits online courses and other materials for content quality, consistency, and readability. Prior to joining World Campus, Damien was a composition instructor at Oregon State University. Damien also has over 10 years of experience in a number of positions in the insurance industry.

Damien earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Dickinson College and holds a master of fine arts in Creative Writing from Oregon State.

Damien and his wife have two children they are molding into lovers of books and writers of flawless prose. In his free time, Damien likes to run, read, play guitar, and find mistakes in the newspaper.

Jana Hitchcock

Instructional Designer

Jana is currently the lead instructional designer on the undergraduate minor in Homeland Security and on the master of education for the Higher Education program.

Jana has a master of education degree in Training and Development from Penn State, Capital College. She has had the opportunity to be a part of adult education since early 2000 working to design, deliver, and evaluate effective learning experiences. Prior to joining Penn State World Campus, she was a curriculum and instructional specialist for the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work Child Welfare Training Program (presently titled the Child Welfare Resource Center), where she designed a variety of courses to certify child welfare caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators.

In her free time, Jana loves to cook, travel, hike, run, and spend time with family and friends.

Jen Kach

Technical Communications Specialist

Jen likes things, as long as they aren’t grammatical errors.

As an editor, she reviews content (both online and otherwise) for accuracy, consistency, clarity, and readability. Prior to joining World Campus, she did her undergraduate and graduate work in English at Penn State and spent a year teaching University composition classes.

In her free time, Jen can be found reading every last placard at art museums, perfecting a Pigeon Pose, feeling cool listening to Styx, and asking if she could maybe say hi to your dog. The Chicago Manual of Style is her personal bible.

Sonya Woods

Accessibility Consultant

Originally from Orange County, California, Sonya moved with her family to State College in 2002 when her husband, Stephen, was hired at Penn State as a social sciences librarian. They are raising their three children here. Sonya earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine, and is currently working towards a master of professional studies in Organization Development and Change through the Penn State College of Education and World Campus.

Sonya started her career in online education at Penn State in 2008, doing technical editing, proofreading, and course production work before moving into web accessibility work in 2012. She is a member of the user experience team and does consulting, testing, research, training, and documentation to empower instructional designers, course authors, and web developers to make content and interactive elements that work well for all students. She has presented to audiences nationally and at the University on accessibility and universal design for learning (UDL), and she has authored blog posts for the World Campus.

Veronica Terrill

Multimedia Specialist

Veronica is a multimedia specialist for Penn State World Campus where she supports the courseware content creation and graphic design needs. Veronica specializes in traditional and multimedia illustration. She is passionate about creating interesting and informative graphics for learners of all ages. Samples of her work may be seen on her portfolio site.

Prior to joining the Leaning Design group, Veronica was a lead graphic designer for an eLearning company. She managed a team of designers and 3D artists in developing a virtual disaster simulation for the United States Air Force, as well as in creating multimedia eLearning for a variety of other government organizations. She also has an extensive background in content creation for early childhood educational products, including authoring and illustrating 12 teacher resource books.

Veronica holds an A.S. in University Studies from Allegany College of Maryland and a certificate in Illustration from Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, MI. She is looking forward to completing her bachelor’s degree here at Penn State.

Outside of her professional work, Veronica enjoys travel, developing indie art projects, fishing, and spending time with her family and friends, preferably in the beautiful outdoors.

Jeff Rohan

Programmer/Analyst

Jeff is a programmer/analyst in Learning Design. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

Before coming to Penn State World Campus, Jeff worked for 10 years as a software engineer for the Raytheon Corporation. He worked in the State College office for seven years and then in their Virginia office for almost three years.

Jeff was born in Pittsburgh and lived there until moving to State College in 2004 and then to Fairfax, VA, in 2011. He is happy to be back living in Happy Valley and is excited to be working at Penn State. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his fiancée and daughters.

Seto Kaiba

Programmer/Analyst

Seto is a programmer/analyst for Penn State World Campus Learning Design. He moved to Pennsylvania in 2014 with his fiancée, who is working to obtain her Ph.D. at Penn State.

Seto has a passion for all things related to programming and art. His work history is diverse, including different roles such as computer technician, technical support, Xbox Tier 3 fraud, windows programmer, software packager, and web developer.

Seto enjoys viewing artwork, drawing, digital art, Flash, and animation. Playing video games, creating art, and programming are some activities Seto likes to do with his spare time.

John Butler

Programming and User Testing Team Lead

John is an educational technology consultant with Learning Design where he works with the unit on various tasks ranging from usability and accessibility to training and documentation.

