Board of Directors
The FDLA is lead by a strong group of educational and industrial professionals who are dedicated to helping the organization to grow.
President: Dr. Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su
Program Professor of Mathematics EducationNova Southeastern University Abraham S. Fischler School of Education, Graduate Teacher Education ProgramEmail: shuifang@nova.edu
Dr. Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su is a Professor of Mathematics Education for Nova Southeastern University’s Abraham S. Fischler School of Education. She is the creator of Project MIND – Math Is Not Difficult®, a K -12 mathematics enhancement project currently being implemented in hundreds of classrooms throughout the United States.
- In Florida, Project MIND was a multi-million dollar project funded by the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, the Toppel Family Foundation, the Quantum Foundation, National Science Foundation, JM Family Enterprise, Inc., the School District of Palm Beach County, Broward County Public Schools, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties. Project MIND was a state of Florida approved provider for Supplemental Educational Services under the No Child Left Behind Act.
- Dr. Su is a member of the new Florida mathematics standards framers and writers team. She is currently the President of Florida Distance Learning Association. She is also the Program Administrator and Project Director of the Emil Buehler Research Center for Engineering, Science and Mathematics at NSU. Dr. Su has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from the National Science Foundation, the William T. Dwyer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Palm Beach County Elementary Mathematics Teacher of the Year, Wal Mart Teacher of the Year, State of Florida’s Little RedSchool House Award for principals (for Project MIND), and the Women of Distinction Award from the Soroptomist International. In 2002, Su was name one of the fifty Most Successful Business Women in South Florida by the Fast Track Magazine. She received the 2003 March of Dimes Women of Distinction Award in Broward County. In addition, Su was named 2003 Professor of the Year by Fischler Graduate School of Education and was one of the five finalists as the University Professor of the Year. She was also the recipient of several president’s research awards. In 2005, Su has received the Governor’s Points of Light Award for her innovative work with the homeless women. This award led to the appointment by Governor Bush to serve on his council for the homelessness. In 2007, Su received Sun-Sentinel Publisher’s Community Service Shining Star Award. Su is the recipient of the 2009 Mathematics Teacher Educator of the Year from FAMTE. She is the recipient of 2011 International Conference on Technology and Collegiate Mathematics Award (ICTCM) for her innovative use with technology in mathematics. Su has appeared in numerous television programs, including NBC’s national Nightly News, and regional and local news segments, as well as more than fifty newspaper articles and magazines (including the RedBook Magazine) for her expertise in mathematics education, curriculum development, early childhood education, gifted education, and child rearing. Author of numerous teacher resource books and college textbook in mathematics education, Su shares her expertise with educators, community leaders, parents, and lawmakers through workshops, seminars, conferences, journal publications, and classroom demonstrations. Su is a known national consultant in mathematics education. She is also listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in Engineering Science, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who is American Education, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the World, and International Who’s Who of Historical Society.
Past President: Dr. Joel Levine
Director of Educational Technology ProgramsBarry University, School of EducationEmail: jlevine@mail.barry.edu
Dr. Joel Levine taught at the middle school and high school levels from 1972 -1985. While teaching at the secondary level he completed his doctoral degree at FIU in Curriculum and Instruction, with a minor in Instructional Technology. Dr. Levine has been an Associate Professor and Director at Barry University for 26 years.
During that time he has been Director of a recognized Educational Technology Department (offering MS, Ed.S., and Ph.D. degrees), and Director of distance education activities in the School of Education. Much of his time is spent coordinating and/or providing appropriate technology training to k-12 educators, and supporting/mentoring faculty members at Barry University. Dr. Levine teaches a variety of technology and distance education courses at the Masters and Doctoral levels. He is currently working with ten doctoral students completing their dissertations involving many areas of educational technology and distance education. While at Barry, he has published and presented at several national conferences, and has been very active in federal, state and district technology initiatives, grants, and advisory committees. Dr. Levine has also been involved in providing consulting and evaluating k-12 educational technology programs and training in south Florida school districts. Lastly, he has been involved in many professional and community organizations, as a member, board member, and chair. Some of the professional and community organizations are: Member of the Pembroke Pines Educational Advisory Committee to the mayor’s office, Chair of the District Technology Advisory Committee for Broward County Schools, member of FDLC (Florida Distance Learning Consortium), and board member and past president of both FACE (Florida Association for Computers in Education) Region 6, and FDLA (Florida Distance Learning Association).
