2024 Leadership Program

Program Leads

Advisory Committee

Laura Rantala

Long Beach City College

Kenji Ikemoto

Stanford University

John Bansavich, Ed.D.

University of San Francisco

Hussam Kashou, PhD

Long Beach City College

Henry Burnett, PhD

Higher Ed Consultant

2024 Cohort

Topics & Dates

March 8, 12:00-1:30 PM

Welcome To The Program, Meet Your Cohort, Introduction To The Canvas Course

Program details, meet and greet, and how to navigate our Canvas Course.

April 12, 12:00-1:30 PM

Project Management and Team Dynamics (Laura Rantala And Hussam Kashou, Long Beach City College)

May 10, 12:00-1:30 PM

Five Leadership Lessons I Learned Over My Career (Jay Field, California Community Colleges)

Jay Field has worked in technology and higher education for 30+ years. He has programmed library automation systems at Stanford, worked as faculty in Instructional Technology at Santa Rosa Junior College, directed Instructional Technology at Sonoma State University, and served as CIO/CTO at Solano Community College, Long Beach City College, San Francisco City College and the California Virtual Campus-Online Education Initiative (CVC). After retiring from CVC, Jay worked for Quottly, the company who built the CVC platform, as an advisor about higher education. Fully retired (at least for the moment), Jay and his wife wife enjoy traveling and of course, kids and grandkids. This presentation will touch on five lessons that show several themes that have helped Jay throughout his career. Topics include communication, budgets, personnel, committee work, and more.

June 14, 12:00-1:30 PM

Budgeting: Making the Right Choices (Nancy Cutler, Santa Clara University)

Nancy Cutler works with a dedicated team at Santa Clara University to support technology initiatives and campus technology resources, such as instructional technology, content accessibility, online graduate programs, learning space development, and more. Nancy also partners with the Collaborative for Faculty Innovation to develop programming, workshops, and technology resources for teaching innovation. She is a long-standing member of DET/CHE and serves on the ATXpo planning team that coordinates an annual event promoting educational technology in eight Bay Area schools.

Budgeting, and staying within our budgets, is a critical responsibility for all of us - whether at a project, unit or department level. In this presentation we will talk about how to align our values and goals to our financial decisions. We will learn from each other, whether experienced or new to budgeting, as we cover the basics, think about building multi-year plans, discover cost saving strategies, and identify the critical elements of successfully managing a budget.

July 12, 12:00-1:30 PM

Enhancing DEI in Higher Education IT: Key Metrics and Strategies (James Johnson, St. Mary's College)

Dr. James H. Johnson Jr. is an educational technology leader with over 20 years of experience. At Saint Mary's College of California, he serves as Chief Information Officer, focusing on student experiences, operations, and cybersecurity.

His achievements include managing online learning transitions during crises and unifying learning management systems. His expertise covers instructional design, technology-enhanced learning, and cybersecurity.

An advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), Dr. Johnson has served as Interim Diversity Officer and co-authored a DEI Maturity Matrix for IT. He holds degrees from California State University, Long Beach and Southern Illinois University.

The presentation outlines metrics and strategies for advancing DEI in higher education IT departments, starting with a land acknowledgment. It emphasizes integrating DEI into IT frameworks and highlights the importance of cultural alignment.

Key sections include IT maturity stages, DEI maturity levels, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like training participation and service impact. Leadership involvement in DEI through mentorship and training is also discussed, concluding with a call to action for fostering an inclusive IT environment in higher education.

August 9, 12:00-1:30 PM

Managing Difficulty with Authenticity (Jase Teoh, Cal Maritime)

Dr. Jase Teoh, a distinguished academic professional at the Maritime Academy, brings extensive experience as Director of Academic Technology at California State University, Stanislaus, and Director of Educational Technology at Saint Mary's College, CA. She has also served as a Faculty Instructional Technologist at SUNY Empire State College, Long Island, NY, and an online instructor for the Master of Arts in Learning and Emerging Technologies program. Dr. Teoh holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, a master's in Counseling and Psychological Services, and a bachelor's in Psychology and Public Relations. Her expertise in educational technology, leadership, instructional design, and dedication to advancing education make her an invaluable asset to the Maritime Academy.

