Get to Know the 2020 Apereo Fellows

The purpose of the Apereo Foundation Fellows Program is to acknowledge, celebrate and reward the contributions of these important Apereo volunteer contributors. The Apereo Fellows program seeks to foster community leadership and contribution through recognizing and supporting active contributors. Contributors bring varied expertise to the community, including architecture, design and development of technology, best practices in teaching, learning, research and collaboration, and coordination of community functions. This year four (4) Fellows were chosen by the selection committee and each Fellow will receive a modest stipend.

Congratulations to our 2020 Apereo Fellows and thank you for your contributions to the Apereo community!

 

2020 Apereo Fellows

 

Shoji Kajita

Shoji Kajita, Kyoto University

Shoji has been involved in open-source since 2001, first with JA-SIG, then Sakai and now Apereo.  He has contributed to uPortal, CAS, Sakai, and Karuta internationalization and localization efforts.  As Associate Professor at the Nagoya University's Information Technology Center, he implemented uPortal, CAS, and Sakai.  When he became a Professor at Kyoto University's IT Planning Office, he implemented Sakai, CAS, and Karuta.  He was instrumental in helping establish a Japanese Sakai community (Ja-Sakai) and was later elected to the Apereo Board (2016-19).  Shoji believes in former University of Delaware CIO Carl Jacobson's view that “good people attract good people”-it was Carl who encouraged Shoji to join JA-SIG-and he plans to continue attracting good people to the Apereo Community by connecting with good people throughout the world.

 

Christian Murphy Unicon

Christian Murphy, Unicon, Inc.

Christian is a consultant, software developer, and open source advocate at Unicon Inc. He joined Apereo in 2016. He is a uPortal, openEquella, and ELMSLN contributor, where he designs new student and instructor experiences, contributes code, answers questions, audits accessibility, and audits security. He is a current member of the uPortal steering community, a frequent contributor to the uPortal mailing list, and an active member of the openEquella community calls.

 

Bernardo Garcia Vila

Bernardo Garcia Vila, Entornos de Formación

First at Samoo and then at Entornos de Formación (EDF), Bernardo has worked on every kind of Sakai task that you can imagine. Initially, he contributed text translations, simple fixes, and little updates here and there. Then he turned his attention to new feature development, end user support, external integrations, a few GUI redesigns, and even a WebSphere integration for a while. Bernardo thanks all the people who have helped him along the way, not only his close teammates but also the many other Sakaigers located all over the world.

 

Joshua Wilson

Joshua Wilson, Longsight, Inc.

Joshua is Longsight’s Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.  He leads client relations, business operations, project management, product development, and strategic planning. He has been a leader in academic technology for more than a decade, serving most recently as Associate CIO for Academic Technology at Brandeis University, where he directed the strategic and client-centered renewal of the University’s academic technology environment, including its open source LMS.  Josh has served for more than a decade on the management team for the nationwide MISO Survey, which measures the effectiveness of IT and libraries at more than 150 higher education institutions. Josh chairs the Sakai Community’s Marketing Team, leads the development of Sakai’s 3-year roadmap, and serves on Sakai’s Project Management Committee.