SUNY Online Teaching Ambassador 2025: Buffalo State – John Thompson

Dr. John Thompson is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Buffalo State University. Although retired, Dr. Thompson continues to teach 100% online asynchronous courses on a part-time basis. He enjoys the flexibility of teaching online from his home office at all hours of the day and night. His online teaching philosophy is that if instructors expect their students to be engaged, instructors first need to be engaged. So, he has a very active presence in his courses.

Dr. Thompson has chaired conferences, done presentation reviews for many local to international conferences, written paper reviews for publications, and authored various publications on online learning. Before working in higher education, his career experience included working in urban, suburban, and rural schools as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher (general education and special education), curriculum coordinator, principal, and school superintendent. He also functioned as director of training for two state governments and director of a university-based computer training organization. Dr. Thompson’s current research interests include asynchronous online discussions and student engagement in online courses.