Barbara Kurshan

Dr. Barbara Kurshan is a Senior Fellow & Innovation Advisor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the former Executive Director of Academic Innovation and Senior Fellow in Education. Barbara has also served as a Fellow at Education Impact and as the Director of the Board of Directors at FableVision.

Dr. Kurshan has over 25 years of experience in the field of education, with a focus on educational technology and innovation. Barbara has helped establish the Philadelphia region as a center for EdTech through their work with the Penn Graduate School of Education's EdTech incubator, EdSi. During their time at EdSi, they invested in 30 startups, including Practice (acquired by Instructure), Raise Labs (acquired by CampusLogic), Byndr (acquired by IntrEdge in India), EdConnective, and Caseworx.

Prior to their work with EdSi, Dr. Kurshan served as the Executive Director of Academic Innovation and Senior Fellow in Education at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. In this role, they oversaw the development and launch of new academic programs, including online and hybrid degree programs. Barbara also led initiatives to improve student outcomes and support faculty research.

Barbara Kurshan has a MS in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and an EdD in Curriculum & Instruction from Virginia Tech. Barbara also has a BS in math from Tulane University.