Secretary: Virginia Richard
Instructional TechnologistPolk State Collegiate High SchoolPolk State CollegeEmail: vrichard@polk.edu
Virginia Richard has been with Polk State College Lakeland Collegiate High School since 2012 as an Instructional Technologist. At the Collegiate High School, she empowers teachers to develop and design face-to-face and blended learning courses, assists with data disaggregation, and provides professional development for instructors on different technologies for classroom use. Before that she worked with Polk County School System for 15 years. She taught Elementary Education for 5 years worked at the district level as a Technology Resource Specialist Trainer in School Technology Services a department within the Information Systems and Technology Division. Virginia has presented at the local, state, and national levels on peer coaching and technology integration professional development strategies. Virginia loves to train, teach, lecture and facilitate online courses for adults and students. Virginia also is an adjunct professor at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida where teaches Technology Infused Teaching, Learning & Assessment for the online teacher workshop program; and teachers undergraduate students in the pre-service teacher evening education program. Virginia is a one of 60 teachers who are Florida Master Digital Educators and has published several articles on peer coaching and is co-author of “Peering into Technology Coaching: Meeting 21st Century Teacher Needs.” Currently she is pursuing an Ed.D. in E-Learning Design & Educational Technology through Northcentral University (Online), Prescott Valley, Arizona. She is a member of the Florida Association for Computers in Education (FSTE) and the Florida Distance Learning Association (FDLA).
Board Members
Board Member: Thomas B. Cavanagh
Assistant Vice President, Distributed LearningUniversity of Central FloridaEmail: cavanagh@ucf.edu
Thomas B. Cavanagh, Ph.D. is Assistant Vice President of Distributed Learning at the University of Central Florida (UCF). In this role he oversees the university’s distance learning strategy, policies, and practices, including program and course design, development, and assessment.
In his career, he has administered e-learning development for both academic (public and private) and industrial (Fortune 500, government/military) audiences. A regular presenter at academic and industry conferences, he is an award-winning instructional designer, program manager, faculty member, and administrator. Blended learning is a frequent presentation topic and he has spoken both domestically and internationally on its design and implementation. His research interests include e-learning, technical communication, and the societal influence of technology on education, training, culture, and commerce. He is also an award-winning author of several mystery novels.
Board Member: Melanie Clark
Associate Dean of Student SuccessOpen Campus Florida State College at JacksonvilleEmail: melanie.clark@fscj.edu
Ms. Clark earned her Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of North Florida and her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Florida. She is currently working on her dissertation, Student Success and Retention: Critical Factors for Success in the Online Environment, in the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at the University of North Florida.
Ms. Clark has been with Florida State College at Jacksonville since 1989 where she is currently the Associate Dean of Student Success for the Open Campus. She has been working with distance learning student services since 2001.Prior to her positions in higher education beginning in 1986, she served in the U.S. Army as a fixed and rotary-wing pilot from 1979 – 1985.
Board Member: Dr. Judith Stein
Executive Director, National Institute of Educational Options (NIEO)Nova Southeastern University Abraham S. Fischler School of EducationEmail: stein@nova.edu
Dr. Judith S. Stein is the former Executive Director of the Division of Magnet/Innovative Programs for The Miami-Dade County Public Schools. From 1989-1995, she was the author of two successful MSAP grants, 1991-1993 and 1995-1998, which provided over $18 million in grant funds for the fourth largest in the nation.
Dr. Stein was also the Director of Career Education, and a national leader in the career education movement. She served as President for the American Association for Career Education, a policy board member of the American Vocational Association, Guidance Division, and the Executive Chairperson of the International Collaborative Conference on Careers, held in Miami in March 1986.
Dr. Stein served as the President of the state organization for Magnet Schools/Program, 1991-1992, Consortium of Magnets/Public Choice Schools (COM/PCS), where she was founding President of that organization.
Dr. Stein served as first President of MSA from May 1993 to May 1994, representing all parts of the United States and over 3,000 magnet programs and schools. Dr. Stein was educated at Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts where she received a Bachelors of Arts Degree. She received her Master’s Degree from Trenton State Teachers College in English Education, and her Doctorate in Legal Education from the University of Miami in 1972.
Dr. Stein has been a school level administrator, having worked at American Senior High School during 1978-1980 as an Assistant Principal for Guidance and Curriculum. Dr. Stein served as the Operation Executive of the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) for the grass roots organization of career academies nationally from 2003 – 2007. She now serves on the NCAC board of directors. She is on the National Advisory Board for the Boy Scouts of America / Exploring, and served as President of the Florida Career Development Association, a division of the Florida Association for Counseling and Development.
