ROSSIER GLOBAL EXECUTIVE ED D - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Associate
• Director
• Associate Dean of the School

Dr. McNeill has been living in Hong Kong since 1988, where he was surprised at the low levels of English language proficiency despite it being a British colony for 150 years. Dr. McNeill long suspected that it was due to a lack of focus on vocabulary development. He found that by the end of 12 years of compulsory education that students only knew 2,000-3,000 English words, which is a poor outcome. He was determined to develop curriculum that would address these problems to increase the English proficiency of all Hong Kong people. Dr. McNeill is the Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science at HKUST. He holds a PhD in applied linguistics from the University of Wales, UK. His academic interests include second language vocabulary, teacher language awareness and curriculum development. He served as P.I. to develop an English vocabulary curriculum for the twelve years of compulsory education in Hong Kong. At HKUST, he shaped the University's language curriculum, which is now being used as a model in H.K. and Mainland China.

Job Titles:

• Reverend

When Rev. Edwards became a chaplain at St. Margaret's, he wanted to address the problem of how the negative influences of Orange County were impacting the spiritual lives of its students and adults. In an affluent area where success is heavily weighed on the external, Rev. Edwards was motivated to lead the way toward finding life and happiness through a balanced internal life instead.

Job Titles:

• Independent Consultant, Modern Mentorship

Dr. Gerard's current project of collaboration with university students allows him time to give back to those that need real life experiences in innovation. In turn, it provides him with critical minds to look over his more recent projects with alternative energy. He has found that many engineering students fail to solve problems because they have the expectation that things have to work perfectly. Additionally, he has found that some of the best learning happens after most students put their projects away - the thinking that it takes to change an invention, make it bigger or better, takes more curiosity than most are willing to invest. As an innovator, this is where his work begins. He believes innovators need to be "obsessively curious." He believes his small mentorship program can teach students to persevere. Henry Gerard is an innovator in all aspects of his life. His mentorship program provides engineering students at various universities an avenue to discuss engineering questions, create connections through and help generate never seen inventions. He visits various universities to provide mentorship to engineering students and to present projects that challenge the regular curriculum. Additionally, he is currently working on his own alternative energy systems. Henry Gerard describes his upbringing as unusual. He is part of the first generation in his family to have graduated college. His father was constantly skeptical of all working things and popular opinions. To Dr. Gerard's benefit, as a young man he developed a great ability to question. His questions constantly raised new ideas that he found valuable to explore further. At times, this questioning made him feel isolated but his ability to persevere and his passion to solve problems was stronger. Henry Gerard is excessively curious. He would agree that curiosity is his greatest attribute and that it enables him to outperform most innovators. One of the biggest lessons he tries to teach young students is that when others stop, that is where he'd like their thinking to begin. To challenge opinion and solutions is where real learning begins and this is his hope for all the future innovators. Interestingly, he admits that experiencing failure is a problem for him, and that he does not experience it as beneficial. He strives to make sure all his mathematical equations are exact because he often presents his data to organizations for funding. Since failure deeply affects his self-esteem, he encourages young people to experiment early on and get used to failure. He challenges their thinking in order to produce inevitable mistakes so that they can learn to be persistent. These combined lessons are important for the field of engineering. Dr. Gerard hopes to continue to mentor young engineers and to pursue his own alternative energy solutions. Bio Dr. Gerard grew up in New York and attended Poly Technical University, New York as an undergraduate and received his graduate degree at Stanford University through a highly selective Ford Foundation Fellowship program. He worked for 37 years for Hughes Aircraft solving problems in applied physics. His innovative ideas have contributed to cell phone technology, university mentorship programs, and alternative energy systems. Today, he works on new ventures in alternative energy while connecting university students with real life engineering experiences.

