Keynote Speakers

Hrabowski   ·   Darling-Hammond   ·   Tatum   ·   Covey   ·   Connors   ·   Webb-Johnson

Freeman Hrabowski III has served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County since 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with emphasis on minority participation and performance. Hrabowski serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and universities and school systems nationally. He also sits on several corporate and civic boards.

Hrabowski has co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds, focusing on parenting and high-achieving African-American males and females in science. A child-leader in the Civil Rights Movement, he was prominently featured in Spike Lee's 1997 documentary, Four Little Girls, on the racially motivated bombing in 1963 of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

His recent awards include election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, the prestigious McGraw Prize in Education, and the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, focusing on higher education administration and statistics. He holds a number of honorary degrees from Haverford College, Princeton University, Duke University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Gallaudet University, Goucher College, the Medical University of South Carolina, and Binghamton University.

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TEACHING AS THE LEARNING PROFESSION: TODAY'S CHALLENGE, TOMORROW'S AGENDA

Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, where she launched the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network. She is currently serving as education policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. Darling-Hammond was also William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

As the founding executive director of the National Commission for Teaching and America's Future, Darling-Hammond catalyzed major policy changes across the U.S. to improve the quality of teacher education and teaching. She began her career as a public school teacher and co-founded a preschool, daycare center, and a charter public high school. She has also served as senior social scientist and director of the RAND Corporation's Education and Human Resources Program and as director of the National Urban Coalition's Excellence in Education Program.

Her research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of teaching quality, school reform, and educational equity. Among her more than 200 publications is The Right to Learn, which was the recipient of the American Educational Research Association's Outstanding Book Award for 1998, and Teaching as the Learning Profession, co-edited with Gary Sykes, which was the recipient of the National Staff Development Council's Outstanding Book Award for 2000.

Darling-Hammond received her B.A. from Yale University, and her Ed.D. in Urban Education from Temple University.

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FROM RESISTANCE TO RESILIENCE: USING A MORE 'ANATOMICALLY' COMPLETE MODEL OF LITERACY INSTRUCTION

Alfred Tatum is a renowned literacy expert working in the Department of Literacy at Northern Illinois University. He also serves on the National Advisory Reading Committee of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. He provides professional development support to schools across the nation interested in addressing the literacy needs of students characterized as vulnerable, particularly African-American adolescent males.

Before joining the faculty of Northern Illinois University, Tatum was a senior program associate in the Center for Literacy of the North Central Region Education Lab. He also served as assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland, director in the Reading Clinic at Buffalo State College in New York, and as a research intern for the Rainbow PUSH coalition in Chicago. Tatum's career began as an eighth-grade teacher on the south side of Chicago.

A published author, Tatum’s work has appeared in the three major journals of the International Reading Association. Among his works are Breaking Down Barriers that Disenfranchise African-American Adolescents in Low-Level Reading Tracks and A Road Map for Reading Specialists Entering Schools Without Exemplary Reading Programs. His latest book, Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap, was published in 2005.

Tatum received his B.S. from Northern Illinois University, and his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

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INSIGHTS INTO LEADERSHIP

Stephen Covey is a leadership authority, family expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and author. He dedicates his life to teaching principle-centered living and leadership to individuals, families, and organizations.

He is cofounder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, the leading global professional services firm, with offices in 123 countries. His organizational legacy to the world is the Covey Leadership Center. A merger, in 1997, of Covey Leadership Center with Franklin Quest created FranklinCovey. FranklinCovey shares Covey's vision, discipline, and passion to inspire, lift, and provide tools for change and growth of individuals and organizations throughout the world.

A recipient of awards ranging from International Man of Peace to the National Fatherhood Award, Stephen Covey is continuously engaged in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding through reading and interaction with the diverse, inspirational people he encounters. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including the international bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the recently released The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness.

Covey has an MBA from Harvard in Business Administration and doctorate from Brigham Young University (Ed.D) in Organizational Behavior.

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IF YOU DON'T FEED THE TEACHERS THEY EAT THE STUDENTS

Neila Connors is the founder and president of N.A.C. CONNECTIONS INC., a corporation dedicated to the implementation of positive attitudes and actions in people. Working with students in grades K-12, Connors has been an elementary and middle school teacher, high school advanced placement coordinator, International Baccalaureate coordinator, and administrator.

At the Florida Department of Education she was responsible for coordinating the development of state curriculum frameworks for high school teachers and administrators. She was also a tenured professor in the Department of Secondary Education at Valdosta State University in Georgia.

Connors’ research has been in the areas of teacher advisory programs, successful counselors, attitudes of students from rural areas, positive teachers and their characteristics, and homework. Among her most notable publications are S.O.S. (Success-Oriented Strategies) or Teachers of At-Risk Early Adolescents: P.S. - All Early Adolescents Are At Risk! and Homework: A New Direction. Her most recent publication is If You Don't Feed the Teachers, They Eat the Students. She has written numerous articles and has presented to public and private school educators and corporations in all 50 states, Canada, and Europe.

Connors received her B.A. from St. Leo College in Florida and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Florida State University.

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SERVANT LEADERSHIP: EMPOWERING 21ST CENTURY LEARNERS THROUGH CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PEDAGOGY

Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson is an assistant professor of educational administration and human resource development at Texas A&M University. She teaches classes in instructional leadership, epistemologies, special populations, analysis of teaching behavior, curriculum development, and multicultural education. She spent seven years at the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Special Education. Webb-Johnson has served as an educator for 32 years and has been teaching teachers for the past 17 years.

Webb-Johnson's research interests include culturally responsive leadership, pedagogy, and teacher development; the disproportionate representation of African-American learners in special education; the empowerment of families in the school context; and culturally responsive and effective classroom management designed to improve educational outcomes. She conducts workshops for school boards, administrators and other school-based staff, diagnosticians, and community organizations.

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