Eric Machan Howd, M.A., M.F.A.

509 Turner Place, Ithaca, NY 14850

607/273-3744 | [email protected]

Education
Masters of Fine Arts (Creative Writing, Poetry), 2019 (Terminal Degree)
Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT

Masters in English Literature, 1995

Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY

Bachelors in English Literature and Writing Minor, 1990

Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
Masters of Fine Arts Dissertation
A Non-Binary Approach to the Arts: the Continuum of Music and Song (2018)
Excerpt: We live in a binary world. Our politics lean either left or right. Acts we commit are
either good or bad. Agreements are made with either a yes or a no. We read language through
the contrast of black text on a white page, but our understanding exists on a continuum, a
range of interpretations and perspectives. Still, one of the main problems our world suffers
from is the polarization of understanding, how choices are made by labels and not by a process
of weighing perspectives and philosophies. We vote by party affiliations and not by the
implications of policy upon the people. We take the easy road, the road that does not require
individual interpretation. The result of thinking in binary terms is that we lose our capability for
expression and choice. We either agree or disagree, rather than discuss.
https://www.academia.edu/42750159/An_Argument_for_a_Non_Binary_Approach_to_the_Ar
ts_the_Continuum_of_Word_and_Song
AWARDS & HONORS
FACT2 Excellence in Instructional Support: State-Operated and Statutory Campuses
May 2017, State University of New York Faculty Advisory Council on Technology
Faculty at Binghamton University nominated our Instructional Design Services Department for
this award. Such an award would never have happened without the great work of my team; it
was an honor to lead them and receive this award.

SUNY COTE Effective Practice Awards (A Peer-Reviewed Selection Process)

Binghamton Teaching Online Certification Program - Third Place
Jun 2016, State University of New York Center for Online Teaching Excellence (SUNY COTE)
The Teaching Online Certification Program was developed as an effort to improve online course
retention and success rates. Faculty are required to complete an online course before working
with instructional designers. This has helped increase awareness of what goes into an online
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course prior to development. Additionally, accessibility and inclusive design is emphasized

immediately.

2014 Innovation Award in Administrative Programs (campuses 7500 and above)

Binghamton University's B-Online Program.
May 2014, North American Association of Summer Sessions
The North American Association of Summer Sessions (NAASS) is an association of deans,
directors, and administrators of college and university summer programs located throughout
the United States, Canada, and Mexico. NAASS helps its members develop summer session
standards and oversee programs, advocate for resources to support students during their
summer studies.

The online student immersion experience–known forthwith as B-ONLINE–was conceived and

developed in response to student feedback regarding a perceived need for orientation to the
online learning environment, especially for the first-time online learner.

SUNY Chancellor’s/Trustee’s Award for Excellence in Professional Services (2005)

I received this honor for my professional work at Tompkins Cortland Community College in
leading and supporting online courses and programs, faculty development, and online
curriculum development.

Ithaca Youth Bureau RMS Volunteer of the Year Award (1998)

This recognition was for my work in the Ithaca Community with developmentally and physically
challenged individuals. In this context I served as a camp counselor with Camp Iroquois in the
areas of natural studies, music, and art, in addition to work as a piano accompanist for the Tin
Can Chorale.

Cornell Tradition Community Recognition Award (nominated but not awarded)

Being nominated for this award is an honor in and of itself. I was nominated for my work in the
community with developmentally and physically challenged individuals as well as my work in
supporting local artists and craft-persons as a craft show promoter and events coordinator.
GRANTS ADMINISTRATION & PARTICIPATION (selected)
National Science Foundation Grant Application (not funded), 2014 – 2015
These Far Hills Project
The objective of this project is to create, test and disseminate a computer game, These Far Hills,
incorporating engineering and science content; to explore its efficacy and appeal as a tool for
STEM teaching and learning relative to traditional classroom methods like typical “drill and kill”
type educational video games. These Far Hills will be a single-player hybrid Role-
Playing/Adventure game built with the Unity game engine. Inspired by the ballad, I Miss the
Rain (in Dublin), the game will tell the story of an extended Irish family that immigrates to a
new land, as many Irish families did in the nineteenth century. However, the new land to which
this family of the near future journeys to is Mars, where they will build a biosphere. It is
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through the challenges and hazards that the construction of this biosphere presents that the
fundamentals of today’s mechanical engineering and Mars science will be taught.

