J. Camille Dempsey, DEd

Dr. Camille Dempsey is the Director of the PennWest Center for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies and a Full Professor of Education at PennWest University. She brings more than three decades of experience across education, having taught at the pre-K through 12th grade levels as well as in higher education. Her academic background includes a doctorate in instructional technology and leadership from Duquesne University, a master’s degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and undergraduate study at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

As a cultural theorist and founder of the Theory of Virtuality Culture, Dr. Dempsey examines the intersections of technology, generative AI, and contemporary culture. She is internationally recognized for her contributions to educational technology scholarship. Her research explores how individuals and societies connect, explore, and communicate through emerging technologies, and how these technologies reshape human consciousness while mediating presence and human connection. Dr. Dempsey has presented extensively at local, regional, state, national, and international conferences.

Her honors include selection as a Faculty Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and as an EDSAFE AI Alliance Catalyst Fellow. She also serves as a Women Techmakers Ambassador, an ISTE Community Leader, and a Pennsylvania Keystone Technology Integrator. Dr. Dempsey was named one of ISTE’s “20 to Watch” in Educational Technology and received the Educational Technology Impact Award for her article, “The Spirit of the Times: Virtuality Culture and Technology-Mediated Human Presence,” published in the Technology Education Research Journal by the Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology (PAECT). She has also received the Ero W. Davidson State Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Technology and Communications from PAECT.

Dr. Dempsey was recently invited to serve on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s AI Advisory Committee for the Joint State Government Commission and the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and she testified before the Pennsylvania Senate on artificial intelligence, workforce development, and education. She has also served as faculty in the ISTE K-12 Artificial Intelligence Explorations Program, helping more than one hundred educators integrate AI into their schools and programs. In addition, Dr. Dempsey has served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, as a grant panel facilitator and reviewer, and as a higher-education program reviewer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She regularly provides professional development and strategic guidance on educational technology and artificial intelligence to organizations regionally, nationally, and internationally.