TEDxCCSU 2014

Dr. Yohuru Williams

Dr. Yohuru Williams received his Ph.D. from Howard University in 1998. He has held a variety of administrative posts both within and outside the university including serving as Vice President for Public Education and Research at the Jackie Robinson Foundation in New York City and until recently as the Chief Historian for the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Williams’ scholarly articles have appeared in the American Bar Association’s Insights on Law and Society, The Organization of American Historians Magazine of History, The Black Scholar, The Journal of Black Studies, Pennsylvania History, Delaware History, and the Black History Bulletin. Williams is also presently finishing a single-authored book entitled “In the Shadow of the Whipping Post: Lynching, Capital Punishment, and Jim Crow Justice in Delaware 1865-1965,” under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Dr. Carl R. Lovitt

Prior to coming to CCSU, Dr. Carl Lovitt served for six years as Chief Academic Officer at a four-year college at Penn State University. At Clemson University, he held for 10 years the position of founding director of the Pearce Center for Professional Communication, which was honored as the top-ranked communication program in the U.S. (Princeton Review, 2000). Dr. Lovitt also taught for 14 years in the Department of English at Clemson University. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington University, a master’s from the University of Paris, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Jonathan Pelto

Jonathan Pelto is a leading activist in the battle to push back the corporate education reform industry and take back control of the nation’s system of public education. His blog, Wait, What? has become the most read commentary site in Connecticut with over 1.5 million visitors and more than 20,000 comments since he began blogging in 2011. Pelto is also a write-in candidate for governor in this year’s Connecticut gubernatorial election

Stephanie Cummings

Stephanie Cummings is a graduate of Sacred Heart University and Quinnipiac University School of Law in 2012. She is the Chairwoman for the Waterbury Reads Gently Used Children’s’ Book Drive, which has collected 10,000 books since commencement in July.

Dr. Carol Ciotto

Prior to coming to CCSU Dr. Carol Ciotto spent 23 years as an elementary physical education teacher, an assistant principal, and an elementary school principal. Ciotto has served on the Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (CTAHPERD) Executive Council as a Vice President for Physical Education and Dance and as the President in 2012-13. She is currently serving as the Executive Director for the Eastern District of the Society of Health and Physical Educators of America. She recently co-authored PASS: A Guidebook to Creating Physically Active School Systems.

Barry Lane

Barry Lane has taught writing in schools in all 50 states and abroad. For the last four years Lane has been making a movie about education in America called, “What are Schools For?” The film examines the roots of educational reform and questions the mainstream assumptions about the purpose of schools. His latest book for teachers is Force Field for Good: Teaching Kindness through Song and Literature and includes 10 original songs to inspire communities of kindness. His recordings include, “More Than a Number: Songs for Sane Schools,” available on ITunes and Bandcamp.