Dr. Stein has received numerous awards including the following: National Career Academy Coalition’s 2005 Sisyphus Award, Miami-Dade County Public School’s Office of Parental Involvement Outstanding Commitment & Generous Service 2004-2005, 2004 School Choice Symposium Journey to Diversity Recognition, 2003 Magnet Schools of America Distinguished Service Award serving as Executive Director from 2000 – 2003 and as first President, 2003 Excellence in Education Award from The Charter School of Excellence, Miami-Dade County Public School’s School Choice & Parental Options Service Award 2002-2003, 2000 MicroSociety Honorary Award, Outstanding Career Guidance Professional of 1989 from the Guidance Division of the American Vocational Association; Buddy McKay Guidance Award from Occupational Specialist and Guidance Association, September 1988, State of Florida; State Award for National and State Leadership in Career Education from the Florida Department of Education; and National Vocational Guidance Association Merit Award in 1984.
Board Member: Vance Burgess, Ph.D.
Director, Distance & Continuing EducationUniversity of West FloridaEmail: vburgess@uwf.edu
Dr. Vance Burgess provides direct management and oversight of both the Academic Technology Center (ATC) and Division of Continuing Education (CE). Through collaboration with his colleagues, Vance develops strategies, procedures and resources to achieve Online Campus, ATC, and Continuing Education goals and objectives.
Dr. Burgess is the primary point of contact for the UWF Online Campus and monitors all data for online student growth, retention, and support services satisfaction. He also coordinates the development and implementation of coordinated online marketing and student support systems that attract prospective distant students and improve satisfaction for UWF’s current online student population (30% UWF FTE; 22% UWF students are online-only). This year Dr. Burgess created a new position within ATC that directed the state authorization of distance learning process to a point where UWF is currently fully authorized in 37 states and the District of Columbia; has partial authorization in 11 states; and considering authorization in the last three states.
Through the Academic Technology Center, Vance supervises faculty professional development in creating and teaching online or blended courses at UWF. ATC staff and faculty Quality Matters (QM) Scholars facilitate online courses in designing and teaching online that serve approximately 50 faculty members per semester. ATC also offers a searchable database of LMS procedures that is available to faculty on-demand. ATC also offers weekly “Elluminate @ Lunch” webinars, individual and departmental training sessions, and hosts day long mini-conferences three times per year to stimulate faculty development of quality online instruction.
Dr. Burgess also oversees the UWF Division of Continuing Education which attracts over 8500 students per year to their non-credit professional development and personal enrichments programs as well as several for-credit online certificate offerings. He provides strategic guidance to the unit’s business and administrative processes and the coordinates on the day-to-day operation by planning and directing process improvement initiatives. These measures have lead to improvement in Continuing Education’s overall financial position.
Dr. Burgess sits on the UWF dean’s council to advise academic affairs on distance learning and serves on many campus-based committees including the extended cabinet, Academic Visioning, State Authorization, Technology Fee/ITEP, Banner integration, CCR modification process, and the ITPAC committees. He also represents UWF to external constituents such as the Florida Distance Learning Consortium (now Florida Virtual Campus), Southeast Regional Education Board, Eduventures, and the Sloan Consortium. Dr. Burgess continually works to ensure current data is available and analyzed to make informed decisions on all distance learning initiatives.
Board Member: Jennifer Brown King, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean of Academic Instruction & TechnologyFlorida Southern CollegeEmail: jking@flsouthern.edu@flsouthern.edu
Dr. Jennifer Brown King is the Assistant Dean of Academic Instruction and Technology and a tenured associate professor of the teacher preparation program where she has taught instructional technology and educational tests and measurement for undergraduate and graduate students since 2003.She received her Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in liberal arts with emphasis in graphic design and journalism from New York University in 1992. After teaching high school English for five years, Dr. King completed a master’s degree in English Education in 1999 and her doctorate in Instructional Technology and Educational Measurement and Research in 2003 at the University of South Florida. Her signature work is TechXtraordinary Integration (2008), a textbook designed to provide in-depth, practical, and hands-on instruction in technology integration in a concise, lighthearted, and conversational manner to educators. Her current research focus is the implementation of the SMART Integration Project, which employs a peer coaching model utilizing preservice teachers (Education majors) as technology trainers for K-12 teachers. Dr. King consults with school districts and educational technology vendors to provide week-long summer training institutes in technology integration. As a result of her innovative methods and engaging keynote presentations, Dr. King was recognized in 2011 as one of the top 50 “Innovators of Technology in Education” in the nation by the prestigious Center for Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute specializing in K-12 and higher education technology trends, policy and funding. Recently, chosen by StateStats.org as one of the Top 25 Education Professors in Florida for her celebrated work in educational technology.
