Jeff Emanuel (harvard.academia.edu/JeffEmanuel, Twitter: @jeffemanuel) is Associate Director of Academic Technology at Harvard University. In this role, he leads a highly experienced team that supports the implementation of digital methods and tools in teaching, learning, and reearch throughout the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) through consultation, creative problem solving, R&D, and technological development. He is a co–founder of the Harvard University Digital Scholarship Support Group, a network that provides training, research support, and infrastructure development for digital scholarship by "bring[ing] together faculty and staff with technical, pedagogical, and subject-specific expertise in a range of areas across disciplinary and divisional borders to create the technical and personnel resources necessary to support" these pursuits. Heis also co-Chair of the Digital Futures Consortium at Harvard, a "network of technologists, faculty, researchers, and librarians engaged in the ongoing transformation of scholarship through innovative technology through sharing expertise across the global academic community, facilitating new forms and methods of research, and fostering collaborative projects that bring about field changing developments in scholarship"; and a member of the University–wide Teaching and Learning Consortium, a network of pedagogy experts that "incubates and refines teaching and learning ideas and initiatives that cross school and disciplinary boundaries."
Jeff also holds an appointment as CHS Fellow in Aegean Archaeology and Prehistory at Harvard's Center for Hellenic Studies, conducting archaeological fieldwork and researching naval warfare and the development of maritime technology with a focus on the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age transition (see publications and conference & workshop papers). His book Black Ships and Sea Raiders: The Late Bronze–Early Iron Age Context of Odysseus' Second Cretan Lie was published in 2017 by Rowman and Littlefield press. He has also served as a member of the Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) Media Relations Committee and the SAA's Gene Stuart Award committee.
Previously, Jeff was a founding member of HarvardX, a presidential initiative at Harvard (led by the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning) that focuses on digital teaching, learning, and research, both on campus and online. While there, he served as Inaugural HarvardX Fellow, Inaugural Senior Fellow, and Senior Project Lead, leading in the design and development of online learning experiences, curriculum, and business and project managenent processes. He also served as project director for two key software development initiatives, the Open edX/LTI Annotation Tool development project and, in collaboration with Harvard's Library Technology Services and Arts & Humanities Research Computing, as well as with representatives of the Stanford University Library, the Shared Canvas/Mirador image viewer project. Administratively, Jeff served as co-chair of the HarvardX Instructor Experience and Student Experience Committees, as curriculum developer and lead instructor on Blended Learning and Flipped Classroom Techniques for the HarvardX—FAS Faculty Academy, and as a founding member of the FAS Blended Learning Support Team. He received the CIO Council "Golden Bit Award" in 2013 for "significant contributions to Harvard University's Strategic IT Initiative in Online Learning."
A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Jeff conducted his graduate study at Harvard, where he concentrated in Social and Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology and earned the Director's Prize for Outstanding Thesis in the Social Sciences. Prior to this, Jeff studied Classics (with a Classical Archaeology concentration) at the University of Georgia, where he also served as a security leadership fellow with the Center for International Trade and Security, served as a Franklin College of Arts & Sciences Ambassador, and competed as a member of the water polo and triathlon teams. While at Georgia, Jeff was for excellence in scholarship and citizenship, receiving awards for local and international community service from the University and from the Athens–Clarke County Rotary Club, including the Pillar of the Community Award (awarded for "assisting others above and beyond the call of duty"), the Bulldog Vision Award (for "demonstrating outstanding leadership and vision for the betterment of the community"), and the Circle of Excellence Award (for international service). His volunteer service has included establishing a program to teach English to orphaned children in rural South Korea, and being trained to serve as an officer of the Juvenile Court representing underprivileged children in abuse, neglect, and custody cases in Georgia. He also holds an associate's degree in Information Systems Technology from the community College of the Air Force.
Jeff previously served as a tactical air controller in the US Air Force. His assignments included a year in Korea (2002) and deployment to Iraq (2003) as a member of a joint special operations task force. He returned to Iraq in 2007 as a civilian journalist, reporting from the front lines for several newspapers, magazines, and websites, including an exclusive report from Samarra that was the cover story of the November 2007 issue of The American Spectator magazine. His columns and analyses have also been published by CBS News, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, among others, and he has appeared on several local and national television and radio programs.
Additionally, Jeff is founder and managing partner of a web development and digital strategy firm, Lighthouse Strategies & Consulting, which currently has offices in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. He has worked as a consultant, senior project manager, and online content and communication strategist for companies and clients from the Beltway to the Rocky Mountains, developing dynamic websites and online outreach strategies for nonprofit organizations, businesses, and academic organizations.
