SPARC is pleased to welcome the 2022-2023 cohort for the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program, an intensive professional development program to empower academic professionals to lead impactful open education initiatives. As the program enters its sixth year, the incoming cohort is composed of 21 fellows from a wide range of backgrounds. Selected from a competitive application pool, the 2022-2023 fellows begin the program this week.
2022-2023 SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellows
- Amy Ballmer, Chair of Library Teaching, Learning & Collection Development, Pratt Institute
- Amy Gay, Assistant Head of Digital Initiatives for Digital Scholarship, Binghamton University
- Andrea Kingston, Social Sciences & STEM Librarian, University of Rochester (UR)
- Angela Boyd, Instruction / OER Librarian, San Diego Miramar College
- Audrey Wubbenhorst, Professor, Humber College
- Beth Cummins, Flexible Learning Coordinator, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College
- Emilie Algenio, OER and Scholarly Communications Librarian, George Mason University
- Janice Winkler, Open Educational Resources Librarian, University of Manitoba
- Jerilyn Tinio, Assistant Professor of Libraries and Information Studies, Purdue University
- Jess Williams, Head, Information & Undergraduate Services, Texas State University
- Joanna Hunt, Head of Access Services, Central Washington University
- Kayla Reed, Systems, Discovery and Digital Strategy Librarian, Grinnell College
- Kristin Whitman, Library Director, Portland-Metro Campus, Oregon Tech
- Melissa Chim, Reference Librarian/Archivist, General Theological Seminary
- Michele Behr, Scholarly Communications and Open Educational Resources Librarian, Western Michigan University
- Nasser Saleh, Head Engineering & Science Librarian, Queen’s University
- Sabrina Davis, Open Educational Resources Librarian, Texas Tech University
- Sam Cheng, Open Education and Copyright Librarian, Sheridan College
- Sarah Northam, Scholarly Communications Librarian, Texas A&M University-Commerce
- Quetzalli Barrientos, Open Education Research Librarian, Harvard Graduate School of Education-Gutman Library
- Veronica Vold, Open Education Instructional Designer, Open Oregon Educational Resources
The SPARC Open Education Leadership Program offers intensive training to empower academic professionals with the knowledge, skills, and connections to lead successful open education initiatives that benefit students. The two-semester program blends online, peer-to-peer, and project-based learning to build a comprehensive understanding of the open education space coupled with practical know-how to take action on campus and beyond. Fellows participate as part of a cohort that becomes a vibrant community of practice, enhanced by expert instruction and mentorship support. The curriculum evolves each year with the growth of the open education field, and this year features an increased focus on strengths-based leadership development.
The incoming cohort begins the program today, September 12, with instruction led by Dr. Tanya Spilovoy. Throughout the program, each fellow will develop and implement a capstone project that advances open education locally and publish an openly-licensed resource that benefits the broader community. Each fellow gets paired with a mentor to provide one-on-one leadership development, many of whom come from the program’s growing alumni pool. During the first semester, the cohort will attend the annual Open Education Conference virtually in October, where they will connect with each other and immerse themselves in the open education community.
SPARC launched the Open Education Leadership Program in 2017 to serve the increasing demand for open education professional development from our members. The program has graduated five cohorts totalling over 100 fellows since 2017. More information about the program’s openly-licensed curriculum, outcomes, tuition, and past cohorts is available on the SPARC website.
To receive updates about the program, sign up here.