Judith is the founder and principal at Sebesta Education Consulting LLC, assisting higher education institutions, organizations, and agencies with innovation and transformation to support student success.

Judith has spent nearly 30 years in higher education as a faculty member, academic administrator, policymaker, analyst, researcher, and consultant. Judith also is a former member of the Board of Directors for the 2023-24 Open Education Conference and a Past President of the Executive Council for the Community College Consortium for OER.

Current and recent projects include:

*Project Manager for the Technical Assistance Provider for the statewide California ZTC Acceleration Grants.

*Facilitation of five professional development courses on Open Education, Zero Textbook Cost Programs, Universal Design for Learning, and Artificial Intelligence for the California Community Colleges via the California Virtual Campus.

*Editing the volume Sowing the Seeds of a Global Movement: Stories from California Trailblazers of Open Education.

Course review for the Every Learner Everywhere Network.

*Analyzing data for the second national Accessibility Readiness survey for the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET).

*Developing the second national AI policy and practice survey for WCET.

*Guiding the Florida State University system through a structured selection process for an opt-in common Learning Management System to support the Florida Virtual Campus.

*Project Manager in AI and transfer legislation (AB 928) implementation for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District in California.

*Co-Facilitating a Community of Practice for the national AI for Learning Network, funded by Axim Collaborative, with partners including the California Community Colleges, Carnegie Mellon Universities, the State University of New York System, and the United Negro College Fund.

*Supporting event planning for an AI Summit and Digital Learning Summit for the THECB.

*Policy analysis of, and presentation on, the new Department of Justice regulation Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities for WCET.

*Grant review for the California Learning Lab 2024 AI Grand Challenge and FAST Challenge grants.

Prior to consulting Judith was founding Vice President, ISKME Labs/OER Commons and Executive Director of the Digital Higher Education Consortium of Texas. She also served in a variety of roles at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, including as Project Director for Open Educational Resources, Director of Innovation, and Program Director for Distance Education, and was the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Competency-Based Education.

Before shifting her career focus to the broader landscape of policy and practice in open education, innovation, and digital education, Judith enjoyed a fifteen-year career as a university professor and administrator. She holds certificates in Online Instructional Design, the Ethics of AI from the University of Helsinki, Human Subjects Research from the CITI Program, Open Licensing for Educators from Creative Commons, and DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) from The Ohio State University. Her degrees include a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. from Florida State University, and a B.A. in Communication Arts from Austin College.

Based in Austin, Texas, Judith enjoys spending time with her family, streaming films and series, reading, making music, and gardening. She recently published her first novel, Reel Life, and also is the author of a children’s book Kirby the Kind Dog.