Preconference Leadership Reception
By Invitation Only
—a special invitation for college and university presidents
March 16, 2009, 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
We are pleased to announce that the featured presenters at the reception will be the Secretary of Education of the United States, Arne Duncan; and Hilary Pennington, Director of
Special Initiatives in the United States Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
As the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, Secretary Duncan was the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country. During his tenure, he united education reformers, teachers, principals, and business stakeholders behind an aggressive education reform agenda that included opening over 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down underperforming schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.
Ms. Pennington leads the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation Postsecondary Education initiative as well as efforts around one-time opportunities to respond to unique challenges and unanticipated events in the United
States. Most recently she served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, and as vice-chair of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a research and
policy development organization that she co-founded. In her twenty-two years as president and CEO of JFF, Ms. Pennington helped the organization become one of the most
influential in the country on issues of education, youth transitions, workforce development, and future work requirements.
Presidents from all of Pennsylvania's colleges and universities are invited to attend the Leadership Reception on the eve of the Governor's Conference on Higher Education.
This special event will provide attendees the opportunity to interact and network with each other, government representatives, and national figures from the higher education arena.
The reception will feature hors d'oeuvres and refreshments.
Invited guests are kindly asked to RSVP to Barbara Kuhn, Pennsylvania Department of Education, at bkuhn@state.pa.us or 717-787-4313, no later
than March 10, 2009.
Sponsored by 
Program questions? E-mail ConferenceInfo1@outreach.psu.edu or call 800-PSU-TODAY (778-8632).
Web site questions? E-mail WebInfo@outreach.psu.edu.
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