Caroline
Fitzpatrick
Ph.D.
Office of the Provost
Associate Provost
Communication and Digital Media
Professor of Communication & Digital Media
- Francis Hall #219
Biography
Dr. Caroline (Carrie) Fitzpatrick is Associate Provost and Professor of Communication and Digital Media at 葫芦娃视频, where she has served as a faculty member and academic leader for more than three decades. Her work bridges institutional leadership, teaching, and scholarship, with a focus on helping colleges adapt thoughtfully to changing educational landscapes while remaining grounded in student success, academic excellence, and mission-driven values.
As Associate Provost, Fitzpatrick provides leadership across a broad portfolio that includes institutional assessment and accreditation, student success initiatives, online learning and AI literacy, registrar operations, faculty support, open education, curriculum innovation, shared governance, and academic policy development. She believes education is an act of opening minds and doors. She works collaboratively with faculty, staff, and university leadership to strengthen academic quality, improve institutional effectiveness, and expand educational access through strategic planning and continuous improvement.
Originally trained as a rhetorician and qualitative researcher, Fitzpatrick's scholarly interests continue to influence her administrative work. Her research explores digital pedagogy, media literacy, intellectual property, artificial intelligence in higher education, open educational resources, and the relationship between technology, ethics, and learning. She has presented nationally and internationally, published more than thirty scholarly articles and studies, authored one textbook, co-authored a second, and edited the open-access textbook Writing the Disciplines, reflecting her longstanding commitment to educational affordability and student access.
Throughout her career, Fitzpatrick has designed academic programs, developed online and hybrid learning initiatives, led institutional change projects, and mentored more than one hundred students in professional conference presentations and scholarly publication. She believes some of the most meaningful learning happens when classroom ideas evolve into work that serves communities beyond the university.
Before joining the Provost's leadership team, Fitzpatrick held numerous academic leadership positions, including department chair, director of instructional standards, director of distance education, director of graduate and community leadership programs, Institutional Review Board co-chair, and first director of Alvernia's Schuylkill Center. She also brings more than two decades of nonprofit board leadership and qualitative research consulting experience, with expertise in strategic planning, community engagement, focus groups, narrative inquiry, and organizational communication.
Fitzpatrick is a first-generation college student who understands that the path through higher education is not always straightforward. That experience shaped her commitment to educational access, student success, transfer credit mobility, prior learning recognition, and removing unnecessary barriers to opportunity. Whether discussing accreditation, artificial intelligence, or the power of a well-crafted story, Fitzpatrick remains guided by the belief that higher education is ultimately about helping people flourish. She views leadership as an act of service. She is especially interested in building institutions where innovation and humanity develop side by side. She strives to lead with care and gratitude, believing that these are not simply personal values but enduring strengths of effective academic leadership.
Fitzpatrick encourages learners to explore the world, work toward a common good, and strive to achieve their professional goals. Her personal motto is: "Every day, we have two options: 1. Step forward into growth; 2. Step backward into safety. Choose wisely.鈥 Outside the university, she lives in rural Pennsylvania with her husband, two dogs, and an ever-expanding collection of books. She enjoys walking the trails of the Appalachian Mountains, creating art, exploring local folklore, and writing in those rare moments when the woods become louder than the day's obligations.
