Louis Biggie
Louis was the interim Director of Talent Management and Organization Development at The Johns Hopkins University until retirement in 2016. His first job at Hopkins was as a senior analyst at the university’s Applied Physics Laboratory. From 1997 to 1998, he worked for Jhpiego, where he helped form a team that developed e-learning. He left the university in 1998 to co-found an e-learning development company called LearnWare.
He currently travels extensively and works with a variety of not-for-profit organizations where he helps to improve learning and development initiatives. His most recent project was with Vitamin Angels, an organization that provides lifesaving vitamins to mothers and children at risk of malnutrition — reducing preventable illness, blindness, and death — to create a healthier world. This project won a Gold award in the “Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program” category in the 2017 annual Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning ceremony.
He spends his free time fiddling with electronics, drinking wine, wearing white trousers, and listening to opera. He has too many annoying habits to mention, but his favorite is developing new ways to pronounce the word “beer.”
Sharon Busching
Sharon started at JHU as temporary employee in 1990. Her job was to provide administrative support for one space shuttle mission. In 2007, after supporting three space shuttle missions, she took a promotion to management at the School of Medicine. She thinks sponsored projects at Hopkins represent some of the best and brightest of humanity uniting to ponder universal problems. She is honored to play a role in providing administrative assistance to these projects. In January 2014, Sharon joined the Learning Solutions Group to be able to share what she knows with her co-workers.
Sharon is a recovering workaholic. Most weekends will find her digging in her yard, dreaming up craft projects, or searching for her reading glasses so she can finish up the latest find from the BookThing. For twenty years, she has opened her house to provide short-term, furnished housing options for JHU/JHMI visitors; she enjoys meeting the talented people from all over the world who come to study and work at JH. “Just call me a modern-day Miss Susie Slagle – with one major exception, I don’t cook.”
Carolyn Cook
Carolyn has been with The Johns Hopkins University since 1993 and is the Leadership Development Program Coordinator. In this role, she coordinates the daily functions of the JHU and JHM Leadership Development Program, SoM Women’s Leadership Program, and the SoM Junior Faculty Leadership Program.
She is married to her 8th grade sweetheart and they have a very active son. Her favorite sport is baseball (she loves the Orioles); she travels to a different ballpark every year to see them play. She has recently started to ‘extreme coupon’ and has cut her grocery bills in half – it’s the challenge of finding great (free) deals. On the weekends, you will find her watching the HGTV channel, because when she grows up she wants to ‘buy and flip’ houses.
Sasha Grutzeck
Sasha is a Senior Instructional Designer at Johns Hopkins University. She’s a member of the Learning Solutions department, where she writes and designs e-courses (and other training materials) for Johns Hopkins University faculty and staff. She enjoys learning new things, collaborating with her coworkers, watching movies, taking ridiculously long walks, and eating the leftover baked goods that always seem to miraculously appear in the Learning Solutions kitchen.
Ann Hummel
Ann has been a member of the Learning Solutions team at Johns Hopkins University for six years. Her role as an instructional designer allows her the opportunity to work on a wide scope of projects. She can also be found in the classroom facilitating an SAP course or our favorite course, Accounting Comes Alive. Ann’s interests include (in no particular order) traveling, list making, things that shimmer/sparkle, and stinky cheeses.
Debbie Long
Debbie is the Sr. Training Operations Administrator for Learning Solutions and has been employed by the university for over 33 years. Being part of this creative and talented team is very rewarding. When not in work mode, she loves spending time with my family and going to their property in West Virginia.
Denise McCarty
For over 7 years, Denise has been a team member of Learning Solutions. She has 19 years of collective service at Johns Hopkins University. Her role as an Administrative Coordinator allows her to provide learning opportunities for employees at the university and this has inspired her to take the challenge of facilitating a full-day course for faculty and staff. The joys of Denise’s life include her husband Barry, two sons, three grandsons, one granddaughter, and three furry children.
Anne-Marie Race
Anne-Marie is a Senior Instructional Technologist, which combines her skills as a multimedia artist and print designer. With a degree in Communication Art and Design, she has a background in editorial and advertising print design; web site, kiosk, and user interface design; animation for computer games; and illustration. Her e-training development skills have served from the primary school level to university faculty and staff, as well as pharmaceutical training. Her hobbies include travel, drawing, writing, yoga, and spelunking the Internet.
Joe Shipe
Joe is an instructional programmer, which basically means he is the “computer guy” of the team. You’ll probably see him posting tech stuff from time to time.
Samantha “Sam” Yoseph
Sam is a Learning Solutions intern and a contributor to our blog. Sam attends Polytechnic High School as an Ingenuity student and wants to pursue a career in the field in aerospace engineering. Previously, she wanted to go into cybersecurity, and that’s still something she would like to build on right now. She excels in math and science. In the future, she wants to continue her education and go to college. Right now, she has her heart set on MIT, but she would also love to attend Johns Hopkins University or the University of Maryland in College Park.
