Read more about our Team…

Chris has worked in educational technology for almost 20 years, specializing in the intersection of emerging peda/andra-heuta-gogy and social technologies. Other areas of interest include: Open Education, digital storytelling and narrative, and Fair Use and the Creative Commons. In addition to writing poetry, folding origami, and making handmade books–badly–Chris does work-related things such as: leading innovation, quality, and student success programs and activities, spearheading Quality Matters at UAF, speaking at–and keynoting for and organizing–conferences, and arguing about serial commas.

Owen Guthrie

Associate Director of Programs

Owen’s career at UAF began in 1984 at the then TVCC Downtown Center as a computer lab tutor. He has enjoyed working with faculty and educational technology in a variety of capacities, including supporting researchers on West Ridge, and supporting teaching and learning in higher education in other capacities for nearly uncountable years. Owen currently teaches online graduate courses for the UAF School of Education (Online Pedagogy and Instructional Design). In addition to interests related to all things eLearning, Owen pursues studies in history, particularly ancient military history, ancient crafting, tools, and techniques, art, food, science, and spends time outside whenever possible.

Madara brings nearly 15 years of higher education teaching experience to the team and coordinates faculty development efforts such as iTeach and its partner initiatives (iTeach+, iTeach Online, iTeach2, and EPIC), CITE Fellows, and the design and maintenance of iTeachU.uaf.edu. She is also a food writer, graphic and web designer, painter, and art instructor. 

Her higher ed teaching experience includes a variety of upper and lower division courses: 2D Digital Design for the Art Department; Special Topics in Research for the Honors Program; Traditional English Grammar, Literature of Alaska & the Yukon, Survey of British Lit., Technical Writing, World Lit., Writing for the Social & Natural Sciences, Academic Writing About Lit., and Intro to Academic Writing for the English Department; and Language Arts courses for Upward Bound Math/Science and Classic.

Heidi enjoys working with content experts in developing eLearning courses to provide alternatives for students. Her other interests include faculty training in best practices for eLearning and researching eLearning tools to help fulfill learning outcomes. Having worked in the distance education arena for over 20 years, she has a wide range of experiences in supporting students and faculty as technology changes.

After spending the first 15 years with UAF eLearning in Fairbanks, Heidi now lives in Juneau. She can enjoy all the public land where you can get lost in the forest surrounded by huge trees and beautiful landscapes. She likes to bike out to glaciers or out on old mining trails. She likes bird watching, hiking, boating, reading, eating and knitting things for other people.

Chris Beks is an instructional designer at UAF eLearning and has been working with technology in higher education for more than fifteen years. He is interested in how technology can enhance instruction and assist the teaching and learning experience for faculty and students.  He has been at UAF since 1996, as student, adjunct, and full-time faculty. Prior to joining the eLearning department, he worked for seven years as a staff member in the OIT Training & Development group, supporting the Blackboard LMS and Google Apps.

Christen in an instructional designer, Google Certified Apps for Education Trainer, and has worked at eLearning for 13 years. She values inquiry and ingenuity as tools for remaining an effective lifelong learner, and is most excited when engaged in discovering novel answers to unique problems.

She finds the most interesting spaces are platforms that intersect with social media and support user contribution, collaboration, and place-based learning. She enjoys exploring virtual worlds, parallel worlds, and augmented reality as platforms for learning.

Christen also teaches the Web Graphics & Multimedia class (CITS F221) for CTC

A 2007 UAF graduate, Sean spent a majority of his adult life living and teaching in Hokkaido, Japan until he returned to Alaska in 2015. In his time at rural Japanese elementary and junior high schools, Sean actively used technology to enhance instruction and broaden students’ cultural horizons, played a lot of dodgeball and learned how to unicycle. Himself a graduate of an online graduate degree program in 2014, Sean hopes to help faculty and students get the most out of their online teaching and learning experiences.

Tina has over 18 years of experience with distance education and online learning. She has shifted gears and worn multiple hats regarding student and faculty assistance at the UAF eLearning Department. Tina is the leading expert (besides Chris Beks) on Blackboard Learn, including the newest iteration.

Tina is also a trainer and facilitator for Osher Lifelong learning Institutes (OLLI) technical courses provided by UAF eLearning Instructional Designers.

