Biography

Dr. Bethany Simunich is the Vice President of Innovation and Research at Quality Matters (QM), an educational non-profit dedicated to quality online learning at all levels of education. In this role, Dr. Simunich leads efforts to help institutions, faculty, and staff make data-driven, research-based decisions to implement quality assurance best practices and promote online student success. In her twenty years in higher education, she has held faculty roles for both in-person and online teaching, and also worked in educational technology, instructional design, and faculty development for online learning. As an online learning administrator, she has both created and managed processes and teams for online instructional design and faculty development for online teaching. Dr. Simunich is also co-Director of the CHLOE Project (Changing Landscape of Online Education), which presents the unique perspective of senior leaders in online learning from U.S. higher education institutions. Bethany received her bachelor's and two master's degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, and her doctorate from The Ohio State University. She is a regular presenter of workshops and sessions at online learning conferences and events, and also facilitates custom presentations and workshops on online teaching and design for educational audiences. She is the recipient of the 2012 Lilly Conference Top Poster Award, the 2013 EdMedia Outstanding Paper Award, the 2014 NUTN Research Paper Award, the 2016 QM Making a Difference for Students Award, the 2016 AECT Division of Distance Learning Best Practices Award, the 2018 AECT Outstanding Book Chapter Award, and the 2019 QM Director's Award, and the 2021 AECT ST&C Outstanding Journal Article Award.