2026 SUNY Online Ambassadors
Dr. Alexander Ehms
Dr. Alexander Ehms is an Assistant Professor of Business at Buffalo State University, where he teaches courses in Operations Management, Leadership in Organizations, Data Analytics, and other related disciplines. He brings over sixteen years of professional experience into his teaching, having worked for a multinational law firm and a Fortune 500 company. His academic training includes a Doctorate in Organizational Behavior & Human Resources and an M.S. in Supply Chain and Operations Management.
Throughout his teaching career, he has worked with students from diverse academic, professional, and life backgrounds, both in traditional classroom settings and fully online learning environments. At Buffalo State University, Dr. Ehms has made a measurable impact on student achievement by supporting hundreds of students in earning specialized, industry-recognized certifications, digital badges, and micro-credentials embedded in his course materials. These industry-aligned credentials have strengthened students’ professional profiles and provided tangible skills that enhance competitiveness in the job market.
Dr. Ehms values online instruction for its ability to increase access, flexibility, and engagement for students balancing coursework with work, family responsibilities, and other commitments. His online courses are intentionally designed with a clear weekly structure, interactive assignments, short instructional videos, real-world business applications, and frequent opportunities for reflection and discussion. In recognition of his commitment to inclusive, student-centered course design and graduate mentorship, he received the Faculty Excellence in Accessibility of Content Award from Buffalo State University in 2024 and the Outstanding Master’s Project Advisor Award from the Graduate Advisory Council that same year.
Students consistently describe Dr. Ehms’s teaching as structured, engaging, and highly relevant to their professional goals. Many students note that the combination of academic rigor and industry experience makes complex business concepts easier to understand.
For Dr. Ehms, online teaching is not simply a delivery method, but a meaningful opportunity to create dynamic learning experiences that support student growth, confidence, and long-term success. Whether teaching in person or online, his goal is to prepare students to think critically, lead effectively, and succeed in today’s evolving business environment.
Mary Beth Sullivan
Mary Beth Sullivan is a lecturer in the College Writing Program at Buffalo State University, and she has been teaching for more than 25 years. Her research and teaching examine antiracist and social justice writing pedagogies. Mary Beth lives and works with her partner and dogs in Western New York, where she teaches writing, bakes movie-themed cakes and philosophizes about the snowfall.
“Cynthia Selfe (1999) presciently recognized and predicted the ways that digital technology and writing are linked, the ways our students, technology and writing are increasingly intertwined. Crucially, she warned higher education writing teachers of the peril of not paying attention to students and their needs: namely, that students (and people) will turn away from the academy and writing. Selfe’s warning and direct solution to always meet students where they are at have guided my teaching, especially in online spaces.
I believe that online learning has the potential to a low students to pursue or continue their education when attending in-person is not feasible. I also believe students have a right to expect the same quality learning as if they were face-to-face with their instructor. In an attempt to achieve this, I extend my teaching values and practices to digital spaces. In particular, I emphasize access, inclusion and belonging; customizing lessons for the people learning; building relationships with each learner; and supporting students holistically as people to aid their success. I achieve that by only using Open Education Resources (OERs) ensuring all course texts, assignments and pages are fully accessible; carefully organizing instructional content to make it easy to begin, pause and assignments as time allows; customizing the interface to match the learning objectives; and most importantly, getting to know my students and checking in on them collectively and individually. Similarly, I believe students should get to know me a bit as well, so I include personal details in my bio and let my personality shine through in my communication. Occasionally, they’ll even hear about my baking experiments or the challenges of a tiny dog (happily) navigating deep snow.
While online learning can create opportunities for students, I also recognize that instructors can easily replicate the same problems as in-person classes. For that reason, I believe in continuous improvement and professional development. My class design is never “done,” and each iteration is scrutinized for ways to do better, be more impactful, and help students succeed.
I am incredibly grateful that Buffalo State’s Instructional Design and Distance Learning office is led and staffed by incredible, knowledgeable people who are as dedicated to my students’ success as I am. I appreciate that Meghan, Brooke and Todd are always wiling to talk shop, share their expertise, and problem solve my new ideas and approaches. They provide incredible professional development and support and are an invaluable pedagogical resource on our campus.”
Previous SUNY Online Ambassadors
Dr. Jessica Fitzpatrick
Dr. Jessica Fitzpatrick is the leader in the social work department when it comes to pursuing and supporting online learning at Buffalo State University. She piloted the first online social work class, SWK 301: Poverty & Public Policy over 5 years ago and has since added 3 more social work required or elective courses (CAS 401 International Child Maltreatment, SWK 302 Social Justice Advocacy, SWK 230 Intersectionality of Difference) to the department's online portfolio. Jessica has taken on the challenge of learning about and implementing the HyFlex course teaching method in SWK 301 and was one of the first faculty at BSU to do so. Jessica is passionate, versatile, and evolutionary. She has and continues to be a favorite among the student body with a narrative of consistently acknowledging her extensive skillset, immense knowledgebase, her humble character, and her ability to communicate holistically. Dr. Fitzpatrick is an outstanding online learning instructor, advocate and ambassador for increasing online instruction opportunities and evaluation of online instruction. In support of her colleagues in learning more about teaching online she has also developed and presented a HyFlex training on the benefits and challenges of this method of instruction. Dr. Fitzpatrick serves as a member of the campus Online Oversight and Readiness Committee representing The School of the Professions.
