Binh has extensive leadership and technical experience in distance education and instructional technologies at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering. His leadership and roles have changed throughout the years and span from managing online program offerings and student services to overseeing IT infrastructure and classroom technologies, with a focus on supporting both on-campus and online students.
• Leadership in Distance Education: Serving as Associate Dean since 2013, responsible for planning online program offerings, supervising student services, managing IT support, and coordinating specialized services for over 40 online master’s degree programs. Oversees staff in program management, instructional design, technical support, and technology-enabled classrooms.
• Master’s Student Services Oversight: From 2015 to 2019, managed master’s student services including orientation, advisement, and international student support for more than 4,500 students. Supervised staff and led development of internship courses and student development applications, enhancing academic and professional experiences.
• Instructional Technology Management: Directed operations of classroom and e-learning systems from 2002 to 2013, transitioning delivery from broadcast to online platforms. Managed a team of 17 staff, technical support for thousands of students and faculty, and maintained studio classrooms and network services.
• Educational Background and Contributions: Holds a Doctor of Education and Master of Science in Educational Leadership, and a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science, all from USC. Also served as a lecturer teaching various IT courses and contributed to the development of instructional labs and multimedia facilities. Active in professional associations and recognized for contributions to online engineering education.
Associate Dean, Distance Education Network (Current)
University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering
- Plan program offerings and supervise student services for online students. Created instructional technology plans addressing range of faculty and student areas. Coordinates specialized student services with academic programs and university units for online students
- Supervision of staff in the following areas: Program management and scheduling, student services, instructional design and support services, specialized blended/hybrid classroom builds and support, network and systems administration, and programming
- Plan and provide specialized support for 40+ online master’s degree programs, continuing education offerings, research projects, seminars, and other global and collaborative partnerships, and involved faculty
- Manage IT support and services for department staff and services including infrastructure support, staff end user IT support, and delivery and support of online tools for student services
- Implementation and supervision of custom e-learning and delivery systems including classroom, encoding and media, servers, and cloud hosted services. Continual review of learning systems, instructional technologies, and feedback from faculty, staff, and students. Coordination with University Disability Services Program for accessibility standards and student services
- Oversight of 25 technology enabled classrooms including installations, upgrades, and maintenance.
- Involvement to various committees across the Viterbi School and University including Online Learning Council, Video@USC, Academic Councils, Division of Engineering Education, and Viterbi IT Advisory Council.
Associate Dean – Master’s Student Services
University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering – Graduate and Professional Programs
- Oversight of master’s student services including major events (orientation, commencement) student services and experiences (advisement, academic progress, events, student organizations, and coordinated counseling services). Support is provided to more than 3,700 on campus students and 800 online students with specialized services for online students
- Supervision of 5 FTE staff in the master’s student services area and 22 FTE technical and operations staff in the Distance Education Network
- Direct support of international student services and related processes to maintain degree and residency requirements and participate in internship opportunities
- Instructional and administrative lead on internship classes with close to 1,000 enrollments every year and management of internship processes for engineering. Created new internship courses that connected communication education, internship experiences, employer relationships and assessments. Worked with employers to recruit and participate in internship opportunities and assessments
- Led efforts to create key international student services with coordination with the Office of International Services including the creation and support of internship courses and processes, reduced course loads, academic integrity reviews, petition reviews, and other visa related policies
- Development of experience app used for student development paths across primary domains such as Academic, Professional, Social, and Wellness. Integrated app with university event system and support of student organizations
- Oversight of data reporting and data systems for internal departmental use, advisement, and external reporting. Review of retention data and reporting
- Leadership responsibilities for department including student affairs oversight, facility related updates, retreat planning, position reviews, restructuring services and planning, and interactions with various student serving units and schools across the University with equity and diversity mindset including staff development and sponsorship
MIS Director, Instructional Technologies
University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering – Distance Education Network (DEN)
- Directed operations of classroom, e-learning systems, network and hardware infrastructure, and faculty, advisor, and student support services
- Managed Satellite, Microwave, and Web based systems. Implemented fully online delivery infrastructure to transition services away from broadcast models to online accessible
- Supervision of 17 Full Time Staff in the following areas: Programming, Network Administration, Customer Service, Classroom Operations and Engineering
- Managed all Facilities, including construction, upgrades, and maintenance of 10 studio classrooms
- Managed technical support for all users: 20 technical staff, 150 faculty teaching DEN courses, 1200 online students, and 3500 on campus graduate students at the Viterbi School of Engineering
- Managed support and services for all network services including Windows computing environment and Linux and Solaris application services and database systems
Computer Systems Technician
University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering – Information Technology Program
- Maintained over 300 computers in intranet, Windows 95, and NT lab environment. Support and installation of varied computing systems, applications, and servers.
- Provided IT support for department staff and additional faculty utilizing computing resources. Created and maintained departmental website.
- Acted as Liaison between Information Services Division and ITP
- Created procedures for faculty and students for the lab environment (hardware/software installations & configurations, network directory structures)
- Member of Windows NT Integration team for School of Engineering
- Hardware/Software installation and upgrades for School of Engineering
- Setup specialized credit and noncredit labs including Microsoft Training, Novell, and Cisco environments for instructional and certification purposes
- Maintained audio/video equipment in all instructional facilities including projectors, audio sources, multimedia authoring systems, and video peripherals
Lecturer
University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering – Information Technology Program
- ITP 031x Introduction to MS Excel, ITP 046x Introduction to Web Publishing, ITP 090x Introduction to Photoshop, ITP 105x Introduction to Information Technology, ITP 499x Implementing a Web Server
Education
- Doctor of Education, Educational Leadership
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Dissertation Title: Online Student Attrition in Blended Learning Programs
- Master of Science, Educational Leadership
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Highlights
Associations: Association for Professional, Continuing, & Online Education Association (UPCEA), Online Learning Consortium, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA)
Top 10 Online Graduate Engineering Programs for 9 consecutive years, Overall and Information Technology
What to Expect in an Online Computer Science Master’s Program (U.S. News & World Report)
USC program lets disabled student complete degree from far away (LA Times Story)
Air Force pilot is flying high thanks to USC Viterbi online program (USC News)
Asia Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association Annual Summit and Conference, Education Forum panelist (APSIPA 2017)
Active volunteer and mentor for various events such as Press Friends and USC mentoring programs
Contact Information
Binh Tran, Ed.D.
Associate Dean
DEN@Viterbi
binhtran@usc.edu
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
University of Southern California
3650 McClintock Ave. OHE 142
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Tel: 213.821.1322
Web: Prospective Graduate Students | Current Graduate Students