The Present & Future of Educational Opportunity: A Conversation with the 2023 Bicentennial Medalists
Fri, September 8th, 2023
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm
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The Present and Future of Educational Opportunity: A Conversation with 2023 Williams Bicentennial Medalists
Friday, September 8, 2023, 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm
‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance Main Stage
‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance Main Stage
This special alumni panel will feature the 2023 Society of Alumni Bicentennial Medalists being recognized for their distinguished careers promoting educational opportunity. We anticipate a wide-ranging conversation moderated by President Maud S. Mandel about the roles of schools and governments in addressing educational inequities, how to stimulate learning across differences in both college and K-12 classrooms, and the implications of the landmark recent U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision to end race-conscious admissions for the country and its educational institutions.
2023 Bicentennial Medalists
Phil Geier ’70
Geier is a leader in international education and founder of both the Davis United World College Scholars program—the world’s largest privately funded scholarship program for undergraduates—and the Projects for Peace initiative.
Anita Earls ’81
A civil rights attorney focused on voting rights, school desegregation and employment and housing discrimination, Earls is currently a justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court and founder and former executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.
Rebecca Haile ’86
Haile is the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Ethiopia Education Initiatives and its flagship project Haile-Manas Academy, a secondary boarding school for 400 students of promise recruited from across Ethiopia.
Haile is the co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Ethiopia Education Initiatives and its flagship project Haile-Manas Academy, a secondary boarding school for 400 students of promise recruited from across Ethiopia.
Robert Kim ’92
An expert in legal and policy issues in public education, Kim is currently serving as executive director of the Education Law Center, advocating for greater resources, equity and diversity in public schools. He previously served in the U.S. Department of Education and the National Education Association.
Robbi Behr ’97 and Matthew Swanson ’97
Behr and Swanson, an accomplished children’s book illustrator and writer, respectively, are also speakers and activists in the children’s literacy space. Most recently they spent the 2022-23 school year living and traveling in a school bus, visiting Title I schools in all 50 states and giving away 25,000 free books to students and teachers from low-income communities