An accomplished higher education leader, administrator, and educator with a passion for teaching, learning and leveraging technologies to support innovative instruction, student success, and the transformation of higher education, Dr. Donna T. Petherbridge is the Vice Provost for DELTA (Digital Education and Learning Technology Applications), at North Carolina State University. Donna has been part of DELTA since its formation in 2000, and has worked at NC State University since 1997. Donna is a practitioner of servant leadership, cultivator of inclusive work environments, facilitator of communication, collaboration, and transparency and thoroughly enjoys working with others.
She is actively involved with NC State University committees, task forces and IT strategic planning endeavors, working closely with IT and academic leaders across campus, where she facilitates conversations around academic technology opportunities, challenges, 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 the EDUCAUSE Digital Learning Leaders Institute faculty. She has previously served as an EDUCAUSE Leadership Academy mentor and a Professional Pipeline Student mentor.
She is a past 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 (and in currently in a leadership role) of both the NC State’s Women in Technology interest group and the statewide UNC CAUSE Women in Tech+ interest group. She is also actively involved with UPCEA and OLC.
In addition, Donna is an Adjunct Teaching Assistant Professor in the Educational Leadership, Policy & Human Development (ELPHD) in the NC State College of Education, 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 27 years of experience in supporting higher education faculty members in leveraging technology to support their instructional goals, as well as experience teaching at the middle, high school and college levels. Her research interests include instructional design theory and practice, leadership development, 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 past 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, NERCOMP, 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 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. She is also a certified clogging instructor.
To successfully prepare for and step into leadership roles as you move along your career path, you should consider several specific areas to improve your leadership toolkit and be prepared for that next opportunity.
To successfully navigate today's ever-changing environment while attracting and retaining the best employees, higher education leaders must be curious, resilient, empathetic, authentic, thoughtful, inclusive, vulnerable, and emotionally intelligent.
| EDUCAUSE | Member |