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FEATURED SPEAKERS
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. His online column is cited by The Washington Post as one of the top five mainstream political blogs in the country, and is touted by former "Hardball" TV producer Howard Mortman as "the immediately must-read political blog." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns. In his 22 years at the Inquirer, he has also been a foreign correspondent based in London; a baseball writer covering the Philadelphia Phillies; a general-assignment writer in the feature section; and a longtime Sunday magazine contributor. In the early '80s, he wrote three metro columns a week for the Hartford Courant. A graduate of George Washington University, today Dick is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Visit Dick Polman’s American Debate at http://dickpolman.blogspot.com/.
Dr. George A. Pruitt has been President of Thomas Edison State College since 1982.
Prior to coming to the College, he served in executive leadership positions at Illinois State University, Towson State University, Morgan State University, Tennessee State University, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). He is active in the formulation of educational policy nationally and within the State of New Jersey.
He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning; member of three national commissions of the American Council on Education; Chairman of the Committee on Alternatives and Innovation of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities; Advisor to the Kellogg National Fellowship Program of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Member, Governor’s Education Cabinet; Member, Economic Development Corporation of Trenton; Chairman of the New Jersey President’s Council; Chairman of the New Jersey Capital Region Convention and Visitors Bureau (NJCRCVB); and Member of the New Jersey State Planning Commission, Trenton, New Jersey. Dr. Pruitt is Past Chairman of the Mercer County Chamber of Commerce, Trenton, New Jersey; and a member of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), United States Department of Education, Washington, D.C. He sits on the Board of Directors of Sun National Bank, Vineland, New Jersey; Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey; Structured Employment Economic Development Corporation (SEEDCO), New York, New York; The Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, Ohio; and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Washington, DC.
He has consulted widely in business and government, as well as within the higher education community. He has served in an advisory capacity to four Secretaries of Education under three Presidents of both parties. He is the recipient of three honorary degrees in addition to numerous awards, honors, and commendations. In a study of presidential leadership funded by the Exxon Education Foundation, Dr. Pruitt was identified as one of the most effective college presidents in the United States. He has an adult daughter, Shayla. He resides in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with his wife, Pamela.
Linda M. Thor, Ed.D., is President of Rio Salado College, the largest (in terms of headcount) and most cost-effective Maricopa Community College serving more than 48,000 credit and 12,000 non-credit students annually. Rio Salado is “the college within everyone’s reach” that specializes in serving working adults through online learning, customized degrees with corporations and government agencies, and accelerated programs such as dual enrollment for high school students.
Under Dr. Thor’s leadership, Rio Salado has attracted national attention for its exemplary and award-winning programs, such as online post-baccalaureate teacher preparation, accelerated dental hygiene and online clinical dental assisting, adult literacy, Sun Sounds Radio Reading Service, KJZZ-FM and KBAQ-FM public radio, and prison programs. Rio Salado has provided leadership in the implementation of successful business practices in community colleges and is a former recipient of the Arizona Governor’s Award for Quality (Pioneer Award).
Prior to joining Rio Salado in Fall 1990, Dr. Thor was President of West Los Angeles College (WLAC), a 10,000-student community college located in Culver City, California. During her four-year tenure at WLAC she obtained state funding for several major capital construction projects, saw the enrollment increase 48 percent, and introduced a number of new and innovative programs.
Dr. Thor’s appointment as WLAC President in March 1986 followed a successful tenure as the Senior Director of Occupational and Technical Education for the Los Angeles Community College District where she administered over $20 million in technical training programs under federal and state grants. Earlier she served as LACCD Director of High Technology Centers and Services; Director of Communications Services for the nine-college district; Public Information Officer, and Director of Public Information for the Pepperdine University School of Continuing Education. She has served as adjunct faculty for the UCLA School of Education, Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology, and Rio Salado College. She currently teaches for Northern Arizona University.
She received the B.A. degree in journalism from Pepperdine University, the Master’s of Public Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and the Doctor of Education degree in Community College Administration from Pepperdine University.
Sandi Vito was appointed by Governor Edward G. Rendell as Acting Secretary of the Department of Labor & Industry on Feb. 4, 2008.
As Acting Secretary, Vito heads the fifth-largest agency of Pennsylvania state government, overseeing more than 6,000 employees in 200 offices statewide that serve the worker and business interests of the Commonwealth. Through the administration of programs such as workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, job retraining and vocational rehabilitation, along with its numerous enforcement and regulatory responsibilities, the Department directly affects the daily lives of millions of workers, and the more than 250,000 employers in Pennsylvania.
Prior to her appointment Vito, served as the Deputy Secretary for Workforce Development where she helped to devise Job Ready PA, which greatly boosted Governor Rendell’s economic growth strategy by expanding employment and training opportunities in high-skill, high-wage jobs. Job Ready PA, a complete overhaul of the commonwealth’s workforce development system, was urgently needed to adapt skill development, training, and business service models to the global marketplace.
As Deputy Secretary, Vito was instrumental in attracting millions of federal dollars to Pennsylvania for workforce and economic development, including $15 million for the “Wall Street West” project in Northeastern Pennsylvania, which has since grown to $40 million initiative designed to train workers in the finance services sector. The National Network of Sector Partners, in recognition of her achievement in expanding career employment opportunities while meeting businesses’ workforce needs, awarded her the Trailblazer Award for Industry-Led Workforce Development efforts. In addition, she received the first-ever Workforce Development Leadership Award from Pennsylvania Partners.
Under her leadership, Pennsylvania’s workforce system has won several awards and distinctions, including:
- Best Workforce Publication for Pennsylvania’s Targeted Industry Clusters;
- Named one of two “Demand Driven” workforce states by the U.S. Department of Labor;
- Selected by NGA as an incubator state to develop state policies to increase access to post-secondary education and lifelong learning for working adults;
- Awarded a $3.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to support innovative workforce training in the plastics industry.
Before coming to Labor & Industry, Vito served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Christine Tartaglione and was the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Political Director. She also contributed to formulating public policy and advocating for a variety of policy initiatives for non-profit organizations.
In announcing her appointment, Governor Rendell said, “Sandi has proven to everyone that she has what it takes to help our hardworking men and women find better jobs and become the highly skilled employees for whom companies are looking, and to help Pennsylvania create record job growth. The commonwealth, the agency and the thousands of businesses and people it serves will be in good hands.”
She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stockton State University and studied Community and Regional Planning and Urban Studies at Temple University.
For more information, please contact Bridget Miller, Meetings Manager, at bmiller@cael.org
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