Biography

Dr. Donna T. Petherbridge is the Vice Provost for DELTA (Digital Education and Learning Technology Applications), having previously served as the Interim Vice Provost from April 2021 – December 2021, the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Technology Innovation from July 2017 – April 2021, and in a DELTA associate vice provost role since 2007. Donna has been part of DELTA since its formation in 2000 and has worked for NC State University since 1997.  

She is actively involved with NC State University Task Forces and IT Strategic Planning endeavors and works closely with IT and academic leaders across campus, where she facilitates strategic conversations about academic technology opportunities, challenges and governance and practices that support student success. She is a member of EDUCAUSE, regularly serving as a program proposal reviewer, and is serving on the conference planning committee for EDUCAUSE 2024. She is currently a member of the EDUCAUSE Review Advisory Committee and serves as an ELA mentor and a Professional Pipeline Student mentor.  She is also a member of the EDUCAUSE Digital Learning Leaders Institute faculty.  She is a previous chair of the NC State University Council on the Status of Women and part of the team whose advocacy resulted in the first paid parental leave benefit for employees in the UNC System schools. She is co-founder of NC State’s Women in Technology interest group and co-founder of the statewide UNC CAUSE Women in Tech+ interest group.

Donna is also an Adjunct Teaching Assistant Professor in the Educational Leadership, Policy & Human Development in the College of Education at NC State University, where she teaches online courses, mentors graduate students, and serves on dissertation committees. She has been an associate member of the graduate faculty since 2008. Donna has more than 25 years of experience in supporting higher education faculty members in leveraging technology to support their instructional goals, and experience teaching at the middle, high school and college level.  Her research interests include instructional design theory and practice, leadership, and best practices in creating supporting online learning environments. 

Donna regularly gives presentations on the future of teaching with technology, using emerging technologies, building communities in online courses, and leadership best practices and development with recent presentations given at the Distance Learning Administration Conference, HowSpace Future of Learning panel, University of North Carolina System Digital Learning Initiatives monthly symposium, OLC Accelerate Conference, OLC Innovate Conference, University Global Partnership Network Virtual Conference, Duke University Grand Rounds CEU series, Elon University Innovation series, the Raleigh chapter of the Association for Talent Development, NC Cybersecurity Symposium, UNC CAUSE, and the EDUCAUSE conference.  

Donna was awarded the NC State University 2011–2012 Workforce & Human Resource Education Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Service, has been recognized previously as an NC State Pride of the Wolfpack recipient, and was a 2019 NC State IT Community recipient of an Extraordinary Project Team Impact Award. She is also regularly recognized as an outstanding instructor via the NC State University “Thank a Teacher” program.  She was also a 2024 nominee for the NC State Women's Equity Award. 

Donna holds a B.A. in English (Elon University), a master’s degree in Information Science (North Carolina Central University), an Ed.D. in Adult & Community College Education (North Carolina State University), and an Executive Women in Leadership Certificate from Cornell University.