Biography

Dr. Laurie Ralston is a faculty member with the Graphics Information Technology program in the Department of Engineering at Arizona State University on the Polytechnic campus. She teaches graphic design for web, print and interactive use, portfolio design, and has begun developing a commercial video track, currently offering two video courses. She teaches both fully online and face-to-face. Prior to her current teaching position, Dr. Ralston was the Project Coordinator for the Campus Public Emergency Communications Project, a grant project funded by FEMA, on the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus. In this role, she handled project management and online learning development duties for the grant, which had the goal of developing and publishing four online courses to help train university leadership and personnel on ways of dealing with campus emergency situations. Dr. Ralston also assisted in content writing, graphic development, video production and web work. Dr. Ralston was formerly the Director of IT for the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she oversaw a small group of technicians who provide technology services to the faculty, staff, and students of the college. Additionally, she co-taught two courses with law school faculty each year. She has also taught at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her research interests include online learning and using technology to find ways to better communicate with students. She earned a doctorate in Educational Technology (Ed.D.) from Pepperdine University, as well as a Masters in Educational Media and Computers from Arizona State University.