Instructional Designer Ashtabula Campus
Kent State Ashtabula
In the pre-pandemic world, Russ Porter had ongoing dedication and overwhelming positive impact on the campus community. In the post-pandemic world, Porter has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and tireless efforts to support faculty and students and to ensure academic continuity through unprecedented times. Likely some instructors would not have been able to continue teaching after March without Porter’s intervention. He single-handedly enabled many instructors to bridge technology deficiencies to keep on teaching so students could keep on learning. From the arts to the sciences and from healthcare to the humanities, Porter as a department of one, supports the instructional design needs of a diverse array of Ashtabula campus faculty and courses -- over 100 instructors each semester in over 50 distinct disciplines. In addition to design expertise, he provides technology support and IT troubleshooting, which is not typically part of a designer‚ position. For Porter, no instructional question or technology concern is either too trivial or too great.
Once COVID arrived, Porter worked tirelessly for countless hours to ensure all faculty were supported. He provided templates, training (often one on one), advice, and guidance at all hours and on weekends. Some of the biggest challenges involved guiding instructors with limited IT skills to ensure their courses and students did not get left behind. Porter’s continuous leadership, support and dedication to Kent State, its students and faculty, is excellence in action.