Speaker Bio: Kenneth W. Heger, PhD, is an experienced researcher and lecturer, who has a Ph.D. in history.  He was a senior lecturer in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (the iSchool), until his retirement in 2020. While at Maryland, he lectured and mentored students in the graduate school covering a wide range of topics including archival processing, archival description, and using digitization to facilitate access to records.  Dr. Heger’s duties at the iSchool included being the director of the Archives & Digital Curation specialization in the College, and the director of the digitization lab in the Digital Curation Innovation Center (DCIC).  He was the principal investigator of the Global Journeys, Local Communities Project.  The Project focuses on the period 1860-1914 and uses cultural collections, such as correspondence files, pension files, appeals files, government reports, postcards, etc., to create dynamic datasets, essential for documenting the movement of people, especially Americans traveling abroad and America’s wounded warriors who emigrated after their military service.  Dr. Heger continues to work on the Project.  Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland, Dr. Heger worked at the National Archives and Records Administration for 32 years in a variety of positions, including managing the research facility of the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Heger has spoken at numerous regional and national conferences; he is a regular instructor at the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records.  Dr. Heger spoke at all three conferences of the International German Genealogical Partnership (IGGP).  His articles have appeared in state and regional genealogical periodicals throughout the country.  Currently, he is president of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society (MAGS) and a vice president of the IGGP.
 
Speaker Bio: Specializing in Maryland and German research, Debra A. Hoffman, PLCGS, is a professional genealogist and the owner of Hoffman Genealogical Services. She is a genealogical author, lecturer, and researcher. She has presented at the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed), the Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research (IGHR), the International German Genealogy Conference, and presented at and coordinated the Maryland course at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in 2020 and Course 2-Intermediate Genealogy and Historical Studies in 2021 at IGHR. She is the co-author of NGS’ latest Research in the States Series: Maryland and has authored articles in the Maryland Genealogical Society Bulletin, the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, Der Kurier, Bluegrass Roots, and the Carrolltonian. She has a certificate in Family History from Brigham Young University and a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies (PLCGS)-German Records from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. Active in the genealogical community, Debra is the past co-director of Gen-Fed and is a graduate and former mentor of the ProGen Study Group. She currently serves as an At-Large Board Member of the Maryland Genealogical Society, is the Secretary for the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society, and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists.