Meet Our Board Members
Diana Zilberman
Director, Center of Excellence in e-Learning and Teaching Innovation and Interim Assistant, Dean for Academic Resources, Baltimore City Community College
President, MarylandOnline
Terry Ross
Program Manager for e-Learning, University of Baltimore
Vice President, MarylandOnline
Jurgen Hilke
Director, Distance Learning, Frederick Community College
Chair of Board of Directors, MarylandOnline
Jurgen Hilke has taught Ethics and Sociology at Frederick Community College (FCC) in Maryland for 30 years. He serves as the Executive Director of the College’s Center for Distributed Learning. Beginning in 2001, he developed and directed a growing program of online courses that was recognized in a formal audit by Quality Matters (QM) in 2012 for leading the national online higher education community in the development and testing of e-learning best practices. He has served for ten years on the Board of Directors of MarylandOnline (MOL) in various capacities. He has been involved with Quality Matters from its inception and served on the project team that developed. In 2005 He received the ‘Innovation of The Year’ award from the League for Innovation in the Community College. The FCC Board of Trustees nominated him for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Faculty Member Award in 2008. In 2009 he received the ‘Educator of the Year in Higher Education’ award from the Maryland Distance Learning Association. With a degree in Theology from the University of Goettingen (Germany) he holds two Master's degrees from Yale University in Social Theory and in Ethics.
Michael Mills
Vice President, E-learning, Innovation and Teaching Excellence (ELITE), Montgomery College
Vice Chair Of Board of Directors, MarylandOnline
Dr. Michael Mills is the Vice President of E-Learning, Innovative and Teaching Excellence at Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Maryland. He leads a team that focuses on quality, innovation, and incorportation of new technologies into the learning environment. Recent initiatives have included working with faculty to use mobile applications and open education resources in their classrooms. The emphasis on technology is centered around increasing student engagement whether the courses are face-to-face or in a distance format.
Dionne Thorne
Director of instructional Design and Online Learning, The Community College of Baltimore County
Secretary, MarylandOnline
Dionne Thorne has 10 years of experience in higher education designing and facilitating distance education and face-to-face undergraduate courses and professional development offerings. Dionne is also an adjunct faculty member at The Community College of Baltimore county. She serves on the Maryland Distance Learning Association Distance Board as well as the Center for Excellence and the Teaching Advisory Board. Dionne holds a BA from Howard Universtiy, MA in Government from LeHigh University, and a MA in Instructional System Development from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is pursuing a Masters at Capella University.
Trevor Jones
Dean, Occupational Education, Wor Wic Community College
Treasurer, MarylandOnline
Pam Deering
Director of Instructional Technologies & Multimedia Services, Allegany College
Dr. Deering’s 15+ years in higher education include experience in management, instructional design, faculty development, technology training, and curriculum development. She has conducted course reviews and facilitated online courses for Quality Matters and was an active member of the team that developed the Grades 6-12 Edition of the Quality Matters Rubric. In 2015, Pam served as president of the Maryland Distance Learning Association. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan-Flint, an M.S. in Mathematics from Indiana University, and an Ed.D. in Technology Education from West Virginia University.
Colleen Eisenbeiser
Interim Dean of Learning Advancement and the Virtual Campus, Anne Arundel Community College
Colleen Eisenbeiser is the Interim Dean of Learning Advancement and the Virtual Campus and the Scool of Science and Technology at Anne Arundel Community College, where she previously served as the director of the Teach Institute since its inception in 2003. Prior to that she served as a media specialist at Anne Arundel County Public Schools and taught secondary English in California and Nevada. She holds a Maryland State Department of Education certification as K-12 teacher and as Administrator 1 and earned a BA from St. Joseph's College, a Master's in Library Science from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Ph.D from Northcentral University. In 2015, she completed the Instructional Technology Council Distance Education Leadership Academy.
Sue DiFonzo
Instructional Designer, Carroll Community College
Christy Dryer
Acting Vice President of Academic Programs, Cecil College
Jamie Bourne
Director of Faculty Development Center, Chesapeake College
Jamie began teaching as an adjunct in 2005 in the Computer Information Systems department. Since joining the Faculty Development Center in 2008, she has held the positions of Instructional Technologist, Instructional Designer, and now Director of the Faculty Development Center.
She has vast experience in the internet industry and brings those skills and innovative ideas to the faculty of Chesapeake College: researching, training, and implementing new technologies to enhance the students' learning experiences. Jamie has experience teaching both face-to-face and online classes and is certified as an Online Adjunct teacher (COAT) as well as Quality Matters Peer Reviewer and Coordinator. Jamie holds a Masters of Organizational Leadership from Regent University.
In her spare time, she is an entrepreneur, avid cyclist, sailor, world traveler, knitter, mobile device enthusiast, and amateur photographer. She enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren. She also has and unhealthy attachment to her dog, Mango.
Joel Kinison
Technology Specialist Web/Micro, Distance Learning & Faculty Development, College of Southern Maryland
Denise Friend
Coordinator of Distance Learning and Instructional Design, Garrett College
Julie Horton, Associate Dean, Instructional Technology and Online Education, Hagerstown Community College
Dr. Julie Horton is the Dean of Academic Services and Online Education at Hagerstown Community College. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at New Mexico State University in August 2001. Currently, Dr. Horton supervises all online education programs and ensures all support services such as instructional technology, library, testing services, and faculty development testing are readily available and oversees all academic grants.
Dr. Horton's teaching experiences include elementary and secondary private and public schools as well as graduate and undergraduate university courses specifically focused on multicultural education, curriculum and instructional design and qualitative research methodologies. She has served on the QM board for the last two years.
Karen Rege, Director for eLearning and Instructional Resources, Harford Community College
Dr. Karen Rege joined Harford Community College in 2015 as the Director of eLearning and Instructional Resources. Dr. Rege holds a B.Mus. from the Hartt School of Music, an M.A. in Musicology from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Library Science from Drexel University, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Educational Technology from the University of Delaware. In addition, she has been a candidate as a Fulbright Specialist and alumni of the Institute of Emerging Leaders in Online Learning. In 2016, she was invited to join the Online Learning Consortium's Leadership Network.
With more than 18 year's in higher education, including serving as the director of several college libraries and serving as adjunct faculty for both graduate and undergraduate courses in Library Science and Music that were delivered both face-to-face and online, Dr. Rege now oversees online learning and faculty development at Harford Community College. Current projects and expertise include strategic planning for growth in online programs, development of a faculty Center for Excellence in teaching and Learning, open educational resource initiatives, and accessibility.
Steve Horvath
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Howard Community College
Cynthia Brown-LaVeist
Director, Morgan Online, Morgan State University
Rhonda Spells
Interim Vice President, Technology Services & CIO, Prince George’s Community College
Barbara Zirkin
Associate Dean, Distance Learning, Stevenson University
S. Bhaskar
Vice Dean, Computer and Information Science, University of Maryland University College
Dr. Bhaskar has over 15 years of experience working with adult students and online education. He has developed programs and online content for computing courses while at UMUC. He has worked with four-year institutions, community colleges, and high schools on curricular and other matters pertaining to IT. Bhaskar holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Maryland at College Park, and is a member of ACM and IEEE.