Our Vision
Digital Strategy and Innovation collaborates with faculty, staff, and students across UNT's academic and administrative units to ensure a world-class, 21st century institution; redefining public higher education through cutting-edge experimentation where the science of learning is the fulcrum that enables us to be at the forefront of innovative, omnichannel, lifelong education for the North Texas community and learners across the globe.
Our Mission
We embrace the mission of UNT by connecting our caring and creative community to pioneering strategies for the 21st century.
Our Team
DSI VP
Adam Fein
Vice President for Digital Strategy and Innovation & Chief Digital Officer
Dr. Adam D. Fein has served as Vice President for Digital Strategy and Innovation since November 2018. As the head of UNT’s online and digital strategies, he leads the charge to identify new directions and opportunities to improve the academic quality, reach and performance of the university in the online and global education markets. His research is focused on the examination of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning and the effects of disruptive innovation theory in higher education.
Prior to joining UNT, Dr. Fein served the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 17 years in numerous roles with online and innovative education. He was responsible for shaping campus strategy and providing campus-wide support for innovations in classroom and online settings. In his previous roles, he was responsible for overseeing the instructional design, instructional development, instructional media resources, and online academic and student affairs teams. Prior to his time in higher education at two of the world’s largest universities, he served as a training and development consultant at Pepsi/Gatorade Inc. and at the Quaker Oats Company. In addition, Dr. Fein has published book chapters and numerous professional papers.
Education:
- Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- M.Ed., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- B.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dana Duke
Sr. Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Digital Strategy and Innovation
Contact Info:
- Katy Tunks, Administrative Coordinator
Krista Watts
Director for Strategic Planning
Contact Info:
- Megan Lawton, Project Coordinator
Benjamin Brand
Senior Director, New Ventures
Dr. Benjamin Brand fosters collaborations between the Division of Digital Strategy and Innovation and academic units across the university to develop new digital ventures. His current initiatives include creating high impact microcredentials and formulating institution-wide strategies around generative AI. Dr. Brand joined DSI after seventeen years of teaching music history at UNT’s College of Music. As the College’s Director of Graduate Studies (2013-18) and Chair of its Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology (2018-23), he built a record of curricular innovation that culminated in the launch of the BA in Critical Studies in Music and Society in 2022. Dr. Brand holds a BA in Music from the University of Chicago and a PhD in Musicology from Yale University.
Contact Info:
Shannon Rowland
Director, Budget and Operations
Contact Info:
- Rena Vincent, Sr. Administrative Coordinator
DSI CLEAR
Ruthanne “Rudi” Thompson
Associate Vice President, Digital Strategy and Innovation, Executive Director of DSI CLEAR, and Associate Professor of Biology
Dr. Rudi Thompson is a UNT Distinguished Teaching Professor, faculty member in the department of Biological Sciences, Assistant Vice President in the Division of Digital Strategy and Innovation, and Executive Director of the Center for Learning Experimentation, Application, and Research (CLEAR) at UNT. She has been in the teaching realm for more than 30 years, with experience teaching learners from PreK through Grey. Her research focuses on the space and/or the barriers between teaching and learning in science.
