Dr. Van Davis is Associate Vice President of Higher Education Research and Policy at Blackboard, Inc. Before joining Blackboard in January 2015, Van was Director of Innovations in Higher Education at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Van holds a Ph.D. in 20th Century US History from Vanderbilt University and taught at both public and private institutions for ten years before joining the THECB in 2007. He now works at Blackboard as a part of its Strategic Partnerships and Thought Leadership team. He most recently led the Coordinating Board'™s efforts in responding to Governor Perry's calls for a $10,000 bachelor's degree was the director of the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Project funded through an EDUCAUSE Next Generation Learning Challenges grant as well as directing the state's adult degree completion project, Grad TX (http://www.gradtx.org). Van works extensively on distance education and learning technology issues and has directed the state'™s course redesign grant program, online faculty professional development program, annual Reinventing Instruction and Learning Conference, and the development of the state's digital learning objects repository.
