Executive Director of Academic Innovation at GSE: Bobbi Kurshan	Print Issue
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Dr. Bobbi Kurshan joined the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) this month as executive director of academic innovation. The appointment was announced by Dean Andy Porter. In her new role, Dr. Kurshan will provide executive-level leadership for a series of entrepreneurially focused programs and efforts (such as the Milken-Penn GSE Educational Business Plan Competition) and help develop new degree and non-degree programs.

Dr. Kurshan has had a career as both an academic and award-winning entrepreneur. Dr. Kurshan has honed her vision of “what can be” by using technology while supporting the growth of new education companies and developing innovative software products. She began her teaching career at Virginia Tech, where she obtained her doctorate. She was also the director of academic computing and assistant professor of computer science at Hollins College for many years. As a professor, she researched the impact of technology on learning and helped her students explore applications of technology across the curricula.

Dr. Kurshan then became an education entrepreneur. As president of Educorp Consultants Corporation, she provided strategic consulting and seed funding in the areas of education, technology and innovation; and as the executive vice president of WorldSage, a consortium of for-profit higher education institutions in the EU to address education for the 21st century, she identified innovative investments in learning institutions. As the former executive director of curriki, she helped to build one of the most innovative and robust global open-source education communities. She has previously served as the Co-CEO of Core Learning, an education investment fund, and the chief academic officer of Bigchalk.com. She developed the first children’s software products for Microsoft and also created award-winning products for McGraw-Hill, Apple, CCC (Pearson) and others. She currently serves on the boards of several education companies. 

Recent awards include the prestigious WISE Award for Innovation at the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar and the “20 to Watch” award from NASBE in 2009. In 2008, Dr. Kurshan was named Laureate by the Tech Awards part of Technology Benefiting Humanity. In 2007, she was awarded the UNESCO King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education. In 2005, she received the ISTE “Making It Happen” award and the Women’s Venture Fund’s “Highest Leaf Award.”

Dr. Kurshan earned her BS in mathematics at Newcomb College of Tulane University, her MS in computer science and her EdD in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in educational technology at Virginia Tech University.