Barb Polka Smith

b2p | at | psu | edu

814.863.1774

I have the title of Manager within Education Technology Services (ETS) at Penn State and deal with most of the aspects of operationalizing day to day activities as well as some of the projects that ETS takes on. In any given week, I deal with budgets, space for staff, policy questions and processes, hiring, project management (particularly the Adobe Connect implementation and ETS involvement in the Blended Learning Initiative at the moment), responding or re-directing inquiries that come into the TLT list, and any other details that allow ETS staff to do what they do.

I hold a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State in Animal Bioscience, and owe my current position to a work-study job that I held way back when at what was called the McKeesport campus (now Greater Allegheny). The Apple microcomputer was just released and my calculus teacher said I could learn to program in something called Apple Pilot to produce on-line teaching modules. This led to my being hired at the University Park campus by G. Phillip Cartwright, who was moving his Special Education text to microcomputer using PC Pilot. Phil worked closely with J. Gary Augustson to create an infrastructure to support technology for academic purposes, and from that came the Office of Microcomputer Applications (OMA), which was comprised of the Microcomputer Information Support Center (MISC) and the Computer Based Education Lab (CBEL). Change being the constant in this venue, CBEL went through more changes and different leadership to eventually become the Education Technology Services of today.

I am privileged to continue to be part of this effort to use technology to enhance the educational experience at Penn State. I enjoy working with staff who have such diverse skill sets as writing, multimedia, instructional design, programming, graphic design, and technical support. I also value the faculty contact across the university (I learn a lot about a multitude of content areas by being part of their projects).