We were honored and excited to learn that Dan Cohen, whose titles include Associate Professor in the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University, Director of the Center for History and New Media, and Emcee of the esteemed Digital Campus Podcast, gave the CUNY Academic Commons a shout-out during a recent presentation at the University of Mary Washington. Titled “The Future of the Digital University,” Dan’s talk explored a range of new approaches to education being taken by institutions of higher education, all of which embrace the signal virtues of “openness, do-it-yourself culture, decentralization, and collaboration.”

Dan’s presentation is archived online on Ustream. At about the 15:00 mark, he brings up the CUNY Academic Commons homepage and cites it as an example of a new wave of academic social networking websites that is emerging in higher ed.

We’re very thankful to Dan for mentioning us, and we take it as a signal that the CUNY Academic Commons–a site that is still in its infancy, but one that is growing rapidly–is headed in the right direction.