HIGHER EDUCATION:
Steve Rheinschmidt joined Pathify (formerly Campus by Ucroo) in March 2018 with more than 25 years of experience in higher education as both a campus practitioner and strategic consultant. He is consistently focused on maintaining and improving the student and faculty experience.
While at Pathify, Steve led the Customer Success organization for three years from 2018-2021. Today, his focus is on enhancing student success by assisting customers effectively implement and use the Pathify platform. Steve strives to be a trusted partner and advisor for customers. Steve assists with establishing social community hooks and enhancing social inter-connectedness relating to student persistence (retention), enrollment, alumni relations, student affairs, academic affairs, and more.
Immediately prior to joining the Pathify team, Steve was Director of Learning Innovation at Saint Leo University where he helped implement and launch Campus by Ucroo (now Pathify) which Saint Leo re-branded as Lions Share. Steve was also responsible for leading Saint Leo's Textbook and Digital Course Materials team - ensuring all course materials were available, accessible and affordable for students. He also led the university's Civitas Data and Student Retention Project, managed the Saint Leo University Mobile App Project, led a Hilton Grant Project and was the liaison for 24/7 Lions SHARE Technical Support which served online and on-campus students.
Rheinschmidt is the former Executive Director of the Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC). The ICCOC is a voluntary, self-supported partnership between seven of Iowa’s community colleges. The primary purpose of the consortium is to offer online courses and degree programs and provide comprehensive student support services.
The ICCOC launched in the fall of 2000 with eleven online courses and 272 enrollments. During Rheinschmidt's tenure the consortium grew to an annual enrollment of more than 50,000 fully online students, 400 instructors and more than 800 unique courses in more than a dozen degree programs.
In 2010, Steve was one of thirty distance education leaders from the United States and Canada invited by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to participate in a two day conversation focusing on quality measures in, and the future of, online education which assisted in framing Next Generation Learning Challenges Grants.
Mr. Rheinschmidt has previously served on the advisory boards for IMS Global Learning Consortium, Monterey Institute for Technology in Education, and the Iowa Statewide System for Online Learning. In addition, he has served on two subcommittees for the Iowa Department of Education: Chapter 21 Distance Education Code Revision subcommittee in 2009; and, the Community College Faculty Advisory Instructional Load Subcommittee in 2010.
In 2009, he received the Pearson eCollege Excellence in Online Administration Award.
Steve has experience as a strategic eLearning consultant for Pearson Education. In his consulting role, Steve assisted colleges and universities in the United States and Southeast Asia with designing and implementing strategic and innovation initiatives, developing strategic plans, informing growth strategies and improving student learning outcomes, persistence and retention.
In his role with Pearson, Steve worked closely with Arizona State University's Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) as a consultant to launch online learning at universities in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Vietnam. ASU/HEEAP was referenced by President Obama during the President's 2016 visit to Vietnam
Steve's additional experience in higher education includes admissions, academic advising, marketing, athletic director, coach, as well as TRIO Student Support Services and Upward Bound.
COACHING:
Steve has nearly two decades of experience teaching and training high school and club volleyball players.
Steve coached at Mediapolis (IA) high school from 1995 to 2012. He coached USA Club volleyball for Great River Juniors (1999-2001) and for the Bullette Volleyball Club (2004-2012).
In 2000, Steve completed a three month internship with USA Volleyball in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was assistant tournament director for the 2000 Junior Olympic Beach Championships and was responsible for compiling men's and women's scouting video packages for Team USA’s Sydney Olympic beach volleyball opponents. Ultimately, the men's beach volleyball duo of of Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana won the gold medal for Team USA!
In 2001, Steve was the Head of Delegation and assistant coach for Iowa's High Performance Volleyball team. He is a USA Volleyball CAP I certified coach and he was a USA Volleyball IMPACT instructor for ten years.
In 2001 Steve was named USA Volleyball Iowa Region Male Coach of the Year and in 2010 he received the USA Volleyball Iowa Region Meritorious Service Award for his role in training new coaches across the state.
TODAY:
Steve enjoys cycling, hiking, supporting the Iowa Hawkeyes, spending time with family and friends, and an occasional round of golf. He enjoys traveling near and far meeting new people and exploring new places and cultures.