John is a graduate of Penn State where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Information, Sciences, & Technology with the Design and Development Option, and a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Prior to joining the World Campus Learning Design team, John worked as an intern assistant for the director of faculty development at Penn State World Campus, and he has also worked for Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics.

John Buckwalter

Multimedia Specialist

John is a multimedia specialist, creating graphics and animations, shooting and editing video, and designing solutions for multimedia projects. Prior to joining the multimedia specialist team, John worked as an IT support specialist within Learning Design, supporting the staff with technology issues. He also previously worked as an instructional production specialist where he supported various programs and courses, including the BSB, MPM, IST, and MFIN programs.

Before John became a part of the Learning Design staff, he was a sales associate/web designer for Rapid Transit Sports in State College, creating the store’s first website. He earned his Webmaster Certification from Florida State, an associate degree in Graphic Design from Penn College in Williamsport, PA, and an associate degree in Business Management from South Hills Business School in State College, PA. When not engaged with professional endeavors, you can find him playing sports, relaxing with friends and family, or going for a run, bike ride, or trip down the slopes.

Michael Brooks

Educational Technology Consultant

Michael Brooks is an educational technology consultant and focuses on user experience, instantiates accessibility and usability within online courses, and incorporates current technologies in them. He cultivated expertise in these areas through formal education and training in addition to conducting user testing and working directly with users of varying abilities.

Since starting with Penn State, Michael has provided usability and accessibility consultation on projects, course designs, and educational web technologies implemented across various colleges and units at the University. He has developed and presented a wide range of training and seminars on the topic of accessibility, and currently serves on several accessibility advisory committees, both internal and external to Penn State, regarding accessibility policy and design practices.

Ryan Anderson

Programmer/Analyst

Ryan is a programmer/analyst for Penn State World Campus Learning Design. He moved to Pennsylvania in 2013 to start a fresh outlook in life, being a watered-down Southerner without the Texas accent.

Ryan has a very unique look on life and the relations between people. His desire to help others increase their potential has lead him in many different aspects of professional careers before getting more directly involved with education/programming. During his time in Arizona, he worked at Anthem Education/FCC as the senior software developer, and on the side handled being president of the Apollo Village Senior Community. With the increased stress of work and after-work positions in Arizona, he started pursuing relaxation interests in casual dancing and karaoke with fine dining. Ryan loves music and in the past enjoyed musical plays and operas, along with playing the violin and piano. Though those elements have faded, he currently enjoys just listening to a variety of his favorite styles such as folk, jazz, big band, blues, and bluegrass.

Ryan will be a special addition to the Penn State online division and brings creativity and fresh ideas to learning. Before software development, Ryan had several experiences in various businesses, working in roles such as architect designer, radio/tv producer, manager, and teacher. He plans to stay in the area permanently after learning how to handle the cold and small town life. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in Education with Computer Science and Mathematics; down the road, Ryan would also like to continue pursuing higher education in a master’s degree and a doctorate.

Erica Clouser

Instructional Production Specialist

Erica is an instructional production specialist with World Campus Learning Design at Penn State.

Erica is responsible for adopting course materials with the World Campus online bookstore, MBS Direct. Also, Erica is responsible for coordinating quality assurance on World Campus courses prior to them opening and assists with acquiring administrative and material information from our academic partners.  She is also responsible for conducting quality assurance of our online catalog.

Erica has been with the World Campus since July 1999 and has served in several different roles over the years.  She has two daughters who are both in college, one in Florida and one in Texas.  Erica currently lives in the area with her boyfriend and two dogs.

Jim Carnicella

Instructional Production Specialist

Jim Carnicella is an instructional production specialist with Learning Design at Penn State World Campus. As part of the quality assurance team, Jim is responsible for procuring and adapting course materials, maintaining the online course catalog, inspecting online courses, and supporting course designers in producing successful online courses.

Jim began working for the World Campus in March of 2013 and prior to that he worked in broadcasting and marketing. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, and is a huge Penn State football fan.

Kate Twoey

IT Trainer

Kate came to Penn State’s World Campus as an instructional production specialist in January 2009. As an IT trainer, she manages all of Learning Design's training efforts and documentation. She also serves on Learning Design's leadership team as well as various committees throughout the University that focus on the learning management system. In addition, she assists in the delivery of the online master of professional studies in Human Resources and Employment Relations (HRER). Kate is a lover of the all things music, and rarely gets through the day without quoting vintage Sesame Street and The Electric Company.

