Carlos Alberto Torres 65.jpgCarlos Alberto Torres, Associate Dean for Global Programs and Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education, and former Director of the UCLA-Latin American Center, is a political sociologist of education. He is also the Founding Director of the Paulo Freire Institute in São Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and UCLA. Dr. Torres has also been a Visiting Professor in universities in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Currently, Dr. Torres in the President of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES).

His empirical research focuses on the impact of globalization in Latin America, especially on higher education in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. He is also considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Latin American Studies, and the principal biographer of Brazilian philosopher and critical social theorist, Paulo Freire.

For the last decade, Dr. Torres has been working from a global perspective that encompasses human rights, pluralism and citizenship, wresting education away from state dominance, and the globalization of economies, communications and labor forces. The question of educating the global citizen is at the top of his research agenda. Understanding the educational policies of the new social democratic governments in Brazil and Argentina, and the impact of the new social movements constitutes the next empirical phase of his research. His recent work concentrates also on global learning and global citizenship education.



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Andrew Delbanco 65.jpgAndrew Delbanco is Director of American Studies at Columbia University and has been Columbia’s Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities since 1995. He writes extensively on American literary and religious history. In 2001 Delbanco was named by Time Magazine as “America’s Best Social Critic”, and in 2003 was chosen New York State Scholar of the Year by the New York Council for the Humanities. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[3] he has served as vice president of PEN American Center and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation (1990), the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). He is a trustee of the National Humanities Center, the Library of America, the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Teagle Foundation.

Winner of the 2006 Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates, Delbanco is the author of Melville: His World and Work (2005), which won the Lionel Trilling Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in biography. The Death of Satan (1995), Required Reading: Why Our American Classics Matter Now (1997), and The Real American Dream (1999) were named notable books by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. The Puritan Ordeal (1989) won the Lionel Trilling Award. Among his edited books are Writing New England (2001), The Portable Abraham Lincoln (1992), volume two of The Sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson (with Teresa Toulouse), and, with Alan Heimert, The Puritans in America (1985).



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Changu Mannathoko 65.jpgChangu Mannathoko, UNICEF Senior Policy Advisor, Education, came to New York from the UNICEF Regional Office of Eastern and Southern Africa in Nairobi, where she worked as the Regional Education Advisor from 2000 to 2006. As regional education advisor, she worked with and travelled to 21 countries in the region, providing technical support in the areas of education, gender and development, gender, sexuality and HIV and AIDS in the education sector. She also worked on life-skills education, rights-based approach to programming, violence in and around schools and early childhood development. She was involved in innovative programmes including Child Friendly Schools for Africa, Delivery of Essential Services for Children (especially care and support), gender, sexuality and HIV and AIDS in education and the Girls’ Education Movement. 

In her current role, Dr. Mannathoko provides technical support and expertise to countries in the areas of gender equity and girls’ education, capacity development, child-friendly schools as pathways to quality education, safety and security in schools, HIV and AIDS prevention, life-skills based education and United Nations partnerships for girls’ education (UNGEI).



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Carlos Mariani Rosa 65.jpgCarlos Mariani Rosa is a distinguished leader in the nonprofit and public sector. He was appointed executive director of the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, Inc. in 1997, during a time of transition from the founding leadership. MMEP has become an influential presence advocating for students of color at major education policy tables such as the MN P-20 Council.

Mariani Rosa was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1990, representing St. Paul district 65B. He served as chair of the E-12 Education Policy Committee. He is a member of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), and has focused his efforts on issues affecting urban and minority communities including education, public transit, housing and economic development.  He is a member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and the National Conference of Hispanic State Legislators.

Mariani Rosa is well-recognized for his leadership. He has been honored as “Legislator of the Year” by the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action; for his work behalf of low-income immigrant communities by the Jobs Now Coalition; and by the Literacy Minnesota for outstanding advocacy as a legislator.



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Joel Spring 65.jpgJoel Spring is a professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, whose scholarship focuses on educational globalization policies, the politics of education, and multicultural education.  He is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation. His great-great-grandfather was the first Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory and his grandfather, Joel S. Spring, was a district chief at the time Indian Territory became Oklahoma. He is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation I.D. #1274408293.

Spring has given invited lecture nationally and internationally, including Singapore, Turkey, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia, and Taiwan. In the fall of 2012, he lectured on “Global Issues: Schooling Minority Cultures and Languages” to honor the opening of the multicultural center at Minzu University, Beijing China.

He has published over twenty books on American and global school policies. His most recent scholarly works include The Economization of Education; Globalization of Education: An Introduction 2nd Edition; Political Agendas for Education: From Race to the Top to Saving the Planet; Corporatism, Social Control, and Cultural Domination in Education: From the Radical Right to Globalization.