 Dr. Peter Smith
Dr. Peter P. Smith is Senior Vice President of Academic Strategies and Development for Kaplan Higher Education. In this role, he is responsible for the development of mid-term strategies and program development. Dr. Smith is the former Assistant Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and served as the founding president of California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB), where he oversaw all aspects of leadership and development of the institution.
Dr. Smith served as the first president of the statewide Community College of Vermont from 1970-1978, and was named President Emeritus upon resigning. He served as Vermont’s Lieutenant Governor from 1982-1986. In 1989, he was elected as a representative from Vermont to the U.S. House of Representatives. From 1991-1994 he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development for George Washington University.
Dr. Smith holds a Doctor of Education from Harvard University. He is the author of The Quiet Crisis: How Higher Education Is Failing America (Anker Publications, Bolton MA, 2004) and Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning (Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, San Francisco, CA, 2010).
Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning will be available for purchase at the CAEL conference. Dr. Smith will be autographing copies.
 Dr. Robert W. Mendenhall
Dr. Robert W. Mendenhall is President of Western Governors University (WGU), a private, non-profit, online university offering competency-based bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, information technology, K-12 teacher education, and healthcare (including nursing). The University has 19,000 students in all 50 states and continues to grow at over 30% annually. Dr. Mendenhall has more than 30 years of experience in the development, marketing and delivery of technology-based education. Prior to WGU, he was general manager of IBM’s K-12 education division, overseeing a $500 million worldwide business. From 1980 to 1992, he was a founder, president and CEO (from 1987) of Wicat Systems, Inc., a publicly traded company and leader in computer-based curriculum, instructional management, and testing. Dr. Mendenhall served on the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education and is a former member of the Board of the Department of Business and Economic Development for the State of Utah.
 Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier
Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier is Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education, serving in this post since October 2009. Prior to joining the Department of Education, Dr. Dann-Messier served for a decade as the President of Dorcas Place, a community-based adult education agency based in Providence, Rhode Island. While working to expand educational and career opportunities for low-income, low-literacy adults, Brenda was commended by the R.I. Department of Education for her commitment to the low-skilled learner.
Dorcas Place serves more than 1,000 adults statewide. Programs include day and evening ABE/ASE/ESOL classes, civics and financial literacy education, and college preparatory classes, family literacy, workforce education, and job training programs linked with employers and industry sectors. It also recently opened the Developmental Education Institute for reading and math in collaboration with the Community College of Rhode Island.
Dr. Dann-Messier has been a tireless advocate for the adult learner, serving on numerous state and local boards. She was a member of the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education and chaired its Academic and Student Affairs Subcommittee. Brenda is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences and forums, including the National Commission on Adult Basic Education, Council for Opportunity in Education, National Center for Family Literacy, and the European Access Network.
For more information, please contact Diana Bamford-Rees, Associate Vice President, at dbamford-rees@cael.org
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