Donald J. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Donald Jacobs was the founder of the award-winning Center for Applied Technologies in Education (CATE) at the University at Buffalo where his team designed and implemented numerous educational technology projects across the world. His work includes educational technology and planning initiatives with schools and ministries of education in Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, and Cote d’Ivoire and numerous other locations. Jacobs has served as Co-Chair of the New York State Technology and Practices Council, the Governor’s commission on Broadband Access (closing the digital divide) and the New York State Academic Standards panel.
Don currently serves as an Executive Vice President and member of the board of directors for PLS.
- Ph.D., Educational Organization, Administration and Policy. University at Buffalo, 1993
- Masters Degree, Instructional Systems Design. University at Buffalo, 1989
- Bachelors Degree, Education. Buffalo State College, 1981
- Arts, Language and History coursework, University of Siena, Italy, 1980
- Founder & Director, Center for Applied Technologies in Education, University at Buffalo
- Associate Research Professor, University at Buffalo, 1999 – 2007
- Associate Research Professor, Buffalo State College, 1995-1999
- Adjunct Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2001 – 2007
- Executive Vice President and member of the board, Performance Learning Systems (PLS)
- Appointed to New York State Governor’s Broadband Access Statewide Council, 2007
- University at Buffalo Innovator Award, 2006
- University at Buffalo Innovator Award, 2007
- University at Buffalo Entrepreneurial Award, 2007
- Top 100 Researchers at the University at Buffalo, 2006
- Appointed Co-Chair of New York State Technology Policy and Practices Council, 2004-2008
- Beta Award from InfoTech Niagara for Best Technologies in Education, 2002
- National Golden Ring for best educational DVD, 2002 (co-recipient)
- Friend of Educational Opportunity Center Award, 2000
- Honored by Costa Rica – USA Foundation for work in distance education, 2000
- Honored by Vice President Al Gore at the conference, Connecting All Americans for the21st Century, 1988
- Appointed co-chair of the New York State Technology Policy and Practices Council for the NYS Board of Regents;
- Established first interactive video network in Costa Rica, linking students across the country to their peers in the U.S. and parts of the world;
- Designed and secured funding for state-of-the-art technology training center for educators in conjunction with Public Broadcasting.
- Principle designer of the BISSNET technology project to link 18 private secondary schools in Western New York in a state-of-the-art fiber optic network;
- Educational consultant to the Master Plan development for numerous schools abroad and across US;
- Educational consultant to State Education Departments of Pennsylvania, New York, California, and others
- Educational consultant to the New York State Department of Education in the development of a variety of educational projects including the School District Information Study (SDIS) planning process for schools;
- Educational consultant to schools in Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ivory Coast, Panama, Honduras, and Costa Rica;
- Co-designer of country-wide teacher training project in Turkey with the ORAV (Teachers Academy) Foundation and Ministry of Education
- Association for Advancement of International Education, San Francisco, 2007
- CEOs for Cities, Chicago Club, Chicago, 2006
- Tri-Association of Schools of Mexico, Caribbean and Columbia, San Jose, Costa Rica, 2005
- Digital Summit, Western New York Public Broadcasting, 2004
- Council of Great City Schools, Chicago, 2004
- New York State Teacher Center Directors Annual Conference. 2003
- Council of Great City Schools, Chicago, 2003
- Tri-Association of Schools of Mexico, Caribbean and Columbia, Guatemala City, 2001
- World Conference on Sustainability (with Jane Goodall), Johannesburg, South Africa, 2000
- Tri-Association of Schools of Mexico, Caribbean and Columbia, Dominican Republic, 2000
- Tri-Association of Schools of Mexico, Caribbean and Columbia, El Salvador, 1999
- Connecting All Americans for the 21st Century, Washington, D.C., 1998
- Association for the Advancement of International Education, 1998
- Jacobs, D., Meier, E., Strategies for New York State Educational Technologies, prepared for New York State Board of Regents, 2007.
- Jacobs, D., Smith, N., Tryjankowski, A. Creating a Network of Charter Schools in Buffalo, 2004.
- Jacobs, D. Buffalo CityNet: A Case Study. Telecomm Journal of Advanced Telecommunications, Volume 2, 1998.
- Jacobs, D. Current Issues in Distance Education and Educational Technologies, State University College of New York Periodical, 1998.
- Jacobs, D. Educational Technologies Journal of New York State: Current Issues in Educational Technologies, volume 11, 1997.
- Jacobs, D. Developing Strategies for Educational Technologies, Inter-Ed: volume 6, 1997.
- Jacobs, D. School District Information Studies: A Model for Technology Planning in Schools. New York State Education Department, 1987.
- Member of Board of Trustees, chair of Education Committee, The Park School, 2005 – present
- Member of Board of Directors, Teachers Without Borders, 2000 – present
- Member of Board of Directors, Computers for Children, 1999 – 2004
- Member of the Board of Directors - Jane Goodall Institute, USA 2003 - 2006