Jonathan Gunnell
I direct the Center for Educational Innovation at Penn State Behrend in Erie, where a team of instructional designers and I build online courses, faculty programs, and the web applications that run them.
I've taught music technology and graduate education courses since 2008. Previously at Duquesne University, currently at Point Park University.
Since 2002 I've also played guitar in bands around Pittsburgh. Right now that's My so-called 90s Band, about 40 shows a year. Every show I could track down is listed here.
Upcoming performances
693 played since 2002
Nov7Full BandH Lounge @ Hollywood Casino at The Meadows
Nov21AcousticHazards Mini Golf and Social Pub
Jan9AcousticHazards Mini Golf and Social Pub
May8AcousticPrivateWedding
May15Full BandBloom Brew
Jun19Full BandBloom Brew
Jul4Full BandMt. Lebanon July 4 Celebration
Jul17Full BandBloom Brew
About me
I came to instructional technology through music. I studied music technology and sound recording at Duquesne, taught music technology there for eleven years, and wrote a dissertation on whether background music in instructional video helps or hurts. (Mostly it hurts.) Along the way I managed online programs at the University of Pittsburgh, and since 2019 I've directed CEI at Behrend.
The day job is online and hybrid course development, faculty development, and accessibility, and lately a lot of AI: a microgrant program for faculty bringing it into their courses, a training series for staff, and the tools my own team uses to get through the administrative side of the work faster. I also co-chair Penn State's Online Coordinating Council and represent the university in the Learning Technology Consortium.
The band is a business as much as a hobby. Gunner Status LLC has run My so-called 90s Band since 2016, and the booking, setlists, social media, and this website all run on the same stack I use at work: Next.js, Supabase, Airtable, and a good deal of Claude Code. The band is a Pittsburgh operation. I'm the one who drives down from Erie.
Before the 90s band there were The Red Western, Satin Gum, Winslow, Derek White and the Monophobics, and a few others. Most of those years I was also behind the console, engineering and mixing records for friends' bands; the credits are below.
Things I've built recently
- mysocalled90sband.com: the band's public site, with the show manager behind it. Next.js, Supabase, Vercel.
- tvandsnacks.com: the band's internal tools, including the audience request form and a setlist generator that weights songs by how recently they were played.
- Pathways to Pedagogy: a Penn State tool that links teaching activities to the educational technologies that support them.
- The H5P Portal: CEI's interactive content platform, rebuilt from Drupal to WordPress in 2025 with a set of custom plugins. It serves about 40 instructional designers across four Penn State campuses.
- The Behrend Strategic Plan Dashboard: a Next.js application on Google Cloud that college leadership uses to track the 2026 to 2030 strategic plan.
- This site.
Recording credits
Deskjobs
- Web In Front (single, 2026): vocals, mixing
- Hi Unknown (album, 2025): vocals, guitar, mixing
- Boat (EP, 2025): vocals, guitar, mixing
- A Light Goes Out (EP, 2025): vocals, guitar, mixing
- Wildflowers (single, 2024): guitar, mixing
- I Could Sleep Tonight (album, 2024): vocals, guitar, mixing
- Susanne (single, 2023): vocals, mixing
- I Guess That's How It's Always Been (single, 2022): vocals, guitar, mixing
- Hope for Christmas (If Only in My Dreams) (album, 2020): vocals, mixing
The Red Western
- Don't Blame Me (single, 2017): guitar, composer, engineer, producer
- Sirens (EP, 2016): guitar, vocals, composer, engineer, mixing, producer
- Arrows (EP, 2016): guitar, bass, vocals, composer, engineer, mixing, producer
- There's A Fire (EP, 2013): guitar, keyboards, percussion, engineer, mixing, producer
- Loves You (album, 2010): guitar, banjo, keyboards, backing vocals, engineer, mixing, producer
Satin Gum
- Feeling Nothing Feeling Everything (album, 2018): engineer
- LP2 (album, 2012): guitar, engineer, mixing
- EP3 (EP, 2011): guitar, backing vocals, engineer, mixing
- EP2 (EP, 2010): guitar, backing vocals, engineer, mixing
- LP (album, 2009): guitar, keyboards, engineer, mixing, mastering
Other artists
- Liquescence: Music by Zvonimir Nagy, various artists (album, 2018): music programming on "Kaleidoscope II"
- America's America, Grand Piano (EP, 2013): engineer, mixing
- $1000, Grand Piano (EP, 2012): engineer, mixing, artwork
- 0.2 Shadow Party, Vesta (EP, 2012): keyboards, engineer
- Alright Already, Alot & Alot (album, 2012): engineer, mixing
- Benefit of the Doubt, Wilk (album, 2011): mixing
- 28 B-Sides and Rarities, The Juliana Theory (album, 2010): mastering
- 0.1 Daylight's Coming, Vesta (EP, 2009): keyboards, engineer, mixing
- Sonic Art, Bill Purse (album, 2009): mixing assistant
- Derek White and the Monophobics (album, 2008): guitar, keyboards, vocals, composer, engineer, mixing
- It's All Happening EP, The Takeover UK (EP, 2008): organ on "Lean On It"
- Christmas at Duquesne, various artists (album, 2008): mixing assistant
- The Sand and the Salt EP, Winslow (EP, 2005): guitar, composer
- Good Times on Pavement, Dose For Monday (album, 2002): guitar, vocals, composer