Creativity and innovation expert Sir Ken Robinson will also deliver a plenary address
CNN anchorwoman Soledad O’Brien will keynote at the 2010 NJEA Convention. She is scheduled to speak on Friday, Nov. 5 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A question and answer period will follow her address.
O'Brienis an anchor and correspondent for “CNN: Special Investigations Unit,” reporting hour-long documentaries and filing in-depth series on the most important ongoing and breaking news stories for all major CNN programs. Most recently, O’Brien has reported for the critically acclaimed “CNN Presents: Black in America,” a sweeping on-air and digital initiative breaking new ground in revealing the current state of Black America 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
O’Brien joined CNN in July 2003 as the co-anchor of “American Morning.” She came to CNN from NBC News where she had worked since 1991. During her tenure at NBC she had anchored the network’s “Weekend Today” as well as MSNBC’s award-winning technology program “The Site” and the cable network’s weekend morning show. She also served as a field producer for “Nightly News” and “Today.” Before her time at NBC, she worked as a television journalist in San Francisco and Boston.
In 2007, O'Brien garnered a Gracie Allen Award for her reporting from Cyprus on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict as well as her reports from the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. This year, the NAACP honored her with its President's Award in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and journalistic excellence. This month she will receive the first annual “Soledad O’Brien Freedom’s Voice Award” created in her honor by Community Voices at the Morehouse School of Medicine. The award, honoring mid-career professionals who serve as catalysts for social change within their fields, will be bestowed upon her for her commitment to cover stories that others fail to pursue, and her willingnessto be a voice for those who are unable to speak for themselves.
O'Brien has been named Essence magazine’s “40 under 40” and Black Enterprise “40 Under 40.” She has also been identified several times on Irish American magazine's “Top 100 Irish Americans.”
O’Brien is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English and American literature. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Robinson to keynote on Thursday
Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. Author of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Robinson speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.
He will address convention-goers on Thursday, Nov. 5 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Robinson works with governments in Europe, Asia and the U.S., with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the United Kingdom. Robinson was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, and he was one of four international advisors to the Singapore government for its strategy to become the creative hub of South East Asia.
For 12 years, Robinson was professor of education at the University of Warwick in the U.K. and is now professor emeritus. He has received honorary degrees from Open
University (a distance learning university), the Central School of Speech and Drama, Birmingham City University, and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Robinson has been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the U.S., and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the U.K. and the U.S. In 2005, he was named as one of Time Warner Cable Inc.’s “Principal Voices.”
In 2003, Robinson received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts.
See next month’s NJEA Review for more of what’s in store for the NJEA Convention this fall. The May Review will also carry information on booking an Atlantic City hotel at special rates negotiated for NJEA Convention attendees.