Dan’s current focus is creating remotely controlled laboratories and rich learning experiences tempered with sound pedagogy. His training in science and education combined with backgrounds in government, non-profit, business and higher-ed environments make him well suited as an Instructional Designer supporting the mission statement and core themes of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Jennifer Moss

Instructional Designer

Jennifer is an instructional designer at UAF eLearning with over 25 years experience working with faculty. She is interested in emergent ideas such as digital storytelling, augmented reality, interactive media, and wearable devices and how they can help facilitate successful educational experiences. She is also interested in ways to foster transdisciplinary efforts within the university system. Jennifer also teaches online digital graphics courses for UAF, works as a professional fine artist, and gets outside and off grid as much as possible.  Websites: jmossdesign.com, jmossart.com

V. Janene McMahan

Instructional Designer

Janene McMahan began her intrepid career with the UA system in 1993. Janene’s roles include adjunct faculty, communications specialist, instructional designer, and manager. A data geek and marketing maven, she endeavors to make information accessible.  

Her teaching experience includes both online and face-to-face instruction. Currently she teaches CITS 222 Website Design. In the past Janene has taught for UAA, UAF and Wayland Baptist University. Courses included CS 101: Computers & Society, CBIS 3301: Computer Business Applications, MISM 3311: Information Systems.

Kendell Newman Sadiik

Instructional Designer

Kendell is a writer, teacher, and instructional designer who has been working in higher education for the last seven years. Her writing and teaching explore the edges of their fields, including digital storytelling, e-literature, experiential learning, and hybrid education environments. Her teaching philosophy is student-centered and engaged with the many communities that students navigate daily. With her B.A. in Political Economy, she worked in social science research in Cambridge, MA before moving to Fairbanks to pursue an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, which she completed in 2015. She’s excited to work with teachers and students to develop learning environments made better by the creative and intentional incorporation of technology.

Joe Jackson

Media Studio Production Designer

Joe comes from southeastern Wyoming and earned his Bachelor’s of Science degree from UAF in Wildlife Biology & Conservation in December 2017. Having nurtured a lifelong passion for video production, he appreciates the integration of media in education and its importance to student and faculty success. Joe hopes to use his perspective as both a former student and current media professional to enhance online teaching and learning at UAF.

Buck Barbieri

Media Producer

Buck comes from Washington State on the border with Canada. He has a great love for animation which is his main focus in film. Buck has a diverse background in many arts and sciences including foreign languages, biology, film, art and music.  He is excited to work together with designers and professors to help create awesome tools in tune with students’ and teachers’ goals for success.

Joe Yates

Media Producer

‘Waats’asdiyei Yates is a Haida from Craig, AK. His English name is Joe. With a four year break, he is a transfer student from the University of Alaska Southeast studying in Film with a minor in Business. Before switching careers, Joe worked for 13 years with the youth in small communities throughout Alaska. Joe practices his skills in filmmaking by reading, watching tutorials, making short films, and photography during his free time.

Mika McCrary

Media Producer

Mika is from a small interior town in Alaska. She loves film in all aspects, with a gravitation towards post-production and production design. As a film student at UAF, Mika is expanding her skills with graphic design, camera work, editing, directing, and getting comfortable sleeping in the computer lab waiting for exports.

Marissa Carl-Acosta

Communications Specialist

Marissa worked as a writer and editor for newspapers, magazines and websites before making the switch to higher education in 2011. She is most interested in using technology, data and good communication skills to enhance the relationship between the university and students, no matter where they are located.

Karina Gonzales-Smith

Faculty Services Coordinator

Karina is a student but someday hopes to be a teacher. Her passion for learning began at an early age when she (mostly) taught herself English after moving from the Philippines to Alaska. Since then Karina has moved from one classroom to another whether on campus, online, in Barcelona, or in a kitchen. She has worked in higher education for over nine years and has been a student for much longer. After graduating from UAF, Karina had plans to go to medical school but was intrigued and challenged by the social determinants of health. She is now researching the socioeconomic factors influencing food security in Alaska, which includes building evidence for a regional food security index to strengthen public policy and community-based programs in the state and beyond.

When not hanging out with her corgi, Karina takes special interest classes like biomedical ethics, research writing, archery, and gourmet cooking. She also enjoys eating, reading, befriending animals, exploring the outdoors, making her family laugh, and traveling to places she’s read about.

Barbara Paskvan

Course Scheduling

Barb brings over 17 years of experience with UAF, 13 of those years with distance education. She has made it her goal to build strong relationships with the academic departments on campus and has been pro-active in making sure the departments know how eLearning can assist them in all aspects of creating, designing, and marketing their classes to a wide audience. With Barb’s extensive background in Banner she is able to effectively identify problems and work on solutions.

In her time away from work, Barb enjoys time at Birch Lake boating, hiking, and snowshoeing. She also loves to travel and catch up with the grandkids.