2023 SUNY Online Ambassadors
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.
Previous SUNY Online Ambassadors
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.