The RTL Leadership team (LT) brings a unique and rare depth of skill and talent to Berkeley. Our team has extensive experience managing and leading research, teaching, and learning centers at large public and private universities. As a team, we strive to break barriers in providing access to all students and bringing forward new pedagogies, technologies, and tools that change the foundations of higher education. We are dedicated to the mission of Berkeley and seek deep partnerships with faculty and researchers to support them as they aim for and achieve excellence. Fiat Lux!
Shawna Dark, PhD -- Chief Academic Technology Officer & Assistant Vice Provost, Undergraduate Education
Shawna has worked in higher education for over 20 years as a tenured faculty member, Department Chair, and now in administration. She currently serve UC Berkeley as the Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Chief Academic Technology Officer. As part of the Division of Undergraduate Education, RTL partners with the campus to inspire, enrich, and innovate Berkeley’s collective practice and pursuit of inclusive teaching and research excellence.
Jenae Cohn, PhD -- Executive Director, Center for Teaching & Learning
Jenae has worked in higher education for over a decade, supporting faculty in their teaching and advancing student-centered learning. She holds a Ph.D. in English with an Emphasis in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies from UC Davis, with expertise in digital and information literacy, digital reading, metacognitive thinking, and reading and writing across the curriculum.
April Geffre Irwin -- Director, Operations and Staff Development
April has worked in higher education for over two decades with experience across three universities. She currently manages the daily administrative operations of RTL including finance, business operations, and staff development and HR strategies.
Melanie Green -- Director, RTL Communications
Melanie has served the UC Berkeley campus community for 20+ years. She manages the development and implementation of internal and external communications in support of RTL's services and programs to the campus community.
Ken Lutz -- Chief Research Technology Officer and Director, Research IT
Ken collaborates with campus leadership across research, IT, teaching, and administration in order to cultivate solutions for a robust computational research infrastructure that supports our campus’ innovative research and teaching. His current interests include the design and implementation of the Global Data Plane, a secure data communications and storage infrastructure.
Owen McGrath, PhD -- Director, Strategic Initiatives
Owen oversees RTL's in-house processes for annual priorities development, project management, and service management. He also leads cross-organizational efforts for implementing UC-wide policy compliance (e.g., privacy, security, accessibility). In addition, he has coordinated RTL's initiatives in exploring and evaluating AR/VR technology through pilot projects.
Tim Lynch -- General Manager, KALX Radio
Tim brings over two decades of management experience along with a complete devotion to public radio. He has been actively involved with college and non-commercial broadcasting for three decades and now services as General Manager of Berkeley's KALX Radio.
Erfan Mojaddam -- Deputy Chief Academic Technology Officer and Director of Learning Technologies and Spaces
Erfan's teams manage and support learning technologies and spaces for the campus community. He was previously at Stanford University managing an edtech group and has also spent time in K12 both as a teacher and a tech leader.