Dede Hourican

Dede Hourican serves as the Assistant Director of Instructional Technology at Marist University, where she leads initiatives to enhance digital learning experiences. With over 15 years of experience in instructional technology, she has been instrumental in advancing accessibility and quality assurance in educational platforms.

A dedicated member of the Sakai open source community, Dede has served on the Sakai Project Management Committee (PMC) since 2017, contributing to the strategic oversight of the Sakai project. She also participates in the Sakai Accessibility Team, a cross-institutional group focused on ensuring the Sakai Learning Management System is accessible to all users. Under her leadership, the team has driven accessibility testing, documentation, and improving inclusive design within the open source Sakai LMS.

Dede’s commitment to inclusive design is further demonstrated through her 2022 presentation, “Accessibility, Diversity and Open Source: The Sighted QA Student’s Perspective of QA for Accessibility,” which highlighted her collaborative work with visually impaired and sighted students in real-world QA testing.

In recognition of her contributions, Dede was named as an Apereo Fellow in 2017. She has also served as an incubation mentor for Apereo, helping new projects succeed within the Foundation.

Dede holds a Master of Arts in Integrated Marketing and Communication and a Bachelor of Science from Marist College.