Dr. Manisha Javeri :
University Professor
I am proud to be a graduate of the Educational Technology 
program at University of Northern Colorado (UNC). Coming all the way from India (Bombay), UNC was new world for me. My faculty and my friends are now my family in USA.
I come from a very humble family background and am the first in my family to get a doctoral degree as well as come to USA. My parents didn’t have money to buy good clothes but always had money to buy books. They emphasized education and self-reliance. My mother has taught me to be independent and to respect and love everyone. It was because of her that I have made it to where I am today.
My master’s is in Physical Chemistry and I have taught at the University of Bombay (Mumbai) for over 5 years. My areas of specialization include physical and analytical chemistry. I also have 2 years of teaching experience in K-12 urban school in India. Teaching at the University of Bombay (Royal College) was a fun experience. However I lacked skills in technology integration (especially computers). Chemistry being a very abstract science was difficult to teach using blackboard and was at times frustrating. I then decided to pursue a degree in Educational Technology. It is unheard of someone going back to school at my age in India. I chose to come to USA as this was the only place where I could get familiar with the cutting edge technologies and it’s integration in education.
I invested all my savings in applying to several universities in USA. UNC was the first school that gave me admission as well as a teaching assistantship and fellowship. I came to USA with $10 in my pocket, as my last savings went towards buying my one way fare to USA.
I lived a new life at UNC. It will take up many pages to describe it. And so I’ll just focus on my professional development. My teaching assistantship in Edtech and working with the PT3 (Preparing Tomorrow’s Teacher’s to Use Technology) provided me all the support to be able to complete my Ph.D. Working with the PT3 grant also gave me opportunities to present at conferences, teach the preservice technology classes at UNC, help the faculty at UNC integrate technology in their classes, redesign the preserice technology curriculum and work with the most wonderful colleagues.
I also had the chance to do my first research (Lohr, L., Javeri, M., Mahoney, C., Strongin, D., Gall, J. & Li, Kathy (2003) Development of a Self-Paced Pre-Service Teacher Technology Course. Educational Technology Research and Development.) with Dr Linda Lohr. I specialized in distance education, interactive technologies and also got a minor in applied research and statistics. Overall, UNC Ed tech program was the place where I grew not only professionally but also as a person.
Currently, I am working as an Associate Professor at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). This university has the most diverse student and staff population in the entire nation. I am really happy to be here. I just received a mini grant to do a needs assessment about the technology integration practices in urban schools in Los Angeles. My future interests are to work in a global education program, and collaborate with schools of higher education in other countries. I am also interested in technology integration in teaching of science and math, especially in higher education.
Good-luck to everyone in the program