Speaker: Frank Furnari

Frank Furnari is the Communication, Documentation, and Training Manager for Boston University’s Information Services & Technology. His team is involved in all aspects of IT-related communication and training efforts both for IT staff as well as for BU’s client community. Frank started working at BU in 1999 as a student employee and has had a variety of responsibilities over the years. Frank most recently was the Service Desk Manager for BU Medical Campus IT. During his tenure at BU, he’s helped manage three Exchange migrations and three Service Desk ticketing software implementations. He is a trained facilitator, Six Sigma Green Belt, and has earned both HDI Support Center Manager and ITIL Foundations certifications. Frank holds a BA and MBA from BU. Frank has served on the board of The Wellesley Players, a community theatre based in Wellesley, MA, managing the theatre’s box office and social media presence. In addition, Frank works on various technical aspects of shows with the Wellesley Players and other theatres in the area.


Speaker: Mimi Royston

Mimi Royston is the Chief Information Officer at American International College. Ms. Royston is an experienced leader with a strong technical background, developed over the past 20 years as an information technology professional. She has both depth and breadth in IT management and operational experience in the following areas: networking, server management, security, helpdesk, desktop support, training, grant writing, web support and instructional technology. Mimi holds an M.B.A. from Assumption College in 2005 and maintains her CISSP certification.

Mimi is responsible for leading the AIC Information Technology staff and the wide range of services IT delivers to the college community in the areas of instructional and administrative information systems, infrastructure, technology support, and IT-related innovation. She is leading the development of a shared vision for technology that supports American International College's mission and will establish and execute strategies to achieve that vision in a collaborative, transparent, and cost-effective way.

Speaker: Janet Simons

Janet Thomas Simons is Hamilton College's Digital Humanities Co-Director of Technology and Research. Her responsibilities include oversight and direction of the daily activities of the DHi to develop a collaborative community in which creativity, technology, and innovation lead to new methods of research, learning, and publication. This includes strategic planning in the use of technology, collaboration on grant proposals and budgets, management and communication of DHi projects, coordination and teaching of DHi's undergraduate research fellowship program CLASS and creation of direct connections between DHi projects and the curriculum. She is engaged in faculty outreach and development; project management; identification and research of technologies appropriate to research projects and learning goals; and coordination of academic support services to meet teaching, learning, and research needs.

Janet's most recent activities include research and development of sustainable digital scholarship infrastructure and models for support of digital humanities research projects at liberal arts institutions. She recently collaborated with over 23 Liberal Arts Colleges to develop the Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship (ILiADS.org). She teaches "Models for DH in liberal arts and four year colleges" at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI.org). She is faculty in the NERCOMP's Workshops for Manager's Series Part I and advocates for the Information Service & Instructional Support (ISIS) Seminars and Drop-in Sessions. Janet has presented regionally and nationally on: learning design, collaboration, media scholarship, and models for digital humanities and digital scholarship including presentations for multiple liberal arts colleges; the annual Digital Humanities Conference; at EDUCAUSE's national conference; NERCOMP's annual conference and SIG events; and ELI's annual conferences.

Janet holds an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Prior to coming to Hamilton College, she taught undergraduate biology courses at the University of New Orleans.
@janettsimons