Student Responses

"This is not only an informative class, but a life-transforming class."

"Absolutely the best academic experience I have ever had..."

I experienced a lifestyle of continuous thoughtfulness.

This course is groundbreaking. It challenged me in deep, deep ways that I did not expect.

This was more than an intellectual experience; it was a heart and soul experience.

Truly, all BIOLA students should attend an IRIS course at least once before graduating.

This was a rare and precious time where I saw a university rather than a multiversity.

What an experience of a lifetime..."

I heard such wonderful things about this class and I was still blown away.

Meet the Staff

Brenna Jones
Coordinator of Online Teaching & Assessment

Rachel Watson
IRIS Recruiting & Logistics Coordinator

Barak Wright

IRIS Marketing & Auxiliary Services Manager

I am responsible for designing both the online experience for IRIS and the assessment program for all IRIS environments. What excites me most about IRIS is the ways in which we strive to push education beyond the traditional classroom and outside of the silos of those academic ivory towers. Learning should be about more than rote memorization -- it should be a wild, crazy, challenging, integrative experience where all the facets of formal and informal education move together to synthesize new knowledge.

I am the administrative support for all things IRIS, and I manage marketing and recruiting for the program. One of the things I love about IRIS is how everything connects. The experience not only connects students with each other and with their faculty; it also connects ideas and different disciplines. Everyone in IRIS-staff, students, and faculty- are always learning!

I work on behalf of IRIS students, helping them understand the value of the class in our marketing campaigns and, later, helping IRIS students find friends and career resources within the network of IRIS alumni. IRIS is the sort of academic experience students will often recall when they describe the most memorable, challenging and transformative classes they took in college. Nowhere else in my work within higher education have I been able to point to the classroom into which Im placing students and think: This is what education is all about.

Justine Eliasson
IRIS Production Coordinator

Katie Agarth
Lead Editor for IRIS ONLINE

Nathan Ingalls

Lead AV Director for IRIS ONLINE

I oversee and carry out the video production side of IRIS ONLINE. With IRIS (and more specifically IRIS ONLINE) I see an incredible melding of the moving image and earnest, passionate learning. There have been many times during filming where I have been shocked in the best of ways by what we were capturing. In those moments we are witnessing something sacred.

I oversee data management, creative direction, and product packaging for IRIS ONLINE video content. I am honored to be a part of a team that is dedicated to cultivating sincere conversations and robust learning.

I oversee both the production and post production team for IRIS ONLINE filming and editing. What I love about my job is the opportunity to work with an amazing team of artists striving to produce the highest quality possible, which stretches our creative capabilities to bring a unique product to the online education arena.