Dr. John Thompson
Dr. John Thompson has been an educator for 55+ years in all levels of education (elementary, secondary, higher education, government, private) and has taught online courses for 25 years. Dr Thompson’s students have commented in course evaluations that “I loved how involved Dr. Thompson is in the class. … He also cares about his students and wants them to succeed!” and “This has been, hands down, one of the best online courses I have taken in my three years of college.”. With his many years of service and experience in teaching online, John still has a love for learning and participated in 49 online presentations (webinars) related to online teaching in 2024 and most recently completed the 2024 SUNY Center for Professional Development’s OTTER Institute.
Dr. Kelly Frothingham
Dr. Frothingham is a strong advocate for quality online/hybrid courses. As the campus continues to grow our online offerings with a new campus policy for offering online/hybrid courses, Dr. Frothingham created a detailed plan for faculty to obtain credentials for teaching online/hybrid and participate in the online course design review process using OSCQR. To ensure the school was compliant with the campus policy, Dr. Frothingham was also flexible and adaptable to unique departmental situations. Since becoming associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences in 2018 and now Dean, 123 faculty have credentials to teach online, 28 courses have met all OSCQR standards, and 27 courses are currently participating in an OSCQR review.
Dr. Gary Solar
Dr. Solar began teaching online in 2010 in support of a campus initiative to increase the number of general education courses offered at Buffalo State University. Most recently Dr. Solar participated in an Online Course Design Review Process utilizing OSCQR and during the process, it was obvious that Dr. Solar values his students and implemented different approaches to improve student learning. He made updates to incorporate multiple means of representation with the course content allowing students to sort through data, images of earth materials and terranes, and diagrams. The case studies and other course materials engaged students in connecting content with current environmental realities. He also incorporated instructor presence throughout the course and humanized the online environment. His "voice" was present throughout the course, helping to guide students as they interact with the content and engage with learning activities. Dr. Solar is an enthusiast about the course design review process, sharing how much he gained from participating in the process not only for his online course but all the courses he teaches at the University.
Maggie Keef
Maggie Keef, M.S. Ed is a full-time lecturer in the Fashion and Textile Technology department at SUNY Buffalo State and she started developing and teaching her online courses in 2013. She serves on the Digital Learning Environment Project Team (BSC), Approved Applied Learning Oversite Committee (BSC), in addition to serving on the Online Inclusion Committee at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design. Keef is a SUNY Online faculty fellow where she works closely with the instructional design team and also mentors faculty during online course design and development through facilitating discussions within the campus Online Course Development Serves and serves on many panels for online presentations including OSCQR Q&A Session.
Dr. Andrea Nikischer
Andrea Nikischer, Associate Professor and the Interim Chair of the Department of Social and Psychological Foundations of Education and Adult Education, has taught 100% online asynchronous for over 10 years and she is the Program Coordinator for Buffalo State's first 100% online graduate program, Adult Education. Dr. Nikischer has created a number of new online courses, programs and microcredentials, serves on the Buffalo State Online Oversight Committee, coordinated the development of the School of Education’s Online/Hybrid Course Review Process, and has provided a variety of online teaching professional development sessions to Buffalo State faculty and Open SUNY.
Dr. John Draeger
Nominated for his work during the COVID-19 Pandemic to support faculty teaching remotely while also coordinating workshops offered by campus online faculty.
Dr. Gerard Puccio
Nominated for his efforts in coordination efforts for eight department faculty who teach online within the Creative Studies (M.S.) program to participate in the course design review process (peer & instructional design review) uses Buffalo State's customized version of the Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) rubric. In addition, to working to adopt a similar template for all courses and creating a brand image for the department, to create a seamless transition for students as they move from one course to another and enhances the student experience.
Dr. John Cabra
Nominated for their work on revising the Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) Rubric to reflect the needs of SUNY Buffalo State.
Mark Posluszny
Nominated for their work on revising the Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) Rubric to reflect the needs of SUNY Buffalo State.
Dr. Deborah Silverman
Nominated by the Dean of Arts & Humanities for their support in implementing and supporting the A&H Policy for Online Teaching within the Communication Department.
Mark Hammer
Nominated for their work in implementing the Student Online Readiness Self-Evaluation within their course to promote student success.
Dr. Carlos Jones
Nominated for their work in implementing the Student Online Readiness Self-Evaluation within their course to promote student success.
Drew Hemler
Nominated for their work in implementing the Student Online Readiness Self-Evaluation within their course to promote student success.
Dr. Carol DeNysschen
Nominated for their motivation and continuous improvement of online teaching.
Uma Gupta
Nominated for their motivation and continuous improvement of online teaching.