Jeremy Todd
Director, Classroom Management
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Jeremy Todd is the director for the Office of Classroom Management at the University of Minnesota. This unique organization in Academic Support Resources is accountable for all central classroom issues, including the course database, scheduling, utilization, classroom technology, classroom facilities coordination, classroom planning/design/projects, faculty support, and advocacy. In this role, Todd has explored two major threads in classroom design in response to teaching and learning requirements. The first is the need to include space flexibility in classrooms as a high priority in renovation and construction projects. The second is recognition of the potential value of a new, collaborative, more student-centered classroom model exemplified by technology-enhanced active Student Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Program (SCALE-UP) classrooms. He led planning and design work for prototype Active Learning Classrooms (ALC), and collaborated to integrate research and design into the new Science Teaching & Student Services center. He is a previous presenter at Society for College and University Planning, Campus Technology, and facilities conferences.

Mark D. Decker
Co-Director, Biology Program
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Mark Decker is co-director of the biology program at the University of Minnesota, overseeing the program's scholarship and teaching missions. His research focuses on determinants of engagement with science by science majors and non-majors, and the role of teaching model in enhancing student comprehension. Since 2007, he has developed and taught Foundations of Biology, a sequence of introductory courses that task biology majors with learning biology through authentic scientific inquiry. Both '"concept lab"—in place of lecture and taught in the university’s Active Learning Classrooms using a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) model—and "research lab" stress collaborative teamwork within extended, open-ended research projects. He was an Education Fellow with the National Academy of Science in 2004-2005. This past summer, he co-led the National Academies Northstar Summer Institute (NANSI), a multi-year project, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, that provides training in student-centered teaching methodology to university faculty.

Michael H. Hites
Senior Associate Vice President of AITS and CIO
The University of Illinois

Michael H. Hites advances collaborative vision, strategy, management, and accountability for enterprise-wide information technology services within the University of Illinois’ multi-campus environment. Over the past decade, he has held C-level positions in information technology leadership, including roles as the first chief technology officer at Illinois Institute of Technology, the first chief information officer at New Mexico State University, and first executive chief information officer at the University of Illinois. He is responsible for IT policy, information services, telephone and data networks, application development, training, system administration, desktop services, portfolio and process management, and IT governance. He has also led institutional research, library services, and distance education services. Hites has developed leadership program curricula and led strategic planning and IT planning for several universities. He is member of the Society for College and University Planning Board and one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders. Hites holds a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona, master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, and doctoral degree in aerospace engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.