Juan Xia

Instructional Designer

Juan is currently an instructional designer for Penn State World Campus. She works on the general undergraduate portfolio to design and support courses in a variety of subjects, including biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, etc. She is also responsible for a number of program courses such as Spanish, Italian, Children’s Literature, and Public Administration. In the professional world, she has special interest in applying Web 2.0 technologies to ease the anxiety of online teaching and learning, and in delivering secure online educational assessment to ensure a fair and convenient testing environment.

In her spare time, Juan enjoys jogging, traveling, and trying out new recipes from all over the world.

Penny Ralston-Berg

Research and Development

Penny is currently an instructional designer for the Penn State World Campus and telecommutes from her home in Menomonie, WI. She works with faculty to design and develop online programs for the general undergraduate portfolio (GUP) and Labor and Employment Relations (LER). She also works on special projects related to quality standards, process improvements and faculty development. Her research interests include student perspectives of quality and how this impacts the design of online courses; and the use of games, simulations, and virtual worlds in online instruction.

Penny has designed online courses since 1997. Previously a senior instructional designer for University of Wisconsin-Extension, she promoted best practices in instructional design within the organization as well as with faculty from UW Extensions’ partner institutions. She also worked to create and refine models for effective and efficient development of online courses. She also worked as a designer and producer at Western Illinois University in many areas of instructional technology including television graphics, compressed digital video course delivery, instructional video, live satellite teleconferencing, CD-ROM production, website production, and production of web-based courses. She has also worked as a technology trainer and design consultant for K-12, higher education, nonprofit, and private groups.

She has presented at various regional, national, and international conferences including the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Annual Convention; the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning; the Quality Matters Annual Conference; the Adult Student Recruitment and Retention Conference; the Hendrick Best Practices for Adult Learners Conference; the Wisconsin Future Technologies Conference; and the Wisconsin Collaborative Online Network. Penny has also served on conference planning committees, the UCEA Research Committee and is currently a member of the Quality Matters Academic Advisory Council.

She recently co-authored the book MindMeld: Micro-Collaboration between eLearning Designers and Instructor Experts with Jon D. Aleckson (Atwood Publishing).

As a student, Penny received instruction at a distance through videotape, compressed digital video, satellite teleconference, and the Internet. She feels that these experiences have greatly influenced her philosophy of course design. She received a B.A. with a double major in Television Broadcasting and Studio Art with a Marketing minor and an M.S. in Instructional Technology at Western Illinois University.

When not working with technology, Penny enjoys spending time with her husband, Rich; viewing films (especially those in her DVD collection of silent and 1950s horror/sci-fi, or modern zombie films); exploring art museums; nature photography; and travel to Norway and Costa Rica (see Penny's photos).

See Penny's Academia.edu profile.

Carmen Strand

Instructional Designer

Carmen Strand is an instructional designer for the bachelor’s degree in Business for Penn State World Campus. She has a bachelor’s degree in Newspaper Operations Management from Rochester Institute of Technology and a master of education degree in Learning, Design, and Technology from Penn State University. Her professional interests include adult education, mobile learning, and companion mobile technologies.

Prior to joining the World Campus team in 2014, Carmen was a program specialist for the Ph.D. program at Smeal College of Business. She also spent nine years in the newspaper business with Knight Ridder and McClatchy in State College, PA, and Miami, FL. She also interned with the QE2 in Southampton, England, and Dow Jones in Chicopee, MA.

Raised in Saint Paul, MN, Carmen now lives in Boalsburg and enjoys spending time with her husband, cat, and three stepdaughters. Her interests include SCUBA diving, travel, culinary arts, biking, and spending time with her family and friends.

Pierce Sanute Ph.D.

Instructional Designer

Pierce started working as an instructional designer at World Campus in July of 2013. Currently, Pierce works with a portfolio that includes courses in M.Ed. Educational Technology, Horticulture, and Communications.

Pierce is a recovering band director of 25 years, followed by six years of design work, all in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania area. Prior to working at Penn State, he designed courses for the National Guard Bureau, USNORTHCOM, the Department of Combat Medic Training, the Office of National Security Advisor in Nigeria, EDMC Faculty Development, and GenOn Power. He was also an adjunct faculty member at Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, teaching Humanities, Education, and Student Experience courses, in addition to teaching through the Center for Excellence in Workforce Development at PHCC with Conemaugh Hospital Doctors, Lockheed Martin, Conemaugh Hospital, and PennLink. Pierce is still active in the music world, adjudicating performance groups and providing clinic design and instruction, and occasionally guest conducting. He is currently Education Director for the National Judges Association, the largest Performing and Pageantry Arts judging organization in the country. He also serves as Scholarship Chair, overseeing a scholarship program awarding over $35,000 in scholarships to students each year.

