MERLOT Awards: Service to MERLOT: 2003 Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is reserved as MERLOT’s highest honor.  The recipient of this award demonstrates the vision that brings MERLOT members together to create the MERLOT Community and our services.  Recipients of this award have exemplified, through their vision and leadership, the highest values MERLOT holds.  The recipients of this award are selected by the previous winners with consultation from MERLOT management. 

The first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award is Carl Berger from the University of Michigan.  Carl is Professor and Dean Emeritus at the University of Michigan, School of Education. 

Carl was the Director of Advanced Academic Technologies in the Collaboratory for Advanced Research and Academic Technologies (CARAT) in the Provost's Office since its inception in 1995 through 2005. Prior to that he was a professor at the University for over 33 years and associate dean and dean from 1979 through 1988. 

Research projects include design and evaluation on the CoLabNet Project, CARAT/Rackham fellowship evaluation. He was the major designer and analyst of the Surveys of Information Technology Use by Faculty and Students at the University for over 20 years. In addition to work on evaluation and assessment of student and faculty use of technology, he works on displaying research data in colorful graphic and network forms for ease of analysis and decision making.

Professional activies include editor at large of Academic Intersections, member of the advisory board of MERLOT, former Chairman of the Board of IMS Global Learning Consortium, from its inception in 1995 to 2004, member of the board of directors of the New Media Centers from 1994 to 1998 and member of EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.