Jeff Barbee is the Director and a research specialist with the Office of Curriculum and Scholarship at The Ohio State University. In this role, Jeff works with faculty and researchers to design, implement, and disseminate educational research studies to improve student learning and outcomes. He finds great satisfaction in helping teams of researchers work through their studies and sharing their findings either through manuscripts, posters, or oral presentations. Jeff enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, watching football, and having a good laugh. He is always eager to work on a challenging project that will force him to further develop his skills. Prior to joining OCS, Jeff was an assessment and evaluation specialist for the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Nicolette holds an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Notre Dame of Maryland University and a BA in Middle Childhood Education from John Carroll University. After spending five years as a classroom teacher, she transitioned to her current role as the Education Program Specialist for OCS. She provides support for both OCS and College of Medicine faculty and staff, including planning the Annual Education Symposium. 

Lisa holds a MA in Teaching in Literature degree from Bard College and a BA in English degree from Trinity University. She taught high school English in Ohio, North Carolina, and Massachusetts for nine years before moving into higher education. As educational technologist, Lisa helps teams work more efficiently by building Power Automate Flows and by providing training on the suite of Microsoft 365 tools, CarmenCanvas, CarmenZoom, ScarletCanvas, Qualtrics, WordPress, and EchoVideo. Through her work at the College of Medicine, Lisa hopes to convey her firm belief that technology and the humanities should be equally valued in the service of creating a more just and literate world.

Angela Bower is a Systems Accessibility Senior Specialist who works with the Ohio State University College of Medicine faculty, staff, and student employees to promote inclusive best practices in digital accessibility. Angela is former science and special education teacher and former small business owner of a supplemental education program.  The work that she does in digital accessibility is just the next step of her journey in creating a more fair and equitable learning experience for all types of learners and end users. 

Angela graduated from North Dakota State University, with a degree in science education, and continues to participate in many continuing education and certification opportunities.  

Vaarun holds an BS in Computer Science and Engineering from The Ohio State University. Before joining OSU at OCS, Vaarun spent time in the software development industry for software, web, and mobile development. At OCS, Vaarun is Digital Accessibility Analyst and is certified OSU Web Accessibility Tester. Vaarun supports COM by performing accessibility evaluations (full evaluations and quick tests) as needed, helps manage the DA student employees, and holds DA office hours. He also maintains the COM Digital Accessibility Resources SharePoint to share best practices in digital accessibility.  

Rita coordinates the administration of the Canvas for Continuing Education LMS for The Ohio State University College of Medicine.  Rita helps learning institutions, educators and learners access and manage web-based courses through the Canvas product.  

Rita previously worked as a part of the College of Medicine Lead Serve Inspire Mission for over 7 years as a Program Coordinator for Med 3 Students. In this capacity Rita coordinated the scheduling, assessments and administrative aspects of students on their first year of Clinical Rotations.

Sarah Dove holds a PhD in Comparative Studies from The Ohio State Universiy, an MA in Dance Theories and Practices from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a BA in Music and Business from Otterbein College. For the last eight years Sarah has invested significant time working in curriculum and instructional development in higher education with keen attention to access pedagogy and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice frameworks. She began instructional design work with The Broadway Collective–an online musical theatre education and training program based in New York, NY–as the sole Curriculum and Instructional Development Specialist in charge of five separate educational programs with a total of nearly 500 students. Most recently, Sarah helped to found the Office of Distance Education for Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences where she made significant and lasting contributions to the support and success of ASC students, staff, and faculty. 

Casey collaborates with faculty and educators to design and deliver innovative distance education programs. She is also a Lecturer in the College of Education and Human Ecology, preparing K-12 educators to effectively integrate technology into their teaching practices. She is passionate about elevating the learning experience and helping educators create transformative educational experiences.  

Before joining the Office of Curriculum and Scholarship, Casey served as the Director of Distance Education for the College of Education and Human Ecology. She has held various positions related to instructional design, technology-enhanced learning, and employee development at OSU and three other institutions. Casey is actively engaged in emerging technologies, recently serving as a leader, panelist, and presenter on topics such as Artificial Intelligence in Education.

Rich works with faculty and other researchers to design, implement, and disseminate educational research studies to improve student learning and practice-related outcomes. With OSU’s College of Social Work, his research interests have included addiction recovery, well-being, resilience, and health-related outcomes. Rich comes to OCS with a decade of clinical experience as a board-certified hospital chaplain, serving primarily in critical care, emergency, and palliative care services across several hospital systems. This meaningful clinical practice informs his research by providing context for his research efforts. He finds great satisfaction in helping researchers apply their work to functional work outcomes and sharing it through manuscripts, oral presentations, and visualizations.

Arianna consults with medical faculty to design and conduct studies, analyze data, and disseminate medical education research and program evaluation findings. As a Research Specialist, Arianna’s background and expertise in educational research is leveraged to conduct rigorous studies for the benefit of medical student education and, ultimately, patient care. She is passionate about education and research, and bring seven years of research experience to this role. 

Lauren works with members of the research team to provide The Ohio State University College of Medicine faculty and staff with program evaluation and educational research needs. 

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