Karen Work Richardson '84, Ph.D. '09 named Executive Director of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education
On July 1, 2010 Dr. Karen Work Richardson will become the director of the Virginia Society of Technology in Education. Dr. Richardson earned B.A. in 1984 in English from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in 2009 from the Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership Program. She was named for the Dean's Award for Excellence.
Janene Gorham, Chairperson of the VSTE Board of Directors, noted during her announcement, that "we are thrilled to have such an already passionate VSTE member taking on the helm of our organization's operations. Dr. Richardson has long been an asset to Virginia's educational technology community. She brings experience and enthusiasm to VSTE, and we look forward to her leadership as VSTE continues to serve educators as the premiere technology in education organization in Virginia."
Karen has had a wide variety of experiences in education including classroom teaching in middle school, high school and, now, higher education. She also has extensive experience with teaching and learning online. She is a certified online instructor for PBS Teacherline and CaseNEX and has both developed and taught content for these organizations. She is teaching an online Master's level course for Virginia Commonwealth University. These experiences, as well as her recent doctorate in Curriculum and Educational Technology from The College of William and Mary, provide a unique, insightful perspective on public education, particularly in Virginia, which will be of great benefit to VSTE and its membership.
Richardson's biggest asset is her knowledge of and passion for the organization itself. She first got involved with VSTE almost a decade ago when she volunteered to help with Virginia's Community of Learning. What started as simply adding websites to the database quickly became website management for the project.
She is a respected presenter at the VSTE Annual Conference and related Institutes. Since 2005, she has been a member of the Board of Directors having served on the Executive Committee as both Secretary and Chairperson. During that time, VSTE expanded its services to include online courses and began its Mission21 sponsorship program. As Board Chair, she led VSTE into its expanding role as an advocate for educational technology, believing strongly in the ability of VSTE to positively impact the work of educators and their students.