National Science Foundation ATE Grant, funded 2003-2006

The ALICE Project (www.alice.org)
Alice is a 3d graphics programming environment intended to be a gentle first introduction to
students ranging from 6th grade to college, typically students who typically would not take, or
pass, a programming course. The Alice project was motivated by the fact that for most first-
time students, the experience of learning to program has been filled with frustration. Hours of
trying to understand syntax errors in pursuit of a working Fibonacci sequence generation
program have led many students to conclude that Computer Science is uninteresting before
they have completed a single course. The goal of the Alice project was to change the first
experience students have with computer programming. We believe that Alice will change the
experience of learning to program in two main ways removing unnecessary frustration and
providing an environment in which beginning students, of both genders, can create programs
they find compelling. I was honored to work closely with Randy Pausch (Carnegie-Mellon, The
Last Lecture) on this project.

Institute of Community College Development, Cornell University, funded 2006

Retention and Integration Study
Although this project will make use of data from only one community college, TC3 has been a
leader statewide in the development and growth of on-line courses, and the experiences here
will provide useful information to both community colleges with large on-line curricula and
those considering expanding their offerings. If community colleges plan to meet increased
student demand for on-line classes, it is essential that we understand the new challenges on-
line learning may pose for retention and integration.

Howland Grant, Cornell Cooperative Extension, funded 2006

Blended Learning Study
A new professional development seminar series, Empowerment Skills for Leaders, will increase
the capacity of our local health, education and human service providers to build on families’
strengths and their goals for self-reliance while piloting online curriculum enhancements that
will make the program more widely accessible to these providers.
Experience
Assistant Professor of Professional and Technical Writing
Ithaca College, 2017 - present (Teaching position)

• Design and teach curriculum relating to professional and technical writing, including:
Proposal & Grant Writing, Technical Writing, Workplace Writing, First-Year Experiences
and other courses as assigned.
• Design and teach the Department’s graduation capstone experience.
• Serve as member and co-chair of the Departments Curriculum Committee.
• Serve as a member of search committees.
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• Provide Department development experiences in curriculum design, online learning,

and other learning pedagogies.
• Facilitated workshops for the College’s Center for Faculty Excellence on reflective-based
learning pedagogies and electronic portfolio design.
• Serve as a member of the Technology Sub-group for the College’s Learning Management
System Group to recommend replacement of the Sakai LMS.
• Participate as a member of the College’s Campus Mindfulness Group.
• Assess Graduation portfolios for the Integrated Core Curriculum office.
• Present at local, regional, national and international conferences on Business
Communication topics.

Independent Contractor & Educational Consultant

Various Clients, 1998 – present (Teaching and consultant position)
I have worked both nationally and internationally in these roles.

Nationally

• Binghamton University Graduate School Lecturer (2016 – present): Design and teach
graduate school winter/summer session courses in Instructional Design.
• Empire State College Prior Learning Assessor and Adjunct (2005 – present): Conduct
prior learning assessments in writing and literature studies as well as teach
individualized courses in these areas.
• Ithaca College Lecturer in Writing (1999 – 2016): Designed and taught face-to-face
courses in Introduction to Literature, Academic Writing, and Workplace Writing.
• TC3 Lecturer in English & Communications (1998 – 2012): Developed and taught online,
hybrid and web-enhanced classroom-based sections in Business Communications,
Approaches to Literature, Report Writing, Academic Writing and Creating Online Media.
• Library & Academic Workforce Trainer (2005 – 2012): Created and led workshops for
library councils and librarians in Electronic Communication (Blogs, Wikis, e-mail
management, on-line Discussion Boards, etc.), Social Networking Tools (YouTube,
MySpace, Facebook, etc.), Survey/Questionnaire Creation and Distribution, and Adobe
Acrobat -- all catered to the working librarian/educator. Satisfied clients include:

o The SUNY TLT Group (NYS)

o The Connecticut State Library System (CT)
o South Central Regional Library Council (NYS)
o The Fingerlakes Library System (NYS)
o The Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System (NYS)
o The Western New York Regional Library System (NYS)
o Herkimer-Oneida-Madison BOCES (NYS)
o Northern New York Library Resource Council (NYS)
o Long Island Library Resource Council (NYS)
o Cornell University (Secondary Educator Professional Development Day)
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o The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York

