Biography

Dr. Knutel is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Berklee in Boston, MA. He provides entrepreneurial and innovative leadership for strategic planning, development, implementation, and management of IT. He oversees systems, networks, and telecommunications, IT support services, information security, media and production services, administrative computing, application development, and project management. Prior to joining Berklee, he served as Vice President and CIO at Babson College in Wellesley, MA for almost seven years. Before Babson, Dr. Knutel was at Bentley University for sixteen years, serving as CIO as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Information Design and Corporate Communication. as Bentley's Executive Director of Academic Technology, the Library, and Online Learning. He strove to constantly improve academic technology and library services by using creative, innovative approaches that leveraged nascent technologies and helped faculty integrate technology resources to improve student learning as well as assist students and faculty in conducting research effectively. Dr. Knutel came to Bentley in 1998, and began working with faculty and architects to design $22M in state-of-the-art academic technology facilities that included the largest and most sophisticated Trading Room in higher education, a Center for Marketing Technology, an Accounting Center, a Center for Languages and International Collaboration, a Design and Usability Center, and 80 smart classrooms. These efforts were integral to Bentley's being named the sole recipient of the 2001 EDUCAUSE Excellence in Campus Networking Award. He also oversaw a $17M renovation that transformed the campus library, introducing an RFID collection management system, an online and touchscreen reservation system for 24 collaboration rooms, electronic compact stacks, an art gallery, cafe, 120 PCs, etc. Gate count into the library increased 470% after the renovation, underscoring the importance of the library's providing a place for collaboration and quiet contemplation in addition to extensive online research resources. Dr. Knutel was responsible for highly unique, very high quality hybrid-online courses at Bentley, in which enrollments exceeded 20,000 since 2000. Classes were recorded for playback by both in-class and online students, and surveys found that 100% of students wanted more of their classes to be offered this way. Dr. Knutel chaired the Library Advisory Committee, was the campus copyright officer, and a member of Bentley's Cyberlaw Center Advisory Board, Sustainability Task Force, and Curriculum Committee. He authored grant proposals that generated $275,000 toward The Bentley Technology Adoption Initiative, for which he served as Project Director. He has been interviewed and quoted on technology and education issues by The Associated Press, The Boston Business Journal, The Boston Globe, Campus Technology, CBS Marketwatch, The Chronicle of Higher Education, C/NET Radio, Enterprise Applications, The Los Angeles Times, Mass High Tech, National Public Radio, Network World, Sound & Communications, University Business, and USA Today. Dr. Knutel served for several years as both a panelist and panel chair at the National Science Foundation, reviewing proposals for over $130M in grant programs. He authored numerous successful grant proposals at Bentley that generated $300K in funding, and served as a member of funded research teams. He received his Ph.D. in higher education from Michigan, an Ed.M. in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard, and a B.S. in human and organizational development magna cum laude from Vanderbilt (where he also served as president of his college student association). His 1998 dissertation, "Adoption of an innovation: The process through which faculty decide whether to use instructional technology", focused on how and why faculty begin using computer and internet technology to enhance student learning. Prior to coming to Bentley, Dr. Knutel was Director of Academic Technology in the University of Michigan's Office of Academic Outreach. In this role, he coordinated efforts to utilize emerging technologies to support online/distance learning programs across the university's various schools and colleges.