Academic Technologies

The ITS Academic Technologies team works collaboratively with faculty members and academic departments to effectively integrate digital technologies into teaching, learning and course design.

We offer consultation and support services that facilitate the exploration and meaningful use of technology in education, including the following: instructional design, technology integration, Moodle course development, digital media services, and support for student projects.

Academic Technologies Team

Jeff Nugent

Director of Academic Technologies

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EdS, Instructional Technology, University of Virginia MAEd, Science Education, East Carolina University BA, Philosophy & Anthropology, Binghamton University

Jeff joined Colgate University as the Director of Academic Technologies in October 2014. In his current role at Colgate, Jeff provides leadership to advance teaching and learning with technology through enhanced support for faculty, program development and ongoing assessment of services. Prior to coming to Colgate, Jeff was Co-Director at the Center for Teaching Excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University. While at VCU he led a broad range of initiatives including the development of a faculty learning communities program, support for online course design and teaching, exploration of learning space design, and promoting learning innovation through the use of digital technologies. His current interests focus on the use of web-based platforms to support connected learning, and understanding factors that shape faculty adoption of technology to support their teaching practices in face-to-face and online environments.

In his free time Jeff enjoys waving a high-tech graphite stick in the streams and lakes of upstate NY in the hopes of catching trout.

Phone: 315-228-6347
E-mail: jnugent@colgate.edu

Joe Eakin

Technical Director of the Ho Tung Visualization Lab

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BS Geography and Earth Science, University of North Texas

Joe has been in the planetarium business for over 15 years, starting as a Console Operator at the Sky Theater of the University of North Texas, where he worked on productions, gave shows to school groups, and aided astronomy labs. After graduation he was program coordinator for a new planetarium at the University of Texas at Arlington, a Digistar 3 dome where he learned 3-D modeling and built his first render farm.

Joe has always dreamed of living in upstate New York with its bitter cold, so after interviewing in a NY blizzard he joined us as the Senior Visualization Lab Designer and Technician in 2008.

Immersed in our liberal arts setting, Joe works closely with faculty and students designing content for many disciplines, including Anthropology, Art, Astronomy, Athletics, Biology, Classics, Computer Science, Geography, Geology, History, and Physics. Joe also teaches students how to create content for the dome. Joe and his students have started work with full-dome video and photography using the Freedom 360 rig and the Canon 5D Mark II.

In his free time, Joe enjoys playing baseball, video games, being a sci-fi geek, and cooking.

Phone: 315-228-6126
E-mail: jeakin@colgate.edu

Kelly Dempsey

Learning Technologist

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M.A.Ed. Education, Teachers College at Columbia University, NY
B.A., English, Elem. Ed. Certification, Norwich University, VT

As our newest member and first Learning Technologist, Kelly has over 17 years experience in education. Kelly's primary role at Colgate is to help faculty take advantage of technology to enrich the educational experiences of their students and to shepherd the creative and innovative uses of technology for teaching, learning, and research. Kelly encourages the use of technology to engage students in the learning process and enjoys working with faculty who are willing to push the boundaries of the leading edge of technology. One of her current projects involve engaging faculty to share their successes in the Teaching with Technology Brown Bag Series. Kelly's conversations around technology focus on increasing digital fluency for students and faculty, LMS (Moodle), learning spaces, blended learning in the liberal arts, lecture capture, and effectively implementing new technologies.

Kelly enjoys keeping a blog about her ever evolving work-a-day life. In her free time she enjoys reading a good novel, listening to live music with her husband Dan, hiking, golf, yoga, skiing with her daughter Lyndsay, cooking and traveling to warm destinations during the cold winter months.

Phone: 315-228-7596
E-mail: kdempsey@colgate.edu

Zlatko Grozl

Instructional Technologist

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BA, Information Science, Hartwick College

As an Instructional Technologist, Zlatko (or "Z") helps faculty implement technology in pedagogy. He works with faculty members on identifying the right tools, and also offers teaching workshops for students who are working on a particular project. Zlatko does a lot of work with video production as well as i>Clicker Personal Response Systems, and has taught workshops on Prezi, Google Apps For Education products, Final Cut X and more. Z has worked with many different departments across campus, with focus mainly on Humanities.

In his free time Zlatko plays music, enjoys nature, and cooks good food.

Phone: 315-228-6492
E-mail: zgrozl@colgate.edu

Doug Higgins

Instructional Technologist

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MS, Adolescence Education, Utica College
BS, Civil Engineering, University at Buffalo

Doug joined Colgate University following a career in engineering and teaching, during which he developed an appreciation for the use of technology in education. With over nine years of teaching experience in the secondary and collegiate levels, he has combined pedagogy with technology through a variety of applications. Currently, Doug is exploring the use of 3D scanning, modeling, and printing to support learning in and out of the classroom. He also helps support Moodle; data visualization and analysis; online and flipped classrooms; web sites and blogs; and poster projects.

In his free time Doug enjoys holding his infant twin girls while playing the board game Pretty Pretty Princess with his four-year-old daughter.

Phone: 315-228-6337
E-mail: dhiggins@colgate.edu

Sarah Kunze

Senior Instructional Technologist

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BS, Computer and Information Science, SUNY Polytechnic Institute

In her eleventh year at Colgate, Sarah manages the Digital Learning and Media Center (DLMC), a state-of-the-art digital media lab and its staff. Her goal is to support faculty in the identification, selection, and use of technologies and information resources applicable to their teaching. Her particular focus is on supporting video projects throughout the curriculum. Sarah also enjoys travel and scuba diving.

Phone: 315-228-6791
E-mail: skunze@colgate.edu

Dan Wheeler

Lead Instructional Technologist

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MS, Computer Science, RPI BS, Oceanography, US Naval Academy

A jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none with Colgate ITS since 2000, Dan currently spends much of his time supporting Colgate’s Moodle learning management system, instructing and responding to questions and requests from faculty and students and managing the Linux systems where Moodle and other academic services reside. He also helps support mapping efforts; web sites, blogs, and wikis; and poster projects. Professionally Dan is interested in human-computer interaction and collaborative software environments. A scientist at heart, he also loves history and political science and the rest of the liberal arts.

In his free time Dan enjoys reading, hiking, biking, photography, yoga, the Horse Flies, KEXP, WUMB, and driving an ambulance.

Phone: 315-228-7742
E-mail: dwheeler@colgate.edu

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Academic Technologies