Contact Info:
DSI CLEAR Team
- Dan Watson, Sr. Program Project Coordinator
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Course Design Unit
- Lauri Morrow, Associate Director of Instructional Design
- Deborah Bockman, Instructional Design Consultant
- Dave Denny, Sr Instructional Design Consultant
- Benjamin Nye, Instructional Design Consultant
- Kathleen Harris, Instructional Design Consultant
- Austin Haynes, Instructional Design Consultant
- Jordan Smith, Sr. Instructional Design Consultant
- Thomas Tubbs, Instructional Design Consultant
- Instructional Design Consultant (vacant)
- Lauri Morrow, Associate Director of Instructional Design
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Creative Production Unit
- Joesph Hoffmann, Director of Production
- Eric Koch, Lead Multimedia Designer
- Jon Holland, Assistant Director of Production
- Olivia Haynes, IT Programmer Analyst
- Nic Daniel, IT Senior Programmer Analyst
- Eric Michener Lead Videographer
- Cricket Childers, Video Production and Editing Assistant (Part-time)
- Vanessa Najera, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Stingray Schuller, Videographer
- Vishal Malhotra, Assistant Director for Media Production
- Jeff Merrill, Media Technical Manager
- Ashley Padilla, AV Assistant (Part-time)
- Keilynn Rogers, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Abril Bhattarai, Assistant Graphic Designer (Part-time)
- Yamash Subedi, Assistant Graphic Designer (Part-time)
- Joesph Hoffmann, Director of Production
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Compliance Unit
- Tania Heap, Director of Learning Research & Accessibility
- Danae Harris, Digital Accessibility Specialist
- Stephanie Hinojosa, Digital Accessibility Specialist
- Charlesa Olmstead, J.D., Compliance Coordinator/Officer
- Daniel Bernardo, Application Support & Accessibility Analyst
- Ethan Ligon, Digital Accessibility Assistant (Part-time)
- Jarrod Trovada, Digital Accessibility Assistant (Part-time)
- Treacy Lauren Flener, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Accessibility Specialist (search)
- Tania Heap, Director of Learning Research & Accessibility
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Faculty Development Unit
- Aubree Evans, Sr. Faculty Development Specialist
- Faculty Development Graduate Services Assistant (Part-time) (Searching)
- Bettye Lopez, Assistant Faculty Development Specialist
- Dr. Babafunso Adegbola, Assistant Faculty Development Specialist
- Assistant Faculty Development Specialist, (search)
- Malka Riell, Graduate Assistant
- Natalia Zagajewska, Graduate Assistant
- Aubree Evans, Sr. Faculty Development Specialist
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Faculty LMS Support Unit
- Inioluwa Davies, Faculty Helpdesk (Part-time)
- Blake Manuel, Faculty Helpdesk (Part-time)
- Julia Kitchen, Faculty Helpdesk (Part-Time)
- Monique Scales, Application Support Analyst
DSI Digital Growth
Karen Bollinger
Assistant Vice President for Digital Growth
Karen has spent the last 25+ years building innovative marketing ecosystems in corporate, government, creative agency and higher education settings. Most recently, Karen worked at the University of Illinois, where she served on the Chancellor’s Marketing Advisory Council and as chief marketing and communications officer for the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and Illinois Online.
Some of Karen’s accomplishments include bringing together a highly decentralized campus to create an aggregate institutional brand for more than 90 online programs and hundreds of courses. This included a new website, program microsites, market research, identity standards, content strategy, digital marketing plan and the building, integration and deployment of a new customer relationship management (CRM) system used for both online and campus-based programs.
Karen and her husband, Eric, have two daughters, Drew and Claire.
Contact Info:
DSI Digital Growth Team
- Cindy Carter, Sr Administrative Specialist
- Patrick Pluscht, Executive Director, DSI Digital Growth
- Caleb Walter, Digital Marketing Program Mngr
- Daniel Wenk, IT Senior Programmer Analyst
- Taylor Abramson, Marketing Coordinator
- Kiera Gerner, Non-Student Help - Hourly
- Stephanie Alvarez, Office Assistant (Part-time)
- Jamie Mullis, Office Assistant (Part-time)
- Emily Ross, Office Assistant (Part-time)
DSI Enterprise
DSI Enterprise Team
- Stephanie Myers, Digital Strategist
- Tami Russell, Program Project Coordinator
- Indra Bhagat, Program Project Manager
- Jim Hoffman, Program Director, Energy Industry Finance & Accounting Continuing Education Programs
- Denise Belmonte, Digital Strategist Intern (Part-time)
- Kevin Huang, Student Success Coordinator
- Divya Thailam, Student Assistant (Part-time)
DSI Tech
DSI Tech Team
- Konner Gonzalez, Systems Integration Architect
- Mathew Moore, Systems Integration Manager
- Julio (Indigo) Machado, Systems Integration Supervisor
- Chris Canuteson, Systems Integration Architect
- Michael Washington, Systems Integration Supervisor
- Jessica Miller, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Allison Phillips, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Stephen Moran, Systems Integration Manager
- Systems Integration Supervisor, (search)
- Pierce Jackson, Director - DSI TECH
- Adan Contreras, Cross Function IT Support Coordinator
- Uchenna Ajiwe, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Zachery Algaze, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Dhruvil Dudhat, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Daniel Faubion, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Bret Ferguson, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Autumn Hatch, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Indigo Machado, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Kenneth Smith, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Jacob Woodson, Student Assistant (Part-time)
- Jay Dotson, Senior Systems Integration Manager
DSI Learning Research
DSI Learning Research Team
- Audon Archibald, Data Analyst
- Abdul Haseeb, Graduate Research Assistant
- Faculty Fellows
[Last updated: August 24, 2023, 9:00am CT]