Current Administrative Oversight
Academic Affairs Student Success, Navigation (Tutoring, Accessibility, Academic Success Center), Academic Appeals & Dismissals Accreditation, Assessment & Compliance Oversight 鈥 (Administration), Faculty support for Curriculum Development and Process, Faculty & Student Travel Process, Office of Teaching and Learning support, Policy and Procedure Management, Registrar Office Functions & Policies Oversight (Jenzabar Implementation, SoftDocs Implementation, Modern Campus Suite Implementation (Catalog, Curriculum, Schedule), and Student & Parent Concerns
Current Administrative Initiatives
- Online Learning (Best Practices, Outcomes Repository, Badging, Training)
- Open Education (under SOLAR initiative)
- Transfer Credit Mobility
Previous Administrative Experience
Graduate & Community Research; Instructional Standards; Distance Education; Instructional Design; Study Abroad; Curriculum Design
鈥 Ph. D. Rhetoric & Linguistics 鈥 Indiana University of Pennsylvania
鈥 M.S. Ed. Educational Technology 鈥 Wilkes University
鈥 M.A. Communication Arts 鈥 Bloomsburg University
鈥 B.S. Secondary English & Speech Education 鈥 Penn State University
鈥 Certificate in Community Organizing for Social Justice - University of Michigan
鈥 Certificate in Viral Marketing & Crafting Contagious Content - Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
鈥 Certificate for Institutional Review Board (IRB) Oversight by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)
Media Law and Ethics, Digital Media and Society, Creative Media for Content Creation, Cultural/Film Studies, Folklore Studies, Public Speaking, Creative Writing, Composition & Research, Advanced Qualitative Research
Digital/Multimodal/Media Literacy, AI Literacy and Integration in Education, Media Advocacy, Qualitative Inquiry, Creative Nonfiction, Cultural Studies, Folklife & Folklore Studies, Digital Humanities, First Amendment Law, Experiential Learning, International Studies, Online Learning, Community-Based Research, Small Press Publishing, Podcasting/Vlogging
30+ years in Higher Education; Multiple Awardee for Curriculum Design, Teaching, and Research
鈥 Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence
鈥 Sr. Mary Donatilla Legacy Award for Outstanding Faculty Service
鈥 Innovative Teaching Grant for Technology Integration
鈥 St. Bernardine Award for Excellence in Teaching
鈥 Alvernia Faculty Excellence Grant (x4)
鈥 Alvernia Innovation Grants for Curriculum Design (x3)
鈥 Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society - Sponsor Award for 20yrs of Faculty Service
鈥 IUP Doctoral Fellowship
She has been inducted into the following honor societies:
鈥 Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society of Humanities & Social Sciences
鈥 Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society
鈥 Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society for Adult Students
- Recent Selections Only -
鈥 [Research Study] Lawrick, E. & Fitzpatrick, C. (in progress for 2026/2027). Working Title鈥擜rtificial Intelligence Policy in Higher Education: Emerging Institutional and Course-Level Governance. A qualitative document analysis of publicly available institutional AI policies from colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Journal TBD.
鈥 [Textbook] Fitzpatrick, C., (Editor) Writing the Disciplines: An OER Textbook. (Summer 2023). Educators for OERs. writingthedisciplines.org.
-Recent Selections Only-
鈥 [Co-Presenter] What Institutional AI Policies Reveal 葫芦娃视频 Teaching in Higher Education, Teaching Professor Online Conference. (October 2026). Magna Publications.
鈥 [Presenter] 鈥淐an I Use AI for This?鈥: Institutional AI Policy and the New Rules of Higher Education (Session Chair) Who Writes the Story of Learning? Rhetoric, Reflection, and AI in Education, Pennsylvania Communication Association (PCA), (Sept. 2026), University of Pittsburgh Johnstown, Johnstown, PA
鈥 [Presenter] The Ghost in the Machine: Rethinking Authorship in AI-Assisted Creative Work, Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference (July 2026), Virtual Conference
鈥 [Presenter] 鈥淗ey HAL 9000, who owns this paper?鈥(Session Chair), Ctrl+Alt+Reimagine: Rebooting the University for a Digital Age, Pennsylvania Communication Association (PCA), (Sept. 2025), Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA
鈥 [Presenter] Open the Pod Bay Doors, HAL: AI, Intellectual Property, and the Future of Teaching and Scholarship, Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference (July 2025), Virtual Conference
鈥 [Moderator] Social Media and Marketing Trends, 3rd Annual Business, Communication, and Leadership Conference: Because You Matter. Theme: Preparing for the Future Now. (Spring 2025). 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
鈥 [Moderator] Leadership, Diversity, and the Future of Education, 3rd Annual Business, Communication, and Leadership Conference: Because You Matter. Theme: Preparing for the Future Now. (Spring 2025). 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
鈥 [Presenter] Creating Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Underserved Populations, Presenter, The Teaching Professor Conference (2024), Magna Publications, Virtual Conference
鈥 [Moderator] The Future of Publishing, Session Convener & Moderator, 2nd Annual Business, Communication, and Leadership Conference: Because You Matter. Theme: The Future of Work. (Spring 2024). 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
鈥 [Presenter] Building Open Educational Practices (OEPs) and Open Educational Resources (OERs) for Social Justice & Equity in Higher Education, Presenter, National Conference on Creativity, Innovation and Technology (NCCiT 2023), Virtual Conference.