Job Titles:

• Associate Vice President of Admission and Planning, USC
• Vice President of Admission and Planning at the University

Dr. Harrington claims to "always strive for perfection," even though she acknowledges, "perfection is unobtainable"-thus, her quest is never ending. Harrington wants to make programs and processes run more efficiently. She admits to liking a good challenge, and never resting on past success. She has dealt with myriad problems as the Vice President of Admission and Planning: the volatile economy, student deaths and working within a traditional business model in the academy that is currently under attack. One of the most challenging times was during the height of the recession in 2008, as she was starting her second term as of Dean of Admission. There was no guarantee that the division would meet enrollment projections. Harrington had to manage the anxiety of those "above and below" her while managing the review of 50,000 applications submitted during that year's admission cycle. Dr. L. Katharine Harrington is the Vice President of Admission and Planning at the University of Southern California. Harrington, a Louisiana native, leads all enrollment management functions including admission, financial aid, registrar, institutional research, and budget planning. Harrington holds academic appointments in both the Marshall school of business and the Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences. During her tenure, Harrington has doubled the size of the USC recruitment team and produced sharp spikes in the number of applicants to USC. Harrington is a steel magnolia - a leader and innovator within the academy.

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder
• Teacher
• Co - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Synergy Academies

Dr. Meg Palisoc is teacher, Co-founder, and Chief Executive Officer at Synergy Academies in Los Angeles, CA. As an administrator at the University of Southern California, Meg noticed that college students who came from inner-city public K-12 schools were often not as academically prepared as their peers. For this reason, Meg transitioned from higher education and became an elementary school teacher. As a teacher, she saw that inner-city schools were not improving quickly enough. Therefore, Meg co-founded Synergy Charter Academy and Synergy Kinetic Academy to more rapidly create educational equity for all students.

Job Titles:

• Senior Vice President of Academic Strategies and Development for Kaplan Higher Education
• Senior Vice President of Academic Strategies and Development, Kaplan Higher Education ( KHE )

Smith believes that for "every piece of learning you do in school in an organized fashion, you probably do seven outside." He believes higher education has done a terrible job of taking that learning and giving it value. He believes that we need to understand who learners are and where they are developmentally in order to meet their needs. His philosophy is that learners should be at the center of education, and the systems, policies, practices, assessments and instruction should be built around them. He rejects viewing assessment or testing as a judgment but instead embraces it as a "reflective, developmental device." Dr. Peter Smith is the Senior Vice President of Academic Strategies and Development for Kaplan Higher Education (KHE). Smith, who holds a Doctor of Education from Harvard University, has been the primary driver of several major innovations at KHE, including the launches of a KNEXT, an online prior learning assessment tool, and his latest project, Qualified, a work experience and educational e-portfolio tool. Prior to joining Kaplan Higher Education, Dr. Smith was the Assistant Director of UNESCO and the founding president of both the first community college in Vermont and California State University at Monterey Bay.

Job Titles:

• PROJECT DIRECTOR, Aloha Aina

Herb Lee Jr.'s program has trained over 3,000 teachers and benefited 60,000 plus students on all of the major Hawaiian Islands. Herb, who has led more than a decade of effort to restore Waikalua Loko fishpond in Kaneohe, said, "getting the community to take stewardship of historical sites is critical to saving history." At one time, hundreds of fishponds lined the Windward shores. Today a handful remains, and only because of efforts from people who value them. "Kaneohe is rich in these resources, so it's an opportunity to reclaim them in our generation so that we can learn from them, restore them and pass them on to the next generation," Lee said, calling the projects a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "It's not only for Kaneohe but the whole Windward side, the whole island." Herb Lee's philosophy of life is stated as follows: "When we cease to understand our connection to land, when we no longer accept responsibility for our actions to the land and sea, when we abdicate being accountable for our own learning, when we no longer strive to become stewards, when we fail to appreciate history and the importance of culture, we destroy the light of hope within ourselves and the journey of generations toward global sustainability." By serving on numerous boards and commissions, his networking skills are effective and productive. He meets with anyone who shares the love of the land and concern for education for children. He understands the political arena and has experience in the Federal, State and County governments working for our former city council person and congresswomen. He has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants and this year the State of Hawaii awarded "Aloha Aina" project $1,000,000 in grant-in-aid. The staff of the project has the same philosophy as Mr. Lee and work together to create a better Hawaii. They all network with different people and organizations by serving on the board level or volunteering their time. Mr. Lee is willing to take risks. Presently, he is working with the City and County of Honolulu and the Federal government to use a decommissioned sewer overflow holding tank located next to the fishpond for an aquaculture program. The students will use this facility to study food production and it is expected to produce several tons of fresh seafood every month. This will add another income stream to support and expand their program. Bio Herb Lee is a Native Hawaiian that has has provided leadership in areas such as parent involvement, career planning and development, STEM education and culture-based curriculum projects, including the award winning "Aloha Aina" project. The Aloha Aina project uses the Waikalua Loko Fishpond in Kaneohe, Oahu, to educate students to protect, preserve, restore and steward an ancient cultural resource. Herb Lee Jr. is guided by principles he has learned from an early age from his parents and teachers - principles that guide his work to transform education for children.

