Wiki Education Foundation

Wiki Education Foundation
Location(s)
  • Chico, California,
    United States
Key people
Executive Director:
Frank Schulenburg
Chair, Board of Directors:
PJ Tabit
Employees14[1] (2024)
Websitewikiedu.org

The Wiki Education Foundation (sometimes called Wiki Education or Wiki Edu) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Chico, California, United States.[2] It promotes the integration of editing Wikipedia into coursework by educators in the United States and Canada.[3] The foundation recruits and provides technical assistance to professors whose students edit Wikipedia entries in place of writing a research paper.[3][4]

History

A pilot project was started by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2010, then called the Public Policy Initiative, to engage students and faculty from universities around the world in improving academic articles.[5][6] The project spun-off into its own nonprofit after three years.[7]

In 2016, Wiki Education chose a theme for the year, which was around improving science articles.[8][7][4] Wiki Education argued that university students have access to academic journals and other resources that can be especially helpful when editing Wikipedia.[4]

Directors

In 2014, Frank Schulenburg, former senior director of programs at the Wikimedia Foundation, became the organization's first executive director.[9][10] Diana Strassmann was named Chair of the board of directors in 2013.[10] In 2014, Robert Cummings, director of the Center for Writing and Rhetoric and associate professor of English at the University of Mississippi served on the board.[11][12][13] Adrianne Wadewitz served on the board until her death in 2014.[14]

As of June 2026, the members of the board are:[15]

Member Role
P.J. Tabit Chair
Jon Cawthorne Vice-Chair
Garfield Byrd Treasurer
Bob Cummings Secretary
Sue Gardner
Carwil Bjork-James
Richard Knipel
Karen A. Twitchell

References

  1. ↑ "Wiki Education Foundation, 2024 Full Filing - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2026-05-21.
  2. ↑ Ivry, Sara (November 12, 2024). "Look It Up: Humanities Students are Filling Wikipedia's Content Gaps". Mellon Foundation. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  3. 1 2 Kamenetz, Anya (2017-02-22). "What Students Can Learn By Writing For Wikipedia". NPR. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  4. 1 2 3 Xia, Rosanna (2016-09-20). "College students take to Wikipedia to rewrite the wrongs of Internet science". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  5. ↑ Rankin, Kelly (26 October 2011). "Wikipedia goes to university". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Jenna (2011-05-29). "Wikipedia goes to class". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  7. 1 2 Dewey, Caitlin (2016-06-20). "The surprising reason some college professors are telling students to use Wikipedia for class". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  8. ↑ Timmer, John (2016-01-22). "Wiki Education says 2016 is the Wikipedia Year of Science". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-06-19.
  9. ↑ "Press releases/Frank Schulenburg named executive director of new WEF". San Francisco, California: Wikimedia Foundation. February 12, 2014. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "People, papers and presentations". Rice News. Houston, Texas: Rice University. November 8, 2013. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ Garrison, Lynsea (April 7, 2014). "How can Wikipedia woo women editors?". BBC. Archived from the original on May 23, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  12. ↑ Dunican, Rod (April 10, 2014). "Remembering Adrianne Wadewitz". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Visiting Research Fellows: Associate Professor Robert Cummings". University of Sydney School of Letters Arts and Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  14. ↑ Cohen, Noam (2014-04-19). "Adrianne Wadewitz, 37, Wikipedia Editor, Dies in Rock Climbing Fall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-06-23.
  15. ↑ "Our Board". Wiki Education. 2015-08-24. Archived from the original on 1 June 2026. Retrieved 2026-06-28.
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