Key personnel coordinate MCIT’s educational initiatives, consult with
its business partners, and coordinate conferences for the professional
development of the region’s IT educators.
Dennis Kirlin, Principal Investigator
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Dennis provides oversight for the MCIT project, focusing on cultivating
continued involvement of business leaders and Chief Educational
Officers from the MCIT colleges.
Dennis is the former Dean of Business and Information Technology at
Iowa
Western
Community College. During his 25 years of experience as a community college IT
educator and administrator, Dennis has gained valuable experience in
developing business/education partnerships for customized IT training.
He is an active member of the Iowa Vocational Education Association.
Dennis holds an M.Ed. in Computers in Education from
Lesley
University
and a B.S. in Mathematics from
Creighton
University.
John Jeanetta, Co-Principal Investigator
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John leads MCIT’s Curriculum Adaptation and Emerging Technologies Teams. He also provides
overall day-to-day management of the MCIT project, coordinates the
teams, provides logistic support, organizes professional development
activities, and assists in collecting and analyzing data.
John serves as Vice President of Organizational Development at the AIM Institute. Previously, he served as the
Director of Development for
Metropolitan
Community College. He also worked as a community
development officer for the United States Peace Corps, serving in
Belize,
Central America.
John received an MBA in Executive Leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln / Gallup University in 2007, received an M.S. in Social Work from
Columbia
University and a B.S., Magna Cum Laude, from the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Tom Pensabene, Co-Principal Investigator
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Tom facilitates the work of MCIT’s Lateral Diffusion Team.
Tom serves as the Dean of Computer and Visual Arts at
Metropolitan
Community College
in
Omaha
,
Nebraska. Tom has 23 years of experience in project management,
instructional systems design, and knowledge utilization. He specializes
in the design and delivery of instructional media. Tom is a Certified
Distance Educator II.
Tom holds an an Ed.D. in Instructional Psychology and Technology from the
University
of
Oklahoma
, an M.A. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the
University
of
Kansas, and a B.A. in Psychology from
Tarkio
College.
Jeff Watne, Co-Principal Investigator
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Jeff facilitates the work of MCIT’s Curriculum Adaptation Team.
Jeff is the
Department Chair/Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems at
North Dakota State College of Science. Jeff has 24 years of experience
in teaching and administration in a community college environment. He
has worked as a consultant for business and industry for 30 years. Jeff
is a Certified NetWare Instructor and a Certified NetWare Engineer –
NetWare 4.
Jeff graduated from
North Dakota
State
University
with an M.S. in Business and Information Systems and a B.S. in
Computer Science. He also holds an A.S. in Computer Programming from
North Dakota State College of Science.
Dave Vankat, Project Manager
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Dave coordinates the Working Connections IT Conference for MCIT.
Dave serves as
Project Manager at the Applied Information Management (AIM) Institute.
He has 15 years of experience in technical and non-technical project
management, including large-scale conferences and events.
Dave earned a B.S. in Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at the
University
of
Nebraska
-
Lincoln.
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