Rita Arnold – Program Manager, ScarletCanvas
Angela Bower – Program Manager, Digital Accessibility
Nicolette Bowersock, MA – Education Program Specialist
Sarah Dove, PhD – Instructional Designer
Arianna Henning, MA – Research Specialist
Lisa Ibarra, MAT – Educational Technologist
Robert McCord, MS – Instructional Designer
Vaarun Narang – Digital Accessibility Analyst
OPEN POSITION – Instructional Designer
Lauren Smith – Research Assistant
Rich Thompson, PhD, MDiv, MPS, RPC – Research Specialist
Jeff Barbee, DMA – Director
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 Bowersock, MA – Education Program Specialist
After receiving a BA in Middle Childhood Education from John Carroll University, Nicolette began her career in Baltimore, Maryland teaching middle school math. While there, she received a MA in Leadership in Teaching: TESOL. She then returned to Ohio to teach middle school English at a rural school outside Columbus. Nicolette is passionate about education and is excited for the opportunity to transfer her teaching experiences into her new role as the Education Program Specialist, where she provides various supports for OCS, as well as College of Medicine faculty and staff.
Lisa Ibarra, MAT – Educational Technologist
Lisa has identified as an educator for her entire life: every job she has ever had has centered around teaching. Her roles in the Office of Curriculum and Scholarship have followed this tradition and she is grateful that she gets to continue teaching others as OCS’s inaugural Educational Technologist.
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 – Program Manager, Digital Accessibility
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 Narang – Digital Accessibility Analyst
INFORMATION COMING SOON
Rita Arnold – Program Manager, ScarletCanvas
Rita Arnold is a Program Manager in the Office of Curriculum and Scholarship, where she coordinates the administration of the Scarlet Canvas LMS for The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Rita has worked as a part of the COM LSI Mission for seven years. Rita helps learning institutions, educators and learners access and manage web-based courses through the Scarlet Canvas product. Rita is a classically trained mezzo soprano and a Japanese stationery aficionado from Columbus, Ohio.
Sarah Dove, PhD – Instructional Designer
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.
A lifelong dancer, Sarah is also deeply invested in the dance + performance art community in Columbus, OH. Since 2017, she has been a part of a small number of dedicated individuals working to found and grow a nonprofit arts organization–Columbus Dance Alliance–whose mission is to unite and strengthen the Columbus dance community by supporting artists, developing audiences, and inspiring collaboration.
When Sarah is not working, she is training, napping with, or running wildly behind one of her fiery Irish terrier pups. She also enjoys playing trivia, taking in live music, and watching Jeopardy.
Robert McCord, MS – Instructional Designer
After receiving a BA in English from Michigan State University, Robbie taught middle school language arts for two years in Baltimore while attending Johns Hopkins University in order to obtain his teaching licensure. He then moved to Philadelphia where he completed a MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Robbie taught international students within the intensive language programs at Drexel University, UPenn, and Michigan State. As his interests evolved, he transitioned from the classroom to language assessment development at the University of Michigan. Upon moving to Columbus, Robbie worked first as an academic designer at McGraw-Hill Education and then came to Ohio State as an instructional designer in the Office of Business and Finance. During this time, he obtained an MA in Learning Technologies from OSU. Now at the College of Medicine, Robbie works with faculty to develop courses, primarily within the ScarletCanvas platform. He loves all aspects of instructional design: the meeting of minds, the breakthroughs, the challenges, the innovations. When he is not designing, Robbie is exploring Columbus with his wife and son, or is out for a run.
OPEN POSITION – Instructional Designer
MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON
Rich Thompson, PhD, MDiv, MPS, RPC – Research Specialist
Rich Thompson is a Research Specialist with the Office of Curriculum and Scholarship at The Ohio State University. Rich works with faculty and other researchers in this role 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.
Outside of his work with OCS, Rich has been active in the community, supporting individuals in the beginning stages of addiction recovery. He enjoys deep conversations with people from all walks of life. In his time away from research, he enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, hiking in the National Parks, and reading. He is a determined learner who enjoys working with researchers to develop research skills further.
Arianna Henning, MA – Research Specialist
Arianna is a Research Specialist at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. In this role, she 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.
In her free time, Arianna enjoys backpacking and camping with her husband and two golden retrievers. She loves being outdoors, traveling, reading, cooking, and spending time with family.
Lauren Smith – Research Assistant
Lauren Smith is a research assistant for OCS, working 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.