In his spare time, Pierce enjoys perennial gardening; stained glass design, manufacture, and installation; studying film underscore music; and studying music scores. He enjoys reading—his favorite authors include Terry Pratchett, Tim Dorsey, and Christopher Moore. Pierce enjoys movies, especially off-beat and dark comedies. Music wise, Pierce is obsessed with the late Baroque and early Classical periods, and the late 1950s through the late 1960s.

Pierce earned a B.S. in Music Education, M.A. in Adult and Online Education, and Ph.D. in Post-Secondary and Adult Education. He fondly and gratefully remembers participating in Distance Education courses through Penn State via the U.S. Postal Service in the late 1980s to fulfill Permanent Instructional Level II certification. Ah . . . the good old days?

Alicia Swaggerty

Instructional Designer

Alicia has worked as an instructional designer since graduating with her master’s degree in Instructional Technology from Bloomsburg University in 1989 in the settings of government, corporations, and higher education. She has been the lead designer on a variety of projects, including the army’s Apache AH-64 navigational equipment, automated library systems, and Penn State’s master of science in Adult Education, bachelor of science in Nursing (RN to BS), and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, as well as the Nursing Informatics, Management, and Forensics certificates. She is currently the lead designer for the master of education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Instruction.

Since August 2003, Alicia continued her Penn State position from a distance in Knoxville, Tennessee, and more recently in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where she has moved with her husband and two daughters.

She combines her many years of instructional design experience with equivalent years of coaching experience. Alicia played basketball at Bloomsburg University and went on to become head coach at the high school level until she accepted her current position with Penn State World Campus in January 2000. As her daughters grew, she continued to coach at the elementary and middle school levels, but she has returned to coaching at the high school level as the varsity girls basketball assistant coach at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High.

Her research interests encompass the impacts on perception and motivation with mobile learning, virtual teamwork, social and emotional learning, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and coaching. She has presented on these topics at various regional, national, and international conferences, including UPCEA, NUTN, and the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning.

In her free time, Alicia enjoys traveling, photography, sports, coaching, and being a golf mom for her daughter, Danica, and a tennis mom for her daughter, Samantha.

Linas Mockus

Instructional Designer

Linas is an instructional designer working on the Learning Design blue team. He develops courses for the Special Education and Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management programs.

Before coming to the Penn State World Campus, Linas completed his master’s degree at Lock Haven University and wrote a thesis on the effectiveness of distance education. He also worked as a graduate assistant for the Distance Education office at Lock Haven and discovered a passion for online course development in higher education.

Linas was born in Lithuania and grew up in the nation’s capital Vilnius. Since his teenage years, Linas traveled the world. He finally landed in State College, where he lives an active life and always stands by his second religion—basketball.

Shauna Baranik

Instructional Designer

Shauna has worked as an instructional designer with the World Campus since 2013. She has been a designer on many programs, such as Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and Education, and was the lead designer on the Human Resources and Employee Relations and Organizational Leadership programs.

In 2019, Shauna stepped away from World Campus to work as an instructional developer on the SIMBA financial system project. While there, she was part of the Organizational Change Management group and a member of the training team. After the project went live University-wide in July of 2020, Shauna shifted her focus on from training to sustaining the training materials until project completion in July 2021. 

Now back at World Campus, Shauna has a variety of responsibilities, such as co-designing courses in the Bachelor of Science in Business program, completing QM reviews, and researching new technologies to enhance learners’ experience.

Shauna is married to husband Ryan, and she’s momma to two rambunctious kids, Makenzie and Camden. In her free time, she loves Penn State football, reading, and all things Disney!

Bill Egan

Senior Instructional Designer

Bill Egan is a senior instructional designer for Penn State World Campus and currently works at a distance from the surrounding Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. Bill has worked as the lead instructional designer on a variety of online and hybrid courses for Penn State undergraduate and graduate-level academic programs.

Bill has recently served as a contributing author to a book series related to the changing dynamic of the students being served in higher education. A chapter focused on program and course design strategy was published in Academic Transformation: A Design Approach for the New Majority and a chapter related to student-centered design cases was published in Serving the New Majority Student: Working from Within to Transform the Institution.

Bill has a master of education degree in business education from Bloomsburg University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the World Campus team, Bill worked as the educational technology and design specialist for a cyber-charter school in Pennsylvania. He was responsible for the educational technology, learning management system, and course development for the online school, serving students in grades 6–12.

Bill is from the Philadelphia area, where he resides with his wife Joanna and daughter Lily. In his free time, he enjoys watching his favorite sports teams, playing lacrosse, and spending time with family and friends.

