Executive Program

The Art of Leadership and Learning: Sculpting Success

Desire2Learn is pleased to offer an Executive Program again this year. This year's event will take place on Monday July 13 bringing together decision makers from diverse institutions to focus on and share their perspectives in forging their vision for eLearning.

Participants will build valuable networks with colleagues from around the world to assist in information-gathering and decision-making as they lead their institution forward through unparalleled times. The value of the program extends well beyond the day. This year's Executive Program will focus on deepening the collective understanding of the external and internal pressures on institutions, exploring solutions to enhance the quality of online learning programs and increase their adoption. Institutions of all forms are under similar constraints and yet need to demonstrate leadership, conviction and vision to be successful in optimizing an online learning environment.

The Art of Leadership and Learning: Sculpting Success will be facilitated by Professor Sue McKnight, Director of Libraries and Knowledge Resources at Nottingham Trent University.

• View the Executive Program Invitation

The program will feature such noteworthy speakers as:

Julie Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Project Tomorrow

Julie Evans is the CEO of Project Tomorrow (www.tomorrow.org), a national education nonprofit organization (formerly known as NetDay). Project Tomorrow is dedicated to empowering K-12 students to have a larger voice in improving education and learning. Ms. Evans has been CEO of this organization since 1999. Prior to this position, Ms. Evans enjoyed a very successful 17-year career in national and regional sales and marketing management with Unisys and two education technology startups. Ms. Evans is a graduate of Brown University and serves on the Board of Directors of Project Tomorrow, the KOCE-TV Education Advisory Council, the Childrens' First Advisory Council and the Association of Women in Technology Council. She is a Frances Hesselbein Community Innovation Fellow and a frequent speaker, writer and commentator on children, education, science and technology issues. In April 2008, Ms. Evans was named as one of the Top Ten Most Influential People in Education Technology over the past 10 years by eSchool News, a leading national education publication.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, President, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, has served as President of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County) since May, 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He currently chairs the National Academies' Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Science & Engineering Workforce Pipeline.

He serves as a consultant to the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies, and universities and school systems nationally. He also serves on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, France-Merrick Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation (Chair), and The Urban Institute. He also sits on the boards of Constellation Energy Group, McCormick & Company, and the Baltimore Equitable Society. He also served on the board of the Maryland Humanities Council as both a member and Chair.

Examples of recent honors include being named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report in 2008; election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society; receiving the prestigious McGraw Prize in Education, the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, and the Columbia University Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service; being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Marylander of the Year by the editors of the Baltimore Sun; and being listed among Fast Company magazine's first Fast 50 Champions of Innovation in business and technology. He also holds honorary degrees from more than a dozen institutions, including Princeton University, Duke University, and Haverford College.

He has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books, Beating the Odds and Overcoming the Odds (Oxford University Press), focusing on parenting and high-achieving African American males and females in science. Both books are used by universities, school systems, and community groups around the country.

A child-leader in the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Hrabowski 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.

Born in 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Hrabowski graduated at 19 from Hampton Institute with highest honors in mathematics. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he received his M.A. (mathematics) and four years later his Ph.D. (higher education administration/statistics) at age 24.

Dr. Peter Stokes, Chief Research Officer, Eduventures

Peter leads Eduventures' team of researchers and consultants, who work with hundreds of colleges and universities across the country as they seek to recruit students, develop faculty, manage costs, and produce quality graduates. In the ten years that that Peter has been with Eduventures, his work has focused on helping colleges and universities to serve adult learners, grow online enrollments, educate future teachers, and demonstrate meaningful outcomes. In 2005, Peter was recognized as one of "Higher Education's New Generation of Thinkers" by the Chronicle of Higher Education. More recently, he provided testimony to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' Commission on the Future of Higher Education, and later served as an advisor to the Commission in the development of its final report, "A Test of Leadership." Peter was a member of the CHEA Tenth Anniversary Commission, which sought to support the strengthening of higher education accreditation. He also worked on Governor Deval Patrick's Commonwealth Readiness Commission to support the development of ten-year strategy for education in Massachusetts. Prior to joining Eduventures, Peter was manager of the industry research group at Daratech, Inc., an information technology market research firm. Peter has also held teaching positions at Tufts University and the Massachusetts College of Art. Peter has a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from Cardean University, and a B.A. and a Ph.D. in Literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Executive Program Schedule

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