SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 8, 2014 — The Wiki Education Foundation today announced that Dr. John Willinsky, an educator and open access supporter, has joined its board of directors. The Khosla Family Professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, Dr. Willinsky researches ways to encourage scholarly research to be more accessible as a public resource. He directs the Public Knowledge Project, a nonprofit organization headquartered at Simon Fraser University Library that encourages open access to research by developing open source publishing platforms for peer-reviewed journals and scholarly books. PKP software is now the most widely used scholarly publishing system in the world, with some 6,000 journals using its Open Journal Systems software to make their research open access.

“John’s landmark work in open access complements the mission of the Wiki Education Foundation,” said Dr. Diana Strassmann, Carolyn and Fred McManis Distinguished Professor in the Practice at Rice University and chair of the board of the Wiki Education Foundation. “We are excited to add his voice and experience promoting free access to scholarly research to the board of the Wiki Education Foundation.”

Born in Toronto, Dr. Willinsky received his bachelor’s from Laurentian University and a Master’s from the University of Toronto. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from Dalhousie University. He taught at the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia before joining Stanford University in 2007. He is the incoming Director of the Science, Technology and Society Program at Stanford. He is the author of nine books on open access, education, publishing, and technology subjects, and has conducted studies on the links between Wikipedia and open access to research, as well as on physician use of Wikipedia.

“As a long supporter of open access and education, I’m pleased with the work the Wiki Education Foundation is doing to encourage using Wikipedia as a teaching tool in universities in the United States and Canada,” Dr. Willinsky said. “I look forward to helping the Wiki Education Foundation fulfill its vision.”

About the Wiki Education Foundation

The Wiki Education Foundation supports innovative uses of Wikipedia and related projects in communities of teaching, learning, and inquiry in the United States and Canada. The Foundation aims to improve the breadth, scope, and quality of Wikimedia content; enhance student information fluency; and increase the number and diversity of contributors to the free knowledge movement by engaging educators, researchers, and students. The Wiki Education Foundation has applied for 501(c)(3) charity status.

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