Associate Provost for Global Engagement and Online Learning
DePaul University
GianMario Besana is a Vincent de Paul Professor in the College of Computing and Digital Media and currently serves as Associate Provost for Global Engagement and Online Learning at DePaul University in Chicago, IL, USA. His portfolio comprises the internationalization process of the institution and its online learning operations. In 2013 GianMario, in collaboration with the DePaul Center for Teaching and Learning, designed and implemented a university-wide virtual exchange initiative, called the Global Learning Experience (GLE), aimed at supporting DePaul’s faculty members who wish to open their classrooms to technology-facilitated learning experiences at a distance, in partnership with institutions all over the world. The GLE initiative includes a professional development workshop for instructors that has attracted national and international attention as a model for institutional support of virtual exchange, and received the 2019 POD Innovation award. DePaul has offered over 170 courses with GLE projects, in collaboration with institutions in 31 different countries. In 2020, the GLE program at DePaul received one of NAFSA Senator Paul Simon Spotlight Awards for Campus Internationalization. GianMario has facilitated workshops on institutional approaches to virtual exchange at several institutions around the world and has presented on the topic of virtual exchange at many international conferences. GianMario is also part of the founding group of IVEC, the International Virtual Exchange Conference.
GianMario earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame, IN, after completing his bachelor degree, also in Mathematics, at the Universita’degli Studi di Milano, Italy. He has published widely in the field of algebraic geometry, applications to computer vision, and computer science education. GianMario is an alumnus of the first edition of the Senior International Officers Academy of the Association for International Education Administrators (AIEA), has served as co-facilitator of the AIEA Senior Advisors Program, and currently serves as a member at large of the AIEA Board, and as chair of the Audit Committee of the AIEA board.
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Friday, June 3, 2022
9:30 AM – 10:20 AM MDT