Joel M. Smith

Dr. Joel M. Smith is the vice provost and chief information officer for Carnegie Mellon, Computing Services and also directs the Office of Technology for Education. Prior to his tenure at Carnegie Mellon, Smith had directed academic and administrative computing at a number of institutions of higher education including Allegheny College, The Claremont Graduate University, MiraCosta College, and Carnegie Mellon.  He holds a Ph.D. from the History and Philosophy of Science department at the University of Pittsburgh and M.S. and B.S. degrees in physics from Baylor University. He has held various academic appointments at Carnegie Mellon, the University of California at San Diego, Indiana University, The Claremont Graduate University, and Allegheny College. 

Joel has been involved in technology enhanced learning projects since 1990. He is currently the principle investigator in charge of the Open Learning Initiative, a project at Carnegie Mellon, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, to develop demonstrably effective online courses through the application of design principles and practices from cognitive science. Smith serves on advisory boards for Intel Corporation, Apple Computer, Campus Technologies magazine, and Harvard University.