Amy Brener is deputy director of 4-VA and the Director of ITU Global Projects for George Mason University.
4-VA began in 2010 as a consortium of four universities: George Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech. 4-VA is funded in part by a grant from Virginia's legislature and received some seed technology assistance from Cisco Systems, Inc. 4-VA leverages the teaching and research resources in these four universities to realize Virginia's goals for higher education:
1. Decrease the cost of delivering instruction,
2. Significantly expand access for all Virginians to programs preparing them for rewarding careers,
3. Increase research competitiveness, and
4. Enhance the success rate of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses and programs.
As George Mason's Director of Global IT Projects, Amy has general oversight of Mason's TelePresence connections abroad. This knowledge comes in handy given the myriad TelePresence calls in which she participates in her 4-VA role.
An avid Toastmaster, Amy was named 2012-2013 Area Governor of the Year and is currently Toastmasters Leadership Institute Dean and Realignment Chair. She has presented on Technology-Inspired Changes in Education and Using TelePresence to Teach Chinese at a variety of venues, including a Confucius Institute conference at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
Prior to joining George Mason University in 2002, Amy worked for Information Technology Support Services at Northern Virginia Community College.
