Biography

Nicola Marae Allain, PhD.
Doctor of Philosophy, European Graduate School, Switzerland.
Master of Arts, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Bachelor of Arts, University of Ottawa / Université d'Ottawa, Canada.
Steering Committee Member, SUNY Innovative Instruction Research Council.
Editorial Board Member, Online Learning Journal.

Dean, School of Arts & Humanities, at SUNY Empire State College. Direct supervision of 60 + line faculty, professionals, and support staff across 34 locations in New York State, delivering programs in modalities from F2F to fully online - serving 17,000+ adult students. The Arts & Humanities Division has three departments: (1) Arts and Media (2) Historical Studies, and (3) Literature, Communication, and Cultural Studies. Additional responsibilities include personnel decisions, adjunct faculty supervision, budget management, collaborating with faculty on curricular needs, faculty development, and addressing student concerns.

Associate Professor in arts and media, with teaching and thesis supervision in the Master of Arts in Learning and Emerging Technologies. Formerly director of curriculum and instructional design for the Center for Distance Learning. Expertise in digital learning design and immersive environments. Translates poetry (Philippe Beck) and philosophy from French and Ancient Greek. Former dance director specializing in Oceanic and Mexican folk traditions. Active in college governance, and held various elected leadership roles across the college.

Diversified university administration experience in adult, online and distance learning, with large funded projects, large-scale program and curriculum development, and pedagogical innovation. Contributed to securing more than $2.5 million in funding for major initiatives in digital media and emerging technologies. Invited speaker in online and distance learning, digital arts, and emerging media/technologies. Serves as an external reviewer of open learning, distance and online programs, and research consultant. Received the SUNY Chancellor's Excellence Award. Brings global, nuanced perspectives from a multidisciplinary, multilingual education and life experiences in the UK, Tahiti, Canada, the U. S. A, Mexico, and Switzerland.

Supervised a large curriculum design group, instructional technology staff, and adjunct faculty. Designed and implemented a number of university wide curricular improvement and development programs at micro and macro levels. These projects included large scale course and program development, on campus and distributed, from multidisciplinary undergraduate programs to graduate courses with residencies and online components. Spearheaded several significant course conversion initiatives totaling thousands of courses. With Ed Kaplan of the National Fire Academy (United States Fire Administration), led a national revision of the Fire and Emergency Services in Higher Education baccalaureate curriculum. Contributed to STEM research and curriculum projects as well as interactive, mixed media artistic performances.

Scholarship includes a strong focus on theory and epistemological foundations, with expertise in digital arts and technologies, new media, online teaching and learning, learning design, large scale curriculum development, virtual worlds and immersive media environments. This is complemented by advanced training in the performing arts (Asia/Pacific) and a specialization in Polynesian cultural traditions. Theoretical research interests: power, taboo, transgression, virtual citizenry, autonomy and agency; and the balance of privacy, security and freedom in the 21st century. Applied Research: digital learning; 3D immersive learning; visual pedagogy.