Lisa Stephens, Ph.D. serves as Assistant Dean at the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences leading the Office of Digital & Online Education, and also serves as Senior Strategist for Academic Innovation in the Office of the SUNY Provost.  She holds an Adjunct Professor appointment in the School of Communication.

Lisa leads strategic development of online programs, promoting interdisciplinary opportunities, and coordinates operational program delivery. Her SUNY portfolio includes serving as Program Manager of the Innovative Instruction Technology Grant (IITG) seed fund program to support the Chancellor’s strategic innovation plan, leadership of the Open SUNY Coursera initiative, and Director of FLEXspace™ (Flexible Learning Environments eXchange), a global open education repository of learning environment exemplars. 

Research interests include administrative choice of technology adoption, with publications in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, the Encyclopedia of Distance and Online Learning, the College and University Media Review, as well as various presentations and research reports.