• TC3 Workforce Trainer (2002 - 2009): Created and led workshops for TC3.biz in Adobe’s
Acrobat Professional, InDesign and Macromedia software suites, as well as state-wide,
on-line workshop for SUNY. Acted as a spokesperson/advisor for TC3.biz through other
ad- hoc community presentation/workshops.
• SUNY Workforce Trainer (2002 - 2009): Developed and taught two on-line courses for
state-wide faculty training: How to Develop an Online Course Using WebCT and Theories
& Structures of Blended Learning.
• Cortland State Lecturer in English (1999): Developed and taught classes in College
Writing I and College Writing II. Advised and supported students on college writing and
collaborated with colleagues on developing and assessing the curriculum for these
courses.

Internationally

Distance Learning Consultant: I’ve been contracted by the following universities as an

advisor regarding how to create and administer Distance Learning courses and programs. I
have also led workshops, on location and from a distance, for faculty at these Universities in
how to create and teach online courses:

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (Dominican Republic), founded in

1962, is considered the best private institution of higher learning in the Dominican
Republic. Its main campus is located in Santiago de los Caballeros, 90 miles north of
Santo Domingo. The PUCMM has well-developed degree programs in a variety of
disciplines, including education, medicine, business, engineering, architecture,
humanities, social sciences, and law. The campus boasts modern facilities and
spacious grounds.
• Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Madrid, Spain), A young, innovative, flexible
University, which was established in 1992, the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria
forms part of a private, not for profit Foundation. They are fully accredited by the
Ministry of Education and Regional Madrid Government. Approximately 3000
students study with them, including 18% international students from over 50
countries.

Director of Instructional Design Services

Binghamton University, 2014-2017 (Administrative position)
Training received at Binghamton University included: completion of Emerging Leaders Program.

• Directed and collaborated with a team of Instructional Designers in creating an

instructional design culture across the University campus.
• Led the University’s Learning Management System initiatives and cross-campus support
teams.
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• Collaborated on designing, implementing, supporting, and assessing the University’s

experimental Learning Lab, which included communicating with vendor partnerships
with Herman Miller.
• Initiated and collaborated on the design and implementation of an award-winning
Online Teaching Certificated Program, which included partnering with OpenSUNY on the
development of the award-winning OSCQR evaluative rubric.
• Designed, facilitated, and assessed an award-wining Online Orientation Program for
students and faculty that was geared to summer and winter session learners as well as
the entire University.
• Served as an officer and member on the United University Professions Binghamton
University Chapter and developed a University-wide Employee Recognition program of
resources.
• Co-chaired a University-wide Streaming Media Solution Committee to find a solution for
serving multimedia to the campus and LMS systems.
• Presented at numerous conferences in SUNY and without.

Instructional Designer and Project Manager

Cornell University, 2008-2014 (Administrative position)
Training received at Cornell University included: completion of the Employee Leadership
Program (ELP), Cornell Project Management Methodology (CPMM) as well as Certification in
Apple Logic Pro Training.

