GLOBAL POSITIONING
Essential Learning, Student Success, and the Currency of U.S. Degrees

PLENARY SPEAKERS

Opening Plenary
Thursday, January 27, 8:45-10:15 a.m.

It Ain't What You Do, It's How You Do It: Global Education for Gender Justice

Kavita Ramdas
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Fund for Women from 1996 through September 2010, Kavita Ramdas is an innovative thinker and respected activist for social justice. During Ramdas’ tenure, Global Fund assets increased from $6 million to $21 million; grant-making rose to more than $8 million per year, and the number of countries in which the Global Fund made grants nearly tripled.

Kavita Ramdas is currently a Visiting Fellow and Scholar at the Center on Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law at The Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. She is a member of the Global Development Advisory Panel of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute; and serves on the boards of trustees for Princeton University and Mount Holyoke College.

Closing Plenary
Saturday, January 29, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

The Immigrant Threat: Higher Education, Citizenship, and a Better Future for All

Leo Chavez
Leo Chavez is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Professor Chavez's research examines various issues related to transnational migration, including immigrant families and households, labor market participation, motivations for migration, the use of medical services, and media constructions of "immigrant" and "nation." His most recent book is The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation (Stanford University Press 2008), which examines issues of anti-Latino discourse, struggles over the meaning of citizenship, and role of media spectacles in society in relation to the politics of reproduction, organ transplants, the Minuteman Project, and immigrant marches and protests.

In 2009, the American Anthropological Association awarded Professor Chavez the Prize for Distinguished Achievement in the Critical Study of North America. Other books by Professor Chavez include Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society (1992) and Covering Immigration: Popular Images and the Politics of the Nation (2001).

ACAD Keynote Luncheon
Friday, January 28, 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

New Sources of Global Power in the Era of Climate Change and Environmental Crises

Mark Schapiro
Mark Schapiro will address how the specter of climate change—and the world’s response to it—is leading to fundamental shifts in global power and influence. Countries from the richest to the poorest have engaged at an unprecedented level on a global scale. In the process, new sources of leverage are emerging as non-fossil-fuel based energy accumulates greater value, developing countries with the resources to “offset” developed-country emissions take on added importance, and the UN’s role as arbitrator and overseer of the global approach takes on increasing prominence. In the broader picture, the shifting lines of power portend changes that will likely extend far beyond environmental concerns—into the realm of trade alliances, security, and the interplay between science and public policy. These developments present an unprecedented set of opportunities and challenges for generations of students to come.

Mark Schapiro is the Senior Correspondent at the Center for Investigative Reporting. His award-winning work on international and environmental affairs has appeared in Harper’s, The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly; on the PBS newsmagazine “Frontline/WORLD”; and on public radio’s “Marketplace.” His most recent book is Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power (Chelsea Green, 2007).

Networking Breakfast for Women Faculty and Administrators
Thursday, January 27, 7:00-8:30 a.m.

‘I aim at being useful': How Useful Have We Been? What More Must We Do?
In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, a landmark in the struggle for women's educational equity. "I aim at being useful," she wrote. In 1971, the Program on the Status and Education of Women began, carrying on the spirit and usefulness of Wollstonecraft. In 2011, let us celebrate how much has been done for women's educational equity and let us aspire to do even more. What is the map of the last forty years? What should be the map for the next forty?

Catharine R. Stimpson is University Professor and former Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University.  She previously served as Director of the Fellows Program at the MacArthur Foundation and, before that, was Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education  at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.  Catharine Stimpson was the founding editor of Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.  Her public service has included the chairs of the New York State Council for the Humanities, the National Council for Research on Women, and the Ms. Magazine Board of Scholars.

Networking Luncheon for Faculty and Administrators of Color
Thursday, January 27, 12:00-1:30 p.m.

Race, Gender, and the College Presidency

Heather Knight
Heather J. Knight is President of Pacific Union College in Napa Valley, California. She is the first female president at Pacific Union and is the first African-American woman to lead an Adventist college in the United States. Dr. Knight previously served as Provost of Andrews University and as Associate Provost and Professor of English at University of the Pacific.