Discover how to harness the power of intrapersonal and situational authenticity to navigate challenging interactions with ease and confidence. Gain valuable insights and practical strategies to enhance your interpersonal skills and foster more harmonious relationships in both personal and professional settings. By the end of this session, you will be able to transform your approach to handling difficult personalities and create a more positive and productive environment.

September 13, 12:00-1:30 PM

Strategic Planning and Mapping (James Frazee, San Diego State)

Dr. James Frazee began teaching at San Diego State University in 1999 and is now the Interim Vice President for IT and CIO at SDSU. Reporting to the President, Dr. Frazee is responsible for IT strategic oversight and provides vision and leadership to support the technology that empowers SDSU's success. His partnerships with faculty, staff, students, academic leaders, campus stakeholders, and regional, national, and international higher education and industry partners enable innovation and documentation of results. Dr. Frazee believes in the service mission of public higher education and has seen his career as a vehicle to support that mission. He has published widely on obtaining educational technology grants, designing faculty development programs, strategic planning, and using technology to push curriculum reform. His current research focuses on generative AI in education. In 2024, the CIO Times recognized Dr. Frazee as one of the top 5 rising educational leaders.

Strategic planning is an essential aspect of leadership in higher education and a meaningful way to encourage teams to work together, manage resources wisely, and stay focused. At San Diego State University, we have a five-year Strategic Plan, and all units are expected to participate in accomplishing the plan's goals. As the Vice President of the IT Division, I led our team through an 18-month process of defining our purpose and values with the SDSU strategic pillars in mind. Then, in partnership with a faculty member on campus, I led the IT leadership through a strategic roadmapping process for the IT Division that aligned our projects with the larger university plan. The result is greater transparency and well-understood, measurable objectives. Each leader is now aware of the other managers' priority initiatives, which has led to greater synergy and a balanced strategy. In this presentation, I will share our steps to develop the SDSU OneIT strategic roadmap and how I used first responder principles to build teamwork and fuel innovation.

October 11, 12:00-1:30 PM

Shaping Your Leadership Platform to Drive Impact (Paul Kim, Stanford University)

Dr. Paul Kim is an advisor to multiple global tech companies and the former Associate Dean and Chief Technology Officer of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, where he spent 24 years teaching learning technology design, pioneering mobile learning innovations for marginalized communities, and launching the Entrepreneur in Residence Program and a learning innovation design challenge for students. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the International Expert Committee on Education Technology at the World Bank, where his first assignment was evaluating educational technology solutions for national-level implementations in developing regions. Dr. Kim is also involved in designing future learning R&D labs focused on smart farming, VR/AI, biotech, health sciences, and aerospace/drone mobility in Asia. It served as the Director of the Center of Future Education for BIEG, China. He has previously advised organizations such as the Asia Development Bank, the National Science Foundation, and education committees in Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Oman, Vietnam, and South Korea. As the founder of Seeds of Empowerment, his educational projects, including 1001 Stories and SMILE (Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment), have received numerous international awards, including recognition from the United Nations. His published works include MOOC Revolution, Coaching, not Teaching, Culture Engineering, and New Equilibrium.

Leadership takes many forms, but perhaps the most compelling definition is that it’s a lifelong journey of learning and practice. Dr. Paul Kim’s global adventures have imparted countless lessons and pivotal moments, each deepening his understanding of leadership. Throughout his career, he has shared these insights while building teams and seeking out talent with a shared vision. True leadership, in Dr. Kim’s view, emerges when there is a reciprocal relationship of learning and sharing, creating a collective impact. However, when we cease to learn and engage actively, leadership fades into mere crisis management. In this talk, Dr. Kim will explore his journey as a global traveler, highlighting how these experiences helped shape a platform aimed at driving meaningful impact.

November 1, 12:00-1:30 PM

Project Showcase & Wrap-up (Laura Rantala, Long Beach Community College, and Kenji Ikemoto, Stanford University)