Job Titles:

• Specialist in the Instructional Technology Unit of the USC Rossier School of Education

Job Titles:

• Founder & Ceo, Education Technology for Development ( Et4d )

Ms. Duston speaks French, English, Spanish, Italian, and German fluently and understands Dutch and Portuguese. Having traveled and learned seven languages, Ms. Duston is familiar with the challenges of learning foreign languages, especially in developing countries where educational resources are limited. Ms. Duston observed, "In the U.S. there are many resources and tools available to learn in your own language. In the rest of the planet there are practically none." Her dream has always been to provide educational opportunities for learning the mother tongue language, particularly for the world's poorest people. Ms. Duston exhibits many skills of a successful entrepreneur - willingness to take risks and fail, ability to connect ideas and make associations for developing new products, and capacity for networking and marketing her product. In terms of risk-taking, Ms. Duston invested her own money, which eventually paid off selling over 500,000 apps. In ventures that were not as successful, she viewed the failure as a learning opportunity stating, "entrepreneurs fail 9 times out of 10." She believes that new ideas come from making connections and applying something you learn in one context to a different environment. For instance, Ms. Duston came up with the idea of creating a template for Smart4kids and adapting it to different languages and curricula through her past experience working with a major software program. Other skills she exhibits and believes are essential for successful entrepreneurs are the capacity to deal with uncertainty, a good anticipation of the future, and the capacity to network. She attends events regularly to present her product and ideas to potential partners. She is also able to identify resource people who can help transform her ideas into application in the field. Ms. Duston believes entrepreneurship is a mindset that anybody can acquire, even if it comes easier for some than others. According to Ms. Duston, "to become an entrepreneur, one needs to take risks and accept challenges." Environments in which entrepreneurs thrive are ones that accept failure, are flexible, foster creativity and encourage testing of new ideas.

Job Titles:

• Executive Director, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha

A native of a flood-prone community Mr. Mohammed Rezwan saw firsthand the hardship of riverside communities who had no access to information and the opportunities it affords. With roads impassable during the monsoon, students could not make the trek to school. Thus, it was common to see school dropouts in that region. Rezwan's family owned a small boat that ensured his travel to school during the monsoon season. But he saw many of his friends and relatives unable to go to school. It was difficult for Mohammed Rezwan to accept the situation so he thought that if the children cannot come to the school for lack of proper transportation, then the school should come to them, by boat. Mohammed Rezwan was driven by principles. He told me in our interview "I was driven by the belief in own work, sharing the ideas, listening to people, innovation, and developing capacity of local people." He developed processes that attracted both employees and volunteers. He surveyed all stakeholders twice a year and sought feed back and made necessary changes. He had a philosophy translated to a mission statement where he wanted "to transform the region's waterways into pathways for education, information and technology - also to deal with climate change induced flooding, to protect the environment and people's rights, and also to lift people out of poverty." As a true innovator Mohammed Rezwan never stopped persisting in seeking funding for his project. He contacted organizations around the world and began receiving small grants by 2003. In 2005 he received a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $20,000 prize from the World Innovation Summit for Education, or WISE, created by the Qatar Foundation in 2012. Due to all of the above Mohammed Rezwan was successful in creating an organization that has built over a hundred floating schools benefiting thousands of families and children and sustained itself for more than 10 years. Bio Mohammed Rezwan is from northwestern Bangladesh. In 1998 he graduated with an architecture degree from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka. In the same year He founded Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha with about $500 from his scholarship money and became its Executive Director. Shidhulai is the name of a village in the Natore district of Bangladesh, and the term Swanirvar Sangstha means self-reliant organization.