• Managed and collaborated on two of the University’s first Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs) in History and Astrophysics where I learned Harvard University’s EdX solution
for designing and delivering large-scale learning experiences.
• Managed a portion of the University’s Faculty Innovation in Technology projects that
netted innovative applications of technology that increased faculty teaching and student
learning. The Faculty Innovation in Teaching (FIT) program was part of a larger
distributed learning initiative supported by the offices of the President and the Provost.
The program was designed to allow faculty to develop innovative instructional
technology projects that have the potential to improve the educational process. The
program provided faculty with the technical staff and other resources necessary to plan
and implement their projects, thus allowing faculty to focus on their pedagogical
objectives.
• Created and collaborated on the development of the University’s Blog, Wiki, and
Learning Management System documentation helped users get the support that they
needed, on-line, when they needed it.
• Managed the University’s e-Portfolio pilot of Sakai’s Open Source Portfolios (OSP) and
Chalk and Wire technologies. The faculty involved in the pilot discovered new ways of
assessing student work and the administration discovered that portfolio-based learning,
and reflective-based learning is a strong pedagogy for tracking student progress
throughout their programs.
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• Led the University’s adoption of SoftChalk as a tool for building online active
learning/training modules and learning objects for both large-lecture classes as well as
small classes. Using my experience in instructional design as well as my experience as an
instructor made an impact on the lessons created for faculty with this tool.
• Served on the Cornell Undergraduate Information Competency Initiative. I served on the
general initiative team and provided technology planning and support for faculty
participants. The Initiative, based on a model pioneered by the University of California
Berkeley’s Mellon Library/Faculty Fellowship for Undergraduate Research, was created
as a response to a growing national concern that today’s undergraduates do not possess
core information competencies.
• Presented at numerous conferences regarding projects developed in this role.

Director of Academic Technologies

Tompkins Cortland Community College, 1998-2008
Training received at Tompkins Cortland Community College included: The Chairs Academy, EASI
Access Web Accessibility Certification

• Provided leadership for the instructional support areas of the College to include media
services, academic computing, educational technology services, and distance learning.
• Acted as campus spokesperson to the SUNY Learning Network, and/or other educational
technology service/ software providers, in order to advise, affect and implement quality
educational technology initiatives to the College.
• Provided leadership and advocacy for the College’s educational technology initiatives
and collaborates with other departments/divisions to ensure that all technological
systems work toward the College’s missions, values and goals.
• Served as the President of the Professional Administrator’s Association (PAA, 2005-
2008). The Professional Administrators Association is the lawfully designated exclusive
representative of Administrative employees of the College for purposes of collective
negotiations. As President of this union, I also served on the college’s Classification
Committee and the Quality-Step Increase Committee.
• Served on the College Forum as a member: The College Forum provided a structure for
recommending and influencing Institutional Policy discussing and influencing proposed
operational decisions that will significantly affect the College’s Mission, Vision, Values,
Continuing Goal(s), or Critical Success Areas, and provided a forum for communicating
on issues of broad institutional concern providing expertise and/or knowledge on such
issues to decision makers.
• Served on the Diversity and Equity Action Council as a member: The Diversity and Equity
Action Council met semi-annually to address updates to the College’s harassment
procedures, provide counsel to the College on issues of diversity/inclusion and led the
College in all efforts relating to diversity and affirmative action.
• Served on the Web Vision/Accessibility Committee as a member: The Web Vision
committee met semi-annually to address updates, edits and standards for our College
website. Web Accessibility is addressed in terms of issues of W3C compliancy relating to
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our College web site, electronic content (in online courses), and general accessibility
awareness across campus.
• Served on and led several Screening Committees: Director of Institutional Research,
Computer Support Associate, Web Associate, Graphic Designer, ESOL Instructor, College
Editor, and the Open-Enrollment Manager.
• Instrumental in TC3’s receiving of a top-rating from NYS Department of Higher
Education’s Evaluation of Online Learning Programs and twice receiving top ranking in a
2005/2007 national survey of technologically-enhanced campuses by the Center for
Digital Education and American Association of Community Colleges
• Awarded the 2005 SUNY Chancellor’s/Trustee’s Award for Excellence in Professional
Services
• Successfully grew TC3’s online offerings and programs by 10-20% a year
• Recommended by the College to attend leadership training at the internationally-
renown Chairs Academy (2007-2009)

As part of my work at Tompkins Cortland Community College I also served on various SUNY
initiatives as assigned by the College or as requested by SUNY.

