Upcoming Speakers
Rachel Vail
Date: Mon, 06/18/2012 9:00am
Rachel Vail is the award-winning author of many books for kids and teens.
Her picture books include PIGGY BUNNY and SOMETIMES I’M BOMBALOO.
JUSTIN CASE: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters and the brand new
sequel JUSTIN CASE: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom are
her hit novels for elementary school kids. For young teens, her novels include IF
WE KISS, LUCKY, GORGEOUS, BRILLIANT, and the Friendship Ring series.
Rachel lives in New York City with her husband, two sons, and a tortoise. You
can visit her online at www.RachelVail.com.
Emily Bell
Date: Thu, 06/21/2012 9:00am
Emily Bell was director of digital content for Britain's Guardian News and Media from 2006 to 2010. Previous to that post, Bell was editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited from 2001 to 2006. Under Bell, the Guardian received numerous awards, including the Webby Award for a newspaper website in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, and British Press Awards for Website of the Year in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Bell first joined the Observer newspaper, which became part of Guardian News and Media, in 1990, as a business reporter specializing in media business, marketing and technology. Bell is a leading media commentator in the U.K., writing about broadcasting and media policy issues. She is a 1987 graduate of Christ Church, Oxford University, where she earned a master's degree in jurisprudence.
Past Speakers
Sree Sreenivasan
Date: Mon, 06/20/2011 9:00am
SREE SREENIVASAN is a tech evangelist and skeptic (he can explain how he's both) specializing in explaining technology to non-techies. He is a professor and dean of students affairs at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches in the digital media program, including media entrepreneurship. A former TV technology reporter on WABC and WNBC, he is now a contributing editor at DNAinfo.com, a Manhattan-news startup he helped launch in 2009 with Joe Ricketts. Sree lives in New York City with his wife, Roopa, and their children, who attend The School at Columbia.
In 2009, he was named one of AdAge's 25 media people to follow on Twitter and in 2010 was named one of 20 journalists to follow by the Society of Professional Journalists and one of Poynter.org's 35 most influential people in social media.
You can find him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sree and on Facebook at http://facebook.com/sreetips and on
the Web at http://sree.net/ Meanwhile, be sure to read Sree's constantly updated Social Media Guide at
http://bit.ly/sreesoc and his Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics at http://bit.ly/twitterideas If you aren't on his low-volume events and tech tips mailing list already, ask him to add you. Email sree@sree.net
Howard Gardner
Date: Tue, 06/21/2011 9:00am
Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. He has received honorary degrees from 26 colleges and universities, including institutions in Bulgaria, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and South Korea. In 2005 and again in 2008, he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of 25 books translated into 28 languages, and several hundred articles, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.
A. J. Jacobs
Date: Wed, 06/22/2011 9:00am
A.J. Jacobs is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, including The Know-It-All (which chronicled his journey reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica) and The Year of Living Biblically (about his attempt to follow every single Biblical rule, from the Ten Commandments on down to stoning adulterers). . His most recent work is My Life as an Experiment--a collection of his articles. Jacobs' books have inspired dozens of schools to try social experiments of their own. Jacobs is also the editor at large at Esquire magazine, has written for The New York Times, and is an occasional correspondent for NPR. He lives in New York City with his wife Julie and their three sons, who attend the School at Columbia. You can visit his website at ajjacobs.com.
Karen Cator
Date: Thu, 06/23/2011 9:00am
Karen Cator is the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. She has devoted her career to creating the best possible learning environments for this generation of students. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple's leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers, students and administrators.
Cator joined Apple in 1997 from the public education sector, most recently leading technology planning and implementation in Juneau, Alaska. She also served as Special Assistant for Telecommunications for the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. Cator holds a Masters in school administration from the University of Oregon and Bachelors in early childhood education from Springfield College. She is the past chair of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and has served on the several boards including the Software & Information Industry Association—Education.