Title
Director of Operations, Division of Distance and Continuing Education
Company
University of South Dakota
Bio
Deb Gearhart has worked in the field of online and distance education for 30 years Gearhart is director of operations for the Division of Distance and Continuing Education for the University of South Dakota. Gearhart has served as vice provost for eLearning and Strategic Partnerships at Ohio University, director of eTROY at Troy University, director of E-Education Services at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, and before joining Dakota State she held several positions with the Department of Distance Education at Penn State, now Penn State World Campus. She was an assistant professor for educational technology at Dakota State University teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has co-authored a textbook entitled Designing and Developing Web-Based Instruction and edited another publication titled Cases on Distance Delivery and Learning Outcomes: Emerging Trends and Programs, along with publishing book chapters and articles in areas related to online and distance education. Gearhart has earned a BA in Sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned a M.Ed. in Adult Education with a distance education emphasis and an M.P.A. in Public Administration, both from Penn State. Gearhart completed her Ph.D. program in Education, with a certificate in distance education, from Capella University.