• Served on the SUNY Technology Sub-Committee (2006-2008): The Technology Sub-

Committee was originally charged with 11 tasks relating to the transition of the SUNY
Learning Network’s LMS and services. Currently, this committee reports directly to the
SUNY Policy Advisory Council, who, in turn, reports directly to the Chancellor and
Provost of SUNY.
• Served on the SUNY LMS Taskforce (2005): The Learning Management System Task
Force was charged with outlining the characteristics of the SUNY Learning Network’s
next learning management system.
• Served the SUNY Learning Network (now OpenSUNY) as TC3’s Academic Coordinator
and Multimedia Instructional Designer designates (2000-2008).

Multimedia Instructional Designer (MID) Description: This person will work with
campus faculty in the SUNY Learning Network to convert courses for delivery on the
World Wide Web. Works closely and collaboratively as a member of the SLN
Instructional Design team, and faculty to design, develop, test, and support computer-
mediated, asynchronous instructional materials/courses. Works in partnership with
individual SUNY TC3 faculty members to design and develop computer-mediated
courses for asynchronous delivery to students at a distance. Communicates extensively
with faculty developers by phone and email. Conducts workshops, demonstrations,
individual face-to-face or telephone training sessions for faculty. Writes documentation
and instructions to assist faculty developers, tracks course development progress,
monitors ongoing courses, and trouble shoots problems in technology and course
delivery for SUNY Learning Network Courses.

Academic Coordinator (AC) Description: Campus liaison to SLN. Official point of contact
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for campus, with faculty and campus offices. Organize consistent dissemination of
information to campus, faculty, students. Facilitate systematized accurate collection of
information from campus departments and offices, e.g. proposed list of courses to be
offered via SLN for each semester. Communicate collected information to the SLN
Administrative Offices through the online Campus Center. Input semester course
information into Course Information Collector. Reconciliation of registered students
with students on the SLN system via the Course Reconciliation Center.
Software Skills
Acrobat Professional, Adobe Connect, Angel LMS, Articulate Storyline, Blackboard LMS, Blogger,
Brightspace LMS, Chalk and Wire, Camtasia, Canvas LMS, Confluence, Digication, Dreamweaver,
Edublogs, EdX, FileMaker Pro, Google Suite, Goto Meeting, InDesign, Mahara, Moodle LMS,
Photoshop, MS Office, Open Educational Resources, Qualtrics, Quicktime, Sakai LMS, Sakai OSP,
SoftChalk Tutorial Creation, SourceForge, Survey Monkey, Survey Gizmo, Top Hat, Twitter,
Voice Thread, WebCT LMS, WebEx, Wordpress, Zoom Video Conferencing
Publications (selected)
Breaking Through the Silos: Collaboration that Supports Instruction (Chapter 18), Aug 2017, in
Creative Instructional Design: Practical Applications for Librarians, Association of College and
Research Libraries

Excerpt: The benefits of academic collaboration have been widely studied, but few studies have
focused on collaboration across campus units. A literature review finds that while there have
been several studies focused on the collaborative benefits between academia and industry
(Pilay, Watters, Hoff & Flynn, 2014; Steinmo, 2015) or scholarly collaboration to promote
publications (Aboelela et al., 2007), it is difficult to find studies that proclaim the significance of
collaborative knowledge sharing activities among academic departments and units. The value
of knowledge sharing deserves some attention. Van den Brink’s (2003) research found that
knowledge sharing encourages faculty to trust one another, work together, share ideas, and
engage in discussions which thus generate new knowledge. Tan (2016) wanted to explore the
role of knowledge management and how to encourage the positive outcomes of knowledge
sharing. In her study, Tan (2016) found that most faculty are influenced by trust, organizational
rewards, and organizational culture. Many times, these influential factors are generated by
administrators but can also be created by a motivated team of campus staff from different
departments with similar interests. This chapter seeks to explore how multi-departmental
collaboration, especially among departments with similar instructional interests such as the
Libraries and the Center for Learning and Teaching, encourages positive communication that
shapes departmental networking and information gathering.
https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/creative-instructional-design-practical-applications-
librarians