Brian Hyatt

Instructional Designer

Brian is the lead instructional designer for the Penn State World Campus Psychology and Online MBA programs. Prior to joining Penn State, he taught secondary mathematics and science. In addition to his teaching duties, he worked as a staff technology trainer; outside of the classroom, Brian coached baseball and volleyball.

Brian earned his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science-Biomechanics from Boise State University. He holds a master’s degree in Educational Technology and graduate certificates in Technology Integration and Online Teaching.

Away from work, Brian enjoys hiking, whitewater rafting/kayaking, and spending time with his family.

Eleanor Lehman

Manager of Instructional Design

Eleanor Lehman is a manager of instructional design who oversees a design team of instructional designers and instructional production specialists responsible for the design and development of a wide range of courses associated offered by the World Campus and Continuing Education. She also serves on the Executive Committee for UPCEA’s Distance Learning Community of Practice.

Prior to joining Penn State’s World Campus in January of 2000, Eleanor worked as an instructional designer and manager in the corporate area, designing career planning and development software, workshops, and materials for Fortune 500 companies.

Eleanor earned her bachelor’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction and a master’s degree in Instructional Systems from Penn State. She is an avid music fan and enjoys all outdoor activities including hiking, trail running, cross-county skiing, and kayaking.

Kathy Highbaugh

Manager of Quality Assurance

Kathy is the quality assurance manager for Learning Design. She oversees the material relationship with the World Campus’s bookstore, MBS Direct. Kathy manages the quality assurance process for World Campus courses and also provides copyright guidance to staff.

Kathy began her career with Penn State in 2000, serving in an administrative support role for the World Campus Program Planning and Management group. In 2003, she joined the Learning Design staff as an instructional production specialist. She also spent 23 years at Gettig Technologies where she worked as an order entry/shipping clerk.

In her spare time, Kathy serves as the secretary/treasurer for the East Penns Valley United Methodist Church. She is very involved in her church and enjoys helping with church functions. Kathy is married and has one daughter and one son. Her favorite activities include walking and shuffleboard.

Allie Martz

Multimedia Specialist

Allie is a multimedia specialist who works with instructional designers to update and maintain courses for the Adult Education (ADTED) and Special Education (SPLED) programs.

Outside of work, Allie enjoys outdoor activities including hiking, kayaking, and bike riding.

Rachel Perry

Instructional Designer

Rachel serves as an instructional production specialist for the Psychology undergraduate program.

After completing her bachelor of arts degree in Art from Shippensburg University, she has held a variety of jobs including newspaper ad designer, client support representative, interior design apprentice, and education program assistant.

Rachel does not have much free time because she owns a 110-year-old house. In the free time she does have, she enjoys gardening, good food, and reading.

Patty Gruneberg

Instructional Production Specialist

Patty works in the Learning Design unit of Penn State’s World Campus as an instructional production specialist, where she is responsible for the innovation and production of high-quality online courses. Patty assists instructional designers and multimedia specialists, being involved in various projects within the unit as well as across Outreach. Patty also participates in many social networking and learning communities.

Outside of the office, Patty enjoys spending time outdoors, both on land and on the water. Patty also loves spending time with her family, which includes three sons, two Labrador retrievers, and two kitty cats.

Wenyi Ho Ph.D.

Instructional Designer

Wenyi Ho is the lead instructional designer for the Penn State World Campus master’s degree of Public Administration, the professional certificate in U.S. Business and Constitutional Law, and the bachelor of science degree in Marketing.

She started her work at World Campus as an intern in 2003 while she was a doctoral student in Instructional Systems. She moved to the instructional designer position in 2005. While working at World Campus, she completed her dissertation and received her doctoral degree from Penn State. Her dissertation was a case study of a problem-based learning environment in an undergraduate business logistics course. The dissertation explored the collaborative problem-solving process.

Before coming to Penn State, Wenyi worked as an editor at a publishing house. She conceptualized, designed, and revised textbooks for English-language instruction for senior high schools and junior colleges in Taiwan. That work inspired her to pursue further education in instructional design.

Wenyi is married. She enjoys cooking and baking. She is a member of the Chinese CMA Church in State College. She loves spending her free time with her family and a group of Chinese undergraduate and graduate students whom she works with in the church.

Adam Lugibill

Instructional Production Specialist

Adam is an instructional product specialist at Penn State World Campus.

Adam graduated from Penn State with a degree in Philosophy. Before coming to work for World Campus, he managed the Comic Swap in State College for almost 10 years.

In his free time, Adam enjoys reading, watching television, and playing tennis.