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Photo of Ray Schroeder
 Ray Schroeder
Director of OTEL
Ray is also Professor Emeritus of Communication with three dozen years of teaching experience on the Urbana and Springfield campuses. He has taught more than 30 online class offerings. As Director of Technology-Enhanced Learning Ray is dedicated to faculty development and pedagogical support of the online initiative. He has published the popular Online Learning Update blog daily for the past half dozen years. Ray is a Sloan Consortium Distinguished Scholar in Online Learning 2002-2003, Visiting Scholar in Online Learning at the University of Southern Maine 2006-2008, and the recipient of the 2002 Sloan-C award for the “Most Outstanding Achievement in ALN by an Individual.”
Schroeder.Ray@uis.edu
217-206-7531
 
Photo of Shari McCurdy Smith
 Shari McCurdy Smith
Associate Director
Shari joined the OTEL staff in November 1999. She has 13 years of experience as a web developer and 9 years of experience as an instructional designer. She has created, developed and taught three fully online graduate courses in educational technology. McCurdy Smith directs grant projects that examine the assessment of learning outcomes and the use of synchronous technologies in online learning. She has presented at numerous technology conferences on topics ranging from best practices in online learning to faculty burnout. In addition, she facilitates faculty development workshops for the Sloan Consortium and is an Administrative Fellow at the University of Illinois. Shari has experience in technology instruction, program development, conference planning and presentation, grant development and review, and high-end videoconferencing systems.
smccu1@uis.edu
217-206-7360
 
Photo of Carrie Levin
 Carrie Levin
Assistant Director
As Assistant Director of OTEL, Carrie is responsible for developing and supporting grant and contract funded online learning projects, online learning research by UIS faculty members and online learning service projects. Carrie earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Master of Arts degree in Dance Movement Therapy from Columbia College. She spent several years as a professional actress in Chicago, as an ensemble member of the renowned theatrical troupe Blind Parrot Productions. After earning her masters degree, Carrie worked as a dance movement therapist at Hancock Center for Movement Arts and Therapies in Madison, Wisconsin and enjoyed five enlightening years as a stay-at-home mother of two brilliant and beautiful boys. Carrie joined OTEL as Chief Clerk in July 2005 and became Assistant Director in August 2007.
clevi2@uis.edu
217-206-7317
 
Photo of Emily Welch Boles
 Emily Welch Boles
Instruction Specialist
Emily Welch earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Illinois College and is completing her Master of Arts degree in English at UIS. Before coming to OTEL, Emily led faculty development courses in online learning and instructional design at Illinois Central College, taught technology training workshops at the Center for Teaching and Learning at UIS, and worked as a technical writer and web developer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
welch.emily@uis.edu
217-206-8311
 
Photo of Deb Antoine
 Deb Antoine
Instructional Designer
Deb Antoine earned her Bachelor of Science in Journalism at SIU-Carbondale and her Master of Arts in Communication from UIS in 1997. She is an instructional designer. She has seven years of experience as a media instructor at the Capital Area Career Center where she taught high school juniors and seniors how to use applications such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Macromedia Flash, DreamWeaver and a host of multimedia applications. Deb is also an award-winning video producer having worked as a producer/director for the SSU Television Office and as a media resource specialist for Memorial Medical Center.
danto2@uis.edu
217-206-8261
 
Photo of Ross Garmil
 Ross Garmil
Faculty Liason
Ross Garmil earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brandeis University and his Master of Education degree in Higher Education Administration from Boston University. During this time he worked in the Dean's office and administered a department graduate program at the BU College of Engineering. Through other work in the web consulting and educational non profit fields, Ross' experience includes web development, project coordination, operations, fundraising, marketing, and systems administration.
RGARM2@uis.edu
217-206-8261
 
Photo of Stephen Thumma
 Stephen Thumma
Computer Specialist
Stephen has completed Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and is working towards a Masters Degree in Computer Science.
sthum2@uis.edu
217-206-8233