Chère Campbell Gibson, Ph.D.

Professor Emerita
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Middleton, WI

Dr. Chère Campbell Gibson was born in Canada where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from McGill University. She completed a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Extension Education and a Ph.D. in Continuing and Vocational Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her faculty appointments at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she remained a product of the land grant university with outreach integrated into her work throughout her career. Currently she is professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she continues to work on education and distance education related outreach projects in the Schools of Education, Nursing, Veterinary Sciences and Medicine and Public Health.

With over 30 years of experience in teaching and research on learners and learning at a distance, Dr. Gibson has received campus teaching awards, national awards in both distance education outreach programming and the Wedemeyer Award for Excellence in Research related to distance education and was recently inducted into the United States Distance Learning Association’s Hall of Fame. An author of over 100 research articles and book chapters on teaching and learning at a distance, she also edited a book entitled Distance Learners in Higher Education: Institutional Responses for Quality Outcomes.

 

Joseph F. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D.

Executive Director
National Center for Urban School Transformation
San Diego, CA

Dr. Joseph Johnson is the Executive Director of the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) and the QUALCOMM Professor of Urban Education at San Diego State University. At NCUST, he leads efforts to identify, study, and promote the best practice of high-performing urban schools and districts. As a member of the Education Leadership faculty, he helps develop and teach doctoral and master’s degree programs that prepare leaders to emulate the best practices of leaders in high-performing urban schools and districts. Previously, he served as a classroom teacher in San Diego, as a school district administrator in New Mexico, as a state department official in both Texas and Ohio, as a researcher and technical assistance provider at the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas, and as the Director of Student Achievement and School Accountability at the U.S. Department of Education where he was responsible for directing the federal Title I Program and several related programs.

Dr. Johnson earned a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin's Cooperative Superintendency Program. He earned a Master of Arts in Education from San Diego State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

In 1987 Dr. Johnson received the Special Educator of the Year Award from the New Mexico Council for Exceptional Children. In 1989 he was the founding president of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. In 1993 and again in 2000, he received the Educator of the Year Award from the Texas Association of Compensatory Education. In 2003 he received the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award from San Diego State University’s College of Education.