Keynote Speakers
Monday, July 16
Sal Khan
Rethinking Education
Sal Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit with the mission of providing free, high-quality education to "anyone, anywhere" in the world. A former hedge fund analyst with degrees from MIT and Harvard, Khan was helping a young cousin with math in 2004, communicating by phone and using an interactive notepad. When others expressed interest, he began posting videos of his hand-scribbled tutorials on YouTube. Demand took off, and in 2009 he quit his day job.
The Khan Academy website now provides self-pacing software and unlimited access to over 3,000 instructional videos on its YouTube channel covering everything from basic arithmetic to college level science and economics. It's the most-used library of educational videos on the web, with 4.2 million unique students per month, over 118 million lessons delivered, and over 260 million exercises completed. A growing number of classrooms around the world are using Khan Academy to help build student mastery of topics and to free up class time for dynamic project based learning.
Tuesday, July 17
Rear Admiral Arnold Lotring USN (Ret)
Rear Admiral Arnold Lotring is a native of Norwich, Connecticut and graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in chemistry. He was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program.
Following nuclear power training, Rear Adm. Lotring completed sea assignments aboard USS George C. Marshall (SSBN 654) (Gold), USS Providence (SSN 719), USS Pittsburgh (SSN 720), USS Annapolis (SSN 760) and a command tour aboard USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (SSN 708) during which time the ship was awarded the Commander, Submarine Squadron SIX Battle Efficiency "E".
Staff and shore assignments have included duty as a tactical systems development project officer at Submarine Development Squadron TWELVE, policy briefer on the staff of Strategic Command, Omaha, Nebraska, Submarine Perspective Commanding Officer Instructor for Commander Submarine Force Atlantic, Commanding Officer, Naval Submarine School, duty as a member of the Chief Of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group XXI and Commanding Officer of the Submarine Learning Center responsible for all Submarine Force shore training. Following selection to Flag rank, Rear Adm. Lotring was assigned duty from November 2006 to August 2008 as Commander Naval Service Training Command where he was responsible for all enlisted and officer accession training programs for the Navy with the single exception of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Rear Adm. Lotring assumed duties as the Naval Education and Training Command Chief Operating Officer in August 2008 where he was responsible for the daily production and operation of the Navy's enlisted and officer advanced skills training. Rear Adm. Lotring completed 32 years of service in October 2010 and is currently employed at GE Healthcare where he serves as the General Manager, Global Services Training and Education.
Rear Adm. Lotring's personal awards include the Legion of Merit (four awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (five awards) and the Navy Achievement Medal (three awards).
Wednesday, July 18
Rafe Esquith
Teaching Like Your Hair's On Fire
A once-in-a-lifetime educator, Rafe Esquith may be the most inspiring school teacher in America. He's been called "a modern day Thoreau" by Newsday, "a genius and a saint" by The New York Times, and "the most interesting and influential classroom teacher in the country" by The Washington Post. For the past two decades, Esquith has taught fifth-graders at a public school in a Los Angeles neighborhood plagued by guns, gangs and violence. His exceptional classroom at Hobart Elementary – known simply as Room 56 – is unlike any other in the country.
Esquith's students are mostly immigrants or children of immigrants, living in poverty, and learning English as a second language. Yet, under his tutelage, they voluntarily come to class at 6:30 in the morning, and often stay until five in the afternoon. They learn math, reading and science. But they also play Vivaldi, perform Shakespeare, often score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend the best universities. For his near-heroic work, Esquith is the only teacher to be awarded the president's National Medal of the Arts. He has received the National Teacher of the Year Award, and won accolades from Oprah, the Queen and the Dalai Lama. He's also written three books: Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire, There Are No Shortcuts, and Lighting Their Fires. His fourth book, Real Talk for Real Teachers will be published in 2012. Esquith has also been featured, along with his students, in the PBS documentary The Hobart Shakespeareans.
