Connexions gets new executive director
 Joel Thierstein joined the Connexions Project as executive director, replacing Joseph King, who stepped down after serving a year and a half, overseeing substantial expansion of Connexions in scope and impact.
Connexions, dedicated to publishing open-access scholarly content, was founded in 1999 to lower barriers between electronic and print publishing. Richard Baraniuk, the Victor C. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founder of Connexions, said that as the program enters the most ambitious phase of its development, the need for a strong leader is greater than ever.
“Connexions is growing rapidly in terms of the amount of usage, the amount of content, and the types of media being contributed,” Baraniuk said. “Joel’s strong background in rich media and his entrepreneurial and management skills will greatly help Connexions as it grows toward a global standard for open education.”
Thierstein comes to Rice from Oregon State University (OSU), where, as Director of the New Media Communications program, he prepared and administered a long term strategic plan for the program, designed and built five media research and production facilities and designed and built the academic program currently in place.
Thierstein first learned of Connexions while at OSU. Because research resulting from programs funded with NASA and National Science Foundation grants must be made public, Thierstein thought Connexions was the ideal venue for publication.
“We were dealing with huge amounts of information and looking for innovative ways to reach the public, in particular, the educational community,” Thierstein said. “Connexions was the perfect way to reach out to them.”
“The opportunity here is amazing—Connexions will have a significant impact on the world of education,” Thierstein said.
After graduating with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in telecommunication from Syracuse University, Thierstein worked in radio, serving as operations manager, news and sports director, and promotions and production assistant. Then he returned to Syracuse for PhDs in law and mass communications.
During his academic career Thierstein taught at Syracuse, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Purdue and Baylor universities and, most recently, OSU.
Connexions is one of the Web’s first open educational resources. It adapts open-source concepts to educational publishing, allowing anyone in the world to read, write, use and modify materials for free. The number of people using Connexions has grown almost 70 percent in the past year, and the site attracts some 500,000 visitors monthly. Visit Connexions at http://cnx.org/.
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