CIE Welcomes Faculty Affiliate Sheila Jagannathan
The Center for International Education is excited to welcome Sheila Jagannathan as our first faculty affiliate. As a faculty affiliate, Ms. Jagannathan joins our community to share her knowledge and expertise crafted over her career as a life-long learner and an internationally recognized thought leader, advisor, author, and a forward-thinking senior education leader. With over 35 years of experience in leading capacity building, knowledge management, open learning, learning analytics, social learning, and transformation change across public and private organizations, she has been responsible for designing and implementing 21st century, world-class solutions in challenging global environments, resulting in performance and productivity improvements.
In joining Mason as a faculty affiliate, Ms. Jagannathan hopes to develop and contribute to efforts around her current areas of interest and activity include skilling and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, AI in education, 60-year curricula, OER, corporate talent management, diversity & inclusion, organizational development, MOOCs, experiential pedagogy, online/hybrid strategies, multimodal and social learning environments, immersive learning (AR/VR), big data analytics, LXPs, LMS, and learning ecosystems. In April 2023, She joined Saylor Academy (a non-profit organization committed to democratizing education and fostering a more equitable and prosperous global community) as Deputy Executive Director of Strategic Relationships. Prior to that she was the Global Head of the Open Learning Campus at the World Bank in Washington DC. A recent MOOC designed under her leadership on the Future of Work (WDR 2019) was nominated for the prestigious EDX prize for 2020.
She has authored articles for various peer-reviewed publications and journals on technology-based learning. Her 2021 seminal book, Reimagining Digital Learning for Sustainable Development: How Upskilling, Data Analytics, and Educational Technologies Close the Skills Gap, is recognized as a landmark in the field of digital capability building and sustainable development, a topic that has now become center stage in promoting alternative pathways for jobs and employment among millions of low-income youths in the developing world. She is on the advisory board of several major professional associations of learning such as the UN-SDG Learn, Canadian Foreign Service Institute, Global Distance Learning Network, Indian National Skills Development Council, George Mason University, E-Learning Africa, (Annual International Conference for developing E-Learning capacities in Africa), International Conference on E-Learning (ICEL), and Skills Development Councils, IQPC’s Chief Learning Officer (CLO Exchange). In June, 2023 was awarded life-time achievement award by the Government of Korea and the World Bank for impactful contributions to capacity building.
Her contributions were recognized as one of 100 Executive Women in Tech to Watch in 2022. She was awarded the top 15 global leaders for furthering SDGs and invited to join 15 global leaders for an UN Executive Leadership Program for Sustainable Development and is currently a UN Master Mind for providing leadership advice to the organization on sustainable development issues.
For more information about the faculty affiliate program, please write to the Center Directors, at cie@gmu.edu.
