DoIT Remembers Professor Zane Berge

Recently, we were saddened to learn that Dr. Zane Berge, a long-time professor of Education at UMBC, passed away on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. He was 71.

Both nationally and here at UMBC, Dr. Berge was a pioneer in the use of educational technology, especially distance education. A few of DoIT’s staff remember working with him on the old Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) committee, which eventually became the Faculty Senate’s Computer Policy Committee (CPC); starting a distance education program in Emergency Health Services; and even completing a dissertation under his wise counsel.

Jack Suess, Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer: Dr. Berge was very well respected in the online learning community when he arrived at UMBC. In that early period, just after the world-wide web (WWW) was launched, there was tremendous uncertainty as to the impact that the Internet would have on teaching and learning. Dr. Berge chaired our Technology Enhanced Learning committee and was both a practical and empathetic champion for experimentation and student-centered learning. 

Jason Paluck, Enterprise Architect: “Dr. Berge was a delightful person, and absolutely instrumental in our initial Technology Enhanced Learning Committee proceedings as we worked with Tony Moreira, President Hrabowski, Graduate Dean Scott Bass and others in carving the path for online learning initiatives at UMBC. During the development of the Emergency Health Services online graduate program in the mid-1990s, the first accredited online program at UMBC, Dr. Berge played a pivotal role in guiding the departmental transition from traditional classroom-based education to the then-new frontier of online learning. His enthusiasm for innovation, mastery of his craft and enduring spirit will be sorely missed.”