Using ePortfolios instead of an LMS: a model to promote life long learning and professional
development, Nov 2016, in THE AAEEBL ePortfolio Review, Volume 1, Issue 1
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Excerpt: Course management systems were created primarily from an instructor-centered view.
In their infancy, most CMSs contained features that made it easier for the instructor to
communicate with their learners, obtain electronic submissions of homework, and to assess the
knowledge of their learners through electronic quizzes, tests, and questionnaires. These
characteristics naturally tilted the purpose of the CMS toward the instructor; the learner, in
turn, used these systems to meet the needs of the instructor.
https://eportfoliogr.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/0/4/21044446/aepr_nov_2016-ilovepdf-
compressed.pdf
Conference Presentations (selected)
• 2017: Association of Business Communications Annual Conference (Ireland), Topic:
Helping Learners to Exercise their Emotional Intelligence
• 2017: SUNY Council on Writing Annual Conference, Topic: Emotional Intelligence in
Teaching and Learning
• 2016: Association of Business Communications Annual Conference (Albuquerque, NM),
Topic: Using Slack as a replacement Learning Management System and Workforce
Development
• 2014: SUNY COTE Speaker Series, Topic: Building Bridges with K-12 Partners
• 2012: SUNY Conference on Instructional Technology, Topic: Electronic Textbooks
• 2012: SUNY Conference on Instructional Technology, Topic: ePortfolios
• 2010: New York State Communication Association, Topic: Tablets in Education
• 2006: League of Innovations Conference, Topic: Distance Learning and Retention
• 2006: SUNY Conference on Instructional Technology, Topic: The ALICE Project
• 2001 – 2003: Transitions Conference, Topic: Online Learning to Empower Women
Professional Bio
Eric Machan Howd (Ithaca College) spent seventeen years as an administrator, project manager
and instructional designer in higher education and is now applying his knowledge and
experience in teaching professional and technical writing at Ithaca College.

His past administrative and instructional design career saw him working with Cornell University,
Binghamton University, and Tompkins-Cortland Community College, as well as the greater State
University of New York (SUNY). Eric’s recent publications include: a chapter, “Breaking Through
Silos: Collaboration that Supports Instruction,” in the Association of College and Research
Libraries 2017 publication Creative Approaches to Instructional Design in Libraries: Moving from
Theory to Practical Application; an article in the inaugural issue of the Association for Authentic,
Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning’s AAEEBL ePortfolio Review magazine, entitled “Using
ePortfolios Instead of an LMS: a Model to Promote Lifelong Learning and Professional
Development.” Eric also presented and published his research on “Emotional Intelligence in the
Curriculum” at the 2017 Association of Business Communication’s worldwide conference in
Ireland (publication of the presentation appears in the proceedings of the conference).
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Eric previously led a team of Instructional Designers at Binghamton University and was
instrumental in setting up the University’s first official culture of instructional design and
student-centered learning. His team developed a SUNY award-winning Teaching Online
Certification Program for the Binghamton University campus and in 2017 he and his team
received the prestigious SUNY Faculty Advisory Council on Teaching and Technology (FACT2)
award for Excellence in Instructional Support for State-Operated and Statutory Campuses for
their efforts on creating a quality, high-impact, instructional design environment on the
Binghamton University campus. Eric and his Instructional Design team at Binghamton University
also contributed heavily to the development and implementation of OpenSUNY’s Course
Quality Review rubric (OSCQR) for the development and review of online courses in the greater
SUNY system. He is also a recipient of the prestigious SUNY’s Chancellor/Trustees Award for
Excellence in Professional Services (2006).
List of Past Job Titles

Accompanist Gardening Assistant

Afterschool Program Director Lecturer
Assistant Professor Line Cook
Barback Music Director
Cashier Organist
Choir Director Piano Teacher
Coordinator of Online Learning Prior Learning Assessor
Director of Academic Technology Project Manager
Director of Instructional Design Public Relations Director
Educational Consultant Salesperson
Food Deliverer Roofer
Freelance Journalist Sign Language Interpreter
Graphic Designer Stock Clerk
Instructional Designer Summer Camp Counselor
Ithaca’s Downtown Santa Claus Teaching Assistant

References available upon request.