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PANELISTS

Colleen Flaherty
Senior Editor, Special Content at Inside Higher Ed

Colleen Flaherty, senior editor of special content, previously served as Student Voice editor for Inside Higher Ed. Prior to joining the publication in 2012, Colleen was military editor at the Killeen Daily Herald, outside Fort Hood, Texas. Before that, she covered government and land use issues for the Greenwich Time and Hersam Acorn Newspapers in her home state of Connecticut. After graduating from McGill University in Montreal with a degree in English literature, Colleen taught English and English as a second language in public schools in the Bronx, New York. She earned her M.S.Ed. from City University of New York Lehman College as part of the New York City Teaching Fellows program.

Sara Custer
Editor in Chief at Inside Higher Ed

Sara Custer became Inside Higher Ed's editor in chief in March 2024. Before joining Inside Higher Ed, she was editor of Times Higher Education's (THE) Campus, a collection of daily resources designed for higher education faculty and staff members to learn, share and connect with colleagues at universities and colleges worldwide. Prior to that, she shaped THE’s online presence as its digital editor, helping to launch THE’s newsletter strategy and overseeing daily, weekly and monthly publications. From 2012 to 2017, she served as editor and senior reporter at The PIE News, covering the international education industry. Sara grew up in Cushing, Okla., and earned a B.A. in English literature from Loyola University Chicago and an M.A. in international journalism from City, University of London.

Chrysanthos Dellarocas, Ph.D.
Richard C. Shipley Professor of Management at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University

Chrysanthos (Chris) Dellarocas is one of the world’s most cited scholars in the fields of online reputation and social media and has consulted on these subjects for corporations and the U.S. federal government. Dellarocas leads the advancement of activities that enhance education at Boston University through the strategic use of digital technologies. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a diploma in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Prior to his appointment at Boston University, he taught at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and at the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Prior to his academic career, Chris was a management consultant with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and McKinsey. His current research explores how AI reshapes the definition and recognition of human ability. He is the author of the Substack newsletter “The Credential Crisis.”

Anna Mills
English Instructor at the College of Marin

Anna Mills teaches writing at the College of Marin and serves on the MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI, where she helped launch a collection of teaching reflections, Exploring AI Pedagogy. Her resource area “AI Text Generators and Teaching Writing: Starting Points for Inquiry” is featured in the Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse. She leads faculty development sessions on critical AI literacy, academic integrity and pedagogical applications of AI in higher education. As a consultant for OpenAI, she tested GPT-4 before its release. Anna serves as a lead advisor on instructional design for MyEssayFeedback.ai, an app that encourages critical AI literacy and supplements a human-centered writing process. She is the English Discipline Lead for the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Open Educational Resources Initiative and has written an open educational resource (OER) textbook, How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College.

Danny Liu, Ph.D.
Professor of Educational Technologies at the University of Sydney

Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and faculty developer by day and educator at heart. A multiple international and national teaching award winner, he is a professor of educational technologies at the University of Sydney. Danny co-chairs Sydney University's AI in Education working group and most recently he has been coordinating the development of the Castlereagh Statement (castlereagh.ai), a trans-sector approach to reframing education and training in the age of AI.

Punya Mishra, Ph.D.
Director and Professor, Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University

Punya Mishra (punyamishra.com) is director of innovative learning futures at the Learning Engineering Institute and professor at the Mary Lou Fulton College of Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University. As director, he provides strategic vision around research, program development and public engagement. He is internationally recognized for his work in educational technology, creativity and the application of design to educational innovation. A TED-Ed educator and an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow, he is ranked in the top 2% of scientists worldwide—#44 (#4 in psychology) among scholars with the biggest influence on practice and policy. He is a podcaster, award-winning instructor, public speaker and an accomplished visual artist.

Troy Burnett
Senior Vice President and General Manager at Studiosity North America

Troy Burnett leads Studiosity’s growth and partnerships with colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada. With more than ten years of experience in education technology and a career built in go-to-market leadership, he is focused on helping institutions support students with tools that promote learning, confidence and success. A graduate of the University of Utah, Troy brings both a strategic perspective and a genuine enthusiasm for higher education’s future. Outside of work, he can often be found coaching basketball or making the most of Utah’s outdoors—whether that means skiing in winter or mountain biking in summer.