World Academy Forum on the Future of Global Higher Education – Speakers

Fabián Banga

Distance Education Coordinator, Berkeley City College

Fabián Banga is the Distance Education Coordinator & Professor at Berkeley City College. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Hispanic Languages & Literature from UC Berkeley. He is co-chair of the Technology Committee for the Peralta Community College District. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Language Association of Northern California.

Tony Bates

President, Tony Bates Associates Ltd.

Tony Bates is President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd, a private company specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education. He was Director of Distance Education at the University of British Columbia. He has been an academic advisor for various organizations across the world.

Robert J Berg*

Former Senior Adviser, World Education Forum

Robert J. Berg is on a UN expert group concerned with the economic and governance implications of climate change and also works with graduate students from a number of universities studying UN reform issues. He proposed and co-authored the UN’s first system-wide substantive initiative, the second being the Millennium Development Goals.

George W. Breslauer

Excecutive Vice Chancellor, UC Berkeley

George W. Breslauer is the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of the University of California at Berkeley. He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He is a specialist on Soviet politics and foreign relations, having authored or edited 12 books on the subject, most recently “Gorbachev and Yeltsin as Leaders.”

Dan Clancy

Director of Education, Google

Daniel J. Clancy is the director of research at Google. He was the Director of the Exploration Technologies Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center prior to coming to Google in 2005. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Texas at Austin.

Emil Costantinescu*

President, Academy of Cultural Diplomacy, former President of Romania and Rector University of Bucharest

Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania (1996-2000), leader of the Romanian Democratic Convention (1992-1996) and former Rector of the University of Bucharest, is currently President of the Romanian Academic Forum. A scientist, researcher, active politician and a committed civil servant, he has published extensively on mineralogy as well as on political, economic and educational issues.

Paul Corey

President Science, Business and Technology Division, Pearson

Paul F. Corey is the President of Pearson Education’s Science, Business & Technology Division, a post he has held since 2000. In his role as President, Paul is responsible for leading a team whose charge is to partner with educational leaders in advancing access, achievement and affordability in STEM and related fields in postsecondary education.

Jorge Klor de Alva

President, Nexus Research & Policy Center, former President, University of Phoenix

Jorge Klor de Alva is President, Nexus Research and Policy Center; former President of the University of Phoenix and Chair/CEO of Apollo International, Inc. Published over 100 scholarly articles, 24 textbooks/monographs in the social sciences. Consultant to Lumina, ETS, GRE, College Board, NYS Dept. of Ed., Smithsonian Institution. B.A. and J.D., UC-Berkeley; Ph.D., UC-Santa Cruz.

Heitor Gurgulino de Souza*

President Emeritus, United Nations University

Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, currently the President of the Brazilian Chapter of the Club of Rome, recently retired as Vice President of the Club. He was appointed to the Council of the United Nations University (UNU) in 1986 and was selected by the UN Secretary General as UNU’s Rector the following year.

Riane Eisler*

President, Center for Partnership Studies, Monterey

Riane Eisler is a systems scientist and an attorney working for human rights. She is President of the Center for Partnership Studies and consults for business and governments on applications of the partnership model introduced in her work. She keynotes major conferences and speaks at universities and corporations internationally.

Lloyd S. Etheredge*

Director, Government Learning and International Scientific Network Projects, Policy Sciences Center Inc., Maryland

Lloyd Etheredge’s interest is to develop rapid learning systems to accelerate the process of scientific innovation; and to develop social science research concerning wisdom and good outcomes as properties of the world’s complex, (sometimes) adaptive systems. He is a former Director of Graduate Studies for International Relations at Yale. He received a graduate teaching award at MIT.

Mark Fink

Vice Provost, UNLV

Mark Fink is Associate Vice Provost for Online Education in the Division of Educational Outreach at the University of Nevada. He is the campus liaison and a member of the Campus Leaders Advisory Board for the New Media Consortium, an international community of experts in educational technology.

Brian Fitzgerald

VP, Knewton

Brian Fitzgerald has been developing successful digital consumer and B2B products and services for 18 years, the past 4 of which have been with Knewton. Recently, he served as Vice President, Education for Audible.com. Brian was an original member of the Yahoo Mail team. He has built and managed more than 50 Yahoo products.

Armando Fox

Professor-in-Residence, EECS Department at UC Berkeley

Armando Fox is a Professor-in-Residence in the EECS Department at UC Berkeley and a co-founder of the UC Berkeley RAD Lab. As of Fall 2012, he has been named half-time Academic Director of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education, helping UC Berkeley to build an infrastructure that will support the campus’ many online education initiatives.

