DoIT's Sherri Braxton Leaving UMBC

What can I say, it’s 2020. I’m writing to announce that Sherri Braxton, Senior Director of Instructional Technology in the Division of Information Technology, has accepted a new position as Senior Director of Digital Innovation at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Her last day at UMBC will be Friday, January 15, 2021. 

Since joining UMBC in 2014, Sherri has made invaluable contributions to DoIT and become a highly-respected member of the campus community. In addition to leading the expansion of DoIT’s instructional technology team from three to ten full-time staff, she and her talented colleagues developed and led the popular PIVOT (Planning Instructional Variety in Online Teaching) initiative in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. With nearly 70 percent of all faculty participating in at least one workshop (and nearly 300 completing the PIVOT Plus certificate), PIVOT has become the single largest instructional technology faculty development initiative in UMBC’s history. Students have praised well-designed PIVOT courses as well. In addition, Sherri has led DoIT’s competency based education and micro-credentialing efforts, including partnering in the popular FinancialSmarts literacy program for UMBC students. 

“Apart from Sherri’s technical expertise and many accomplishments, she is known for her personal and professional commitment to inclusive excellence,” says Jack Suess, Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer (CIO). “In short, people of all backgrounds, united by excellence, want to work for and with Sherri. She brings energy and quality to everything she does, and quite frankly, it’s contagious. Bowdoin CIO Michael Cato has worked with her to design a new role that is unique in higher education and fits perfectly to her skills. We’ll miss Sherri, but wish her nothing but the best in her new role.”

Beyond her work in DoIT, Sherri has also served on the UMBC Women’s Center advisory board, and was an active member and leader in the USM Academic Transformation Council, helping lead USM initiatives in accessibility, competency based education and open educational resources (OER), designed to help reduce student textbooks costs.

A co-director and faculty of the EDUCAUSE Learning Technology Leadership Program, Sherri has also served as co-leader of the EDUCAUSE Instructional Technology Community Group. She served as a task force co-lead for the IMS Global Consortium Open Badge Extensions for Education (OBEE) initiative and continues to serve as a member of IMS Global Open Badges and Comprehensive Learner Record working groups as well as the Adaptive Learning and Digital Credentials Innovation Leadership Networks.

I will follow up about future plans later, but for now, please join me in congratulating Sherri on her new endeavors, and thanking her for her success and collegial friendship at UMBC.

Sincerely,