鈥 [Moderator] Wicked Problems of Sustainable Development, Session Moderator, Inaugural Business, Communication, and Leadership Conference: Because You Matter. (Spring 2023). 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
Consulting Experience
鈥 Qualitative Research
鈥 Media Communication & Literacy
鈥 Sustainability Projects
鈥 Grant Writing
鈥 Digital Composition
鈥 Curriculum Design
鈥 MAPACA (Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association)
鈥 NAMLE (National Association of Media Literacy Education)
鈥 Pennsylvania Communication Association (PCA)
鈥 AACE EdMedia (American Association of Computing in Education 鈥 Educational Media)
Committee Work (Nonvoting)
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Curriculum Committee
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Executive Committee of Faculty Council
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Extended Leadership
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Extended Senior Leadership
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Faculty Council
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Heritage Committee
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Provost Council
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Extended Provost Council
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Institutional Technology Advisory Committee
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Institutional Assessment Committee
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Persistence & Retention
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Student Outreach
Nonprofit Board (Recent)
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Member, Past Presidents Advisory Council. (2018-present). Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Board of Directors (2021-2023), Reading Film Office, Reading, PA
Judging (Recent)
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Short Term Study Abroad Award Judge (2025-present), Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, Dekalb, IL
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Summer Internship Award Judge (2024-present), Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, Dekalb, IL
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Convention Awards Judge (2024), Categories: Creative Nonfiction & Critical Essay. Annual Convention of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society, Pittsburgh, PA
Faculty-Student Mentoring (Recent)
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Committee Member: Farnsworth, J. (expected completion 2026). Police Chaplains and Their Impact on Department and Officers: Understanding their Value and Roles
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Chair: Whitmore, J. (expected completion 2026). Exploring the Impact of Coincidence within the Pathways to Nonprofit Leadership
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Faculty Mentor: Student Paper Presentations 鈥 Bermudez, T; Cleveland, D; Avram, A., Higher Education Council of Berks County (HECBC) - Undergraduate Research & Creativity Conference. (April 2026), 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA.
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Committee Member: Cullen, S. (2026). An Exploration of Nature-Centered Leadership Principles of Certified B Corporations as Communicated in Organization Mission Statements
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Reader: Eshbach, M.E. (2026). School Districts鈥 Communication Excellence: An Exploratory Study of Public School Districts鈥 Digital Platforms
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Reader: Murney, K. (2026). Crisis Preparedness in Contemporary Organizations and the Factors That Influence Its Prioritization by Leadership
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Committee Member: Loyack, S. (2025). How Mission and Vision Statements Define Higher Education- An Evaluation of Collegiate Institution Mission at Colleges/Universities
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Dissertation Committee Member: Kraycik, M. (2025). Total Experience Learning: A Phenomenological Case Study in the Inaugural Implementation in an Elementary School Environment
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Faculty Advisor, Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Pertl, Madison. (2024). Artificial Intelligence in Journalism. Alvernia Honors Program. 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
Service Activity (Recent)
鈥&苍产蝉辫;[Student-Faculty Service Project] Heritage Committee Member (2025-2026) Collaborative planning for Francis Hall 100th Anniversary in Fall 2026, 葫芦娃视频, Reading, PA
鈥&苍产蝉辫;[Faculty Co-Chaperone] COM & DMM Student Trip to Reading FilmFest 2023 & 2025, Reading, PA
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Approximately 15-20 students attend StudentFest; 20+ students served as student ambassadors during FilmFest weekend in October
鈥&苍产蝉辫;Alvernia participated in film competitions and won three awards: Best Student-Created Documentary Short (Kurt Manderbach 鈥 COM alum/senior capstone); TikTok Challenge 鈥 First Place for Berks County video on combating violence (COM Minors - Milvia Cruz and Aliyah Daniels); TikTok Challenge 鈥 Second Place for video on opioid addiction (COM Major, Jose Daniel Galindo).