Robert Fuller*

Former President, Oberlin College

Robert Fuller is a former president of Oberlin College, and a leader of the dignity movement to overcome rankism. Fuller’s books have been published in India, Bangladesh, and China, featured in the New York Times, in TED talks, on NPR, C-Span, and the BBC. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Ken Goldberg

Professor, UC Berkeley

Ken Goldberg is craigslist Distinguished Professor of New Media at UC Berkeley. Goldberg directs the Automation Sciences Research lab and is Faculty Director of the CITRIS Data and Democracy Initiative. He is Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. His art installations are related to his research and have been exhibited at several venues.

John Halpin

VP Strategic Programs, Center for Digital Education

John Halpin serves as the Vice President of Strategic Programs for the Center for Digital Education, a Division of e.Republic. He is a frequent speaker at education events discussing how technology is changing the educational landscape. He also leads the education research, consulting and editorial direction for the Center.

Alan Heppenstall

Co-founder, Accredible

Alan Heppenstall, an internet entrepreneur and web consultant passionate about education, is the Co-Founder of Accredible, a startup that provides users with the option of creating their own certificates. He is also the Co-Founder of The Durham Entrepreneurs Society.

Garry Jacobs*

Chairman of the Board & CEO, World Academy of Art and Science

Garry Jacobs is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Academy of Art & Science and Vice President of The Mother’s Service Society, a social science research institute in Pondicherry, India. From 1989 to 1994, he was Member-Secretary of the International Commission on Peace & Food (ICPF) and editor of the Commission’s report to the UN.

Jeremy Johnson

Chief Strategy Officer, 2U.com

Jeremy Johnson co-founded 2U.com to help the best universities in the world become the best universities in the world online, as well. He’s been featured on “30 Under 30” lists for Forbes and Inc Magazine, and was named one of the “30 Most Influential Entrepreneurs” by Under30 CEO.

Neal King

President, International Association of University Presidents

Neal King serves as President and CEO of Sofia University. He was a member of IAUP’s delegation to the launch of the United Nations Academic Impact Initiative in NYC and to the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar. With extensive experience as a psychologist in private practice, he has served in a variety of faculty and administrative positions.

Danny King

Co-founder, Accredible

Danny King, an education technology entrepreneur based in California and the UK, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Accredible, a startup that provides users with the option of creating their own certificates. He is a Computer Scientist and programmer and sees technology as a natural way to innovate in education.

An Krumberger*

Co-founder and Director, Council One

An Krumberger is a co-founder and Director of Council One, an international organization dedicated to making a valuable and lasting contribution to the emerging new world. He is also the Chairman and Co-founder of World 2033, a global forum to take place in 2015 bringing together professionals, key decision makers and experts from major global fields.

Larry Lagerstrom

Director of Online Learning, School of Engineering, Stanford University

Larry Lagerstrom is an Academic Director and historian of science at Stanford University. His degrees include a Ph.D. in history and an M.A. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. Before coming to Stanford he taught for sixteen years at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis, covering subjects ranging from the history of science and technology to computer science and engineering. He has received three awards for excellence in teaching.

Gary Matkin

Dean, Continuing Education, Distance Learning, and Summer Session, UC Irvine

Gary Matkin is Dean, Continuing Education, Distance Learning, and Summer Session at the University of California, Irvine. He is responsible for all aspects of the academic programs and operations of University Extension, Summer Session and the UCI Distance Learning Center. He directs the University’s contribution to the Open Educational Resources movement.

Billy Meinke

Creative Commons

Billy is an instructional designer and open education advocate, and is currently a project assistant at Creative Commons. He works towards CC’s goals through projects that build Open Educational Resources (OER) on the web. He holds a BA in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.Ed in educational technology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

John Mitchell

Vice Provost, Stanford University

John Mitchell is Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor in the School of Engineering, Professor of Computer Science, and (by courtesy) Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Education. He has been at the forefront of Web and network security research and education for more than a decade, co-developing Stanford’s computer security course and teaching online computer security courses to professionals.

Winston Nagan*

Director, Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Development, University of Florida

Winston Nagan is Professor of Law, University of Florida, Levin College of Law and Founding Director, Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Development. He is also a Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science, a member of the Editorial Board of Cadmus Journal and Editor in Chief of Eruditio Journal.