Job Titles:

• Director of Int'L Programs, University of Hawaii at Kapiolani Community College
• Director of International Programs for the University of Hawaii

Park's language skills and cultural understanding are exceptional. He uses his language and cultural skills to help conduct business both in the U.S. and in Asian countries. Park understands his mission at the college and at the same time he sought to discover the needs in the Asian market. He was able to provide what the Asian clients wanted, whether it is a pathway, program or an experience. Park's way of approaching clients with customized programs has made him successful. Mr. Tim Park is Director of International programs for the University of Hawaii at Kapiolani Community College. His role involves international student recruitment and developing new relationships and programs with international partners around the world. He comes from an interesting international background, having been born in Korea and raised in Canada then returning to Korea & Japan for his university education. He has worked in Korea and Seattle prior to his current job at the University of Hawaiii.

Job Titles:

• Leader
• Founder of the Global Social Innovators Forum
• President & Founder, Global SOCIAL INNOVATors Forum

When Penny saw the critical needs of individuals and communities in various spheres of society, she thought to herself, "How can I as a single person break new ground to help meet these needs in the most impactful way? How can I best tackle multiple social needs concurrently?" The urgent need to implement customized solutions drove her to create the Global Social Innovators forum (GSIF) to produce more and better social innovators and help them enhance their contributions to society. Case in point, Benny Se Teo who started Eighteen Chefs to help ex-convicts said that "GSIF has brought me to the next level through interacting with likeminded change-makers from all over the world." The desire to turn the GSIF dream into a reality, with more of such stories fires her imagination and stirs her soul. Penny is a leader who walks the talk. Interviewing and observing her has changed my mindset and performance. Prior to interviewing her, I observed her talking to a group of strangers with words such as 'Imagine the future,' and 'Transforming communities from hate to love.' When the informal meeting ended, I had a sense of how people are 'converted' to support the GSIF cause. Penny is an innovative leader and an innovator's innovator. When she creates a new idea, she will talk to different people, a process she terms as 'socialising the idea.' Through the process, she will improve on the idea until such a point when it becomes accepted and there is a tipping point of buy-ins. Ms Penny Low is the founder of the Global Social Innovators Forum, a non-profit organisation promoting thought leadership and social entrepreneurship in Singapore and beyond. In 2001, Penny became the youngest elected female Member of Parliament. She is a Labour Union Advisor and a founder of the Social Enterprise Association (SEA). Her recent book, Practising Sustainability, won the Silver Nautilus Book Award. Penny is also a founding member of the New Asian Leaders, a founding Young Global Leader (World Economic Forum), a Yale World Fellow and Scholar and an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar. She has been listed in Singapore Tatler's Top 300 for many years.

Job Titles:

• Director, Writer
• Founder & Creative Director, Wonder Mill Media

Noel grew up in a culture where creativity was largely ignored. She had been an outstanding student in school but was not encouraged to pursue her favorite subject, which was art. She later decided to pursue her true interest and study film at the University of Southern California. Noel realized that everyone has a unique way of expressing themselves, but no one teaches them how to do so. She decided to teach people the artistic skills needed to express their own ideas. Noel found her life to be much more meaningful when she helps people discover their own creativity. Noel Yang founded Wonder Mill Media in 2010, a pioneer company with the goal of developing people's creativity. Noel collaborates with many corporations and organizations throughout Taiwan to hold creativity workshops. She uses a non-traditional, improvisational approach to teach people artistic skills such as painting, acting, writing and crafting. For example, in her drama class, Noel chooses the theme but asks her students to write the storylines, make the costumes, and decide how to act it out on their own. Noel takes the following steps to guide her students: Noel Yang is a movie director, writer, speaker and pastor. She is also the founder of Wonder Mill Media, a Taiwan-based company focusing on creativity. Noel earned a B.A. in English Literature from National Taiwan University and a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Cinema-TV Production from University of Southern California. While in Los Angeles, Noel created dramatic shorts, TV commercials and children's television shows. Since returning to Taiwan in 2009, she has led over 80 workshops to develop creativity in people through art, drama and play, helping them find creative solutions to personal problems.

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor of Clinical Education and Co - Chair
• Global Executive

Rob Filback is associate professor of clinical education and co-chair of the Global Executive Ed.D. He oversees the design and development of courses in the Global Ed.D. and previously led the design team for Rossier's new MA TESOL program, which was designed in partnership with 2U and features a fully online track. His current interests surround innovations in online teaching and learning, especially the role of synchronous interactions, and the ways that new forms of teaching or learning can help reach and empower students who are less served by existing models.