Joanna Normoyle

Experimental & Digital Media Learning Coordinator

As an internship coordinator for the new undergraduate major in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, Joanna Normoyle develops programs and curricula that center on experiential learning through a learner-driven, competency-based framework. She works in the development of the SA&FS Internship Program and a new digital portfolio tool for students using badges technology.

Lynne O’Brien

Director, Academic Technology & Instructional Services, Duke University

Lynne O’Brien is Associate Vice Provost for Digital and Online Education Initiatives. She works with faculty and university leaders to plan experiments with new online teaching and learning strategies and encourages their appropriate integration into campus teaching. Currently, she is leading Duke’s activities in developing Massive Open Online Courses and exploring ways to incorporate online activities into campus courses.

Yuko Okubo

Social Research Scientist, Fujitsu

Yuko Okubo is a social research scientist of Open Education Solutions at Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Yuko Okubo is conducting research on curation learning to explore novel ways of learning in the digital age. Prior to joining FLA, she was a Social Science Research Council-Abe Fellow and Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore. She has taught college students in the U.S., Singapore, and Japan. She received her Ph. D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and M.A. in Education from Kyoto University, Japan. As a social research scientist of Open Education Solutions at Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Yuko Okubo is conducting research on curation learning to explore novel ways of learning in the digital age. Prior to joining FLA, she was a Social Science Research Council-Abe Fellow and Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore.

Aftab Omer*

President, Meridian University

Aftab Omer, Ph.D. is a sociologist, psychologist, futurist and the president of Meridian University. Raised in Pakistan, India, Hawaii, and Turkey, he was educated at the universities of M.I.T, Harvard and Brandeis. His publications have addressed the topics of transformative learning, cultural leadership, generative entrepreneurship and the power of imagination. He is a Fellow of the International Futures Forum and the World Academy of Art and Science.

Roberto Peccei*

Former Vice Chancellor of Research, UCLA, Trustee, Trustee of WAAS, Vice President, Club of Rome

Roberto Peccei, a particle physicist, is Professor of Physics and Astronomy and former Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA. He is a member of the Club of Rome and a Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science. He is broadly interested in the kind of economics that needs to be developed to ensure a sustainable world.

Mo Qayoumi

President of San Jose State University

Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi is the president and a professor of electrical engineering at San José State. Qayoumi served as president of California State University East Bay from 2006 to 2011. He has over 32 years of engineering and administrative experience in several universities. He has made presentations at numerous conferences across the United States and in 10 other countries.

Ivo Šlaus*

President, World Academy of Art and Science

Ivo Šlaus, a nuclear and particle physicist, is currently President of the World Academy of Art and Science and Dean of the Dag Hammarskjold University College for International Relations & Diplomacy, Zagreb. He is a member of the international advisory council of the Club of Rome; and a founding Fellow of Academia Europaea.

Philip Stark

Profesor and Chair, Department of Statistics, UC Berkeley

Philip B. Stark is professor and chair of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught Berkeley’s first official online course in 2006, developed the underlying technology and pedagogical materials from scratch and co-taught three edX MOOCs in 2013. He serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education.

Dale Stephens

President of uncollege.org

Dale Stephens is the founder and CEO of UnCollege.org. In May 2011, at age nineteen, Stephens was selected out of hundreds of individuals around the world as a Thiel Fellow, a program recognizing the top twenty entrepreneurs around the world under the age of twenty. Stephens speaks regularly at high-profile events around the world. In 2013, Forbes recognized him as a 30 Under 30 Leader.

Candace Thille

Stanford University, founding director of The Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University

Candace Thille is Assistant Professor of Education at the Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and Senior Research Fellow for the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning. She is also the founding director of the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. She serves as a redesign scholar for the National Center for Academic Transformation.

Ralph Wolff*

Former President, Western Association of Schools & Colleges

Ralph Wolff serves as Senior Advisor of The Western Association of Schools and Colleges. During his tenure as President from 1996-August 2013, WASC became recognized globally as a leading innovator in accreditation. He founded and for ten years directed the Institute for Creative Thinking, a forum for higher education leaders to explore change in higher education and establish learning organizations.

Alberto Zucconi*

President, IACP, Italy

Alberto Zucconi is president of the Person-Centred Approach Institute (IACP), and a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was a faculty member of the Western Behavioural Science Institute (WBSI) in La Jolla, and is a fellow of the International Leadership Forum (ILF), an online global think tank.