Nominations for Consideration for the Vance Lecture Al Gore http://www.algore.com/about.html Former Vice President Al Gore is co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management. He is a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and a member of Apple, Inc.'s board of directors. Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit devoted to solving the climate crisis.” Bill Ayers http://www.biography.com/people/bill-ayers-380916 Bill Ayers, educator and activist, was born in Oak Park, Illinois. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ayers became involved with the Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. He is co-author of a graphic novel – To Teach (2010) as well as Teaching Toward Democracy: Educators as Agents of Change in Technology Development (2010). Christine Stuart http://www.ctnewsJunkie.com/ctnj.php/about/ Christine Stuart became editor of CTNewsJunkie in early 2006 after nearly four years as a reporter at The Journal Inquirer in Manchester. At the JI, Stuart covered a variety of beats including the city of East Hartford, the state's scandal-ridden trash authority, and a regional water commission, as well as other towns, police news, and politics. Prior to that, she covered education and transportation issues at the state Capitol for the Hartford Advocate. On a part-time basis, Stuart has worked as a summer youth reading and writing instructor for Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford. Stuart grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. “Christine is one of the hardest working reporters I know,” CTNewsJunkie founding editor Dan Levine said.” Cornel West http://www.cornelwest.com/bio.html Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. He has written 19 books and edited 13 books. He is best known for his classic Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his new memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He appears frequently on the Bill Maher Show, Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as on his dear Brother, Tavis Smiley’s PBS TV Show. He can be heard weekly with Tavis Smiley on "Smiley & West", the national public radio program distributed by Public Radio International (PRI).” Diane Ravitch http://dianeravitch.com/about-diane/ She was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, by the following institutions: Williams College; Reed College; Amherst College; the State University of New York; Ramapo College; St. Joseph’s College of New York; Middlebury College Language Schools; and Union College. A native of Houston, she is a graduate of the Houston public schools. She received a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1960 and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1975.” Ravitch is an outspoken critic of high-stakes assessment as evident in her recent book - The Death and Life of the Great American School System (2011). Henry Louis Gates http://www.biography.com/people/henry-louis-gates-jr-9307556 “Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a highly regarded African-American educator and scholar. He directs the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He received a MacArthur Foundation grant in 1981 to support his research for the Black Periodical Literary ProJect. An incident he experienced with a police officer in 2009 stirred up discussion about racial preJudice in the post-Obama era.” Karen Armstrong http://www.browsebiography.com/bio-karen_armstrong.html Karen Armstrong is a former Catholic nun who left the convent and became a scholar of world religions. She has written many books including The History of God. In 2008 she won the TED prize - which was TED's agreement to help her fulfill her wish. Her wish, as you can see in this TED talk, was to get help in creating a Charter of Compassion: http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html ” Maya Angelou http://mayaangelou.com/bio/ Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.” Melissa Harris-Perry http://melissaharrisperry.com/about.html “Melissa V. Harris-Perry is host of MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry." The show airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to noon ET. Harris-Perry is also professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. She previously served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Princeton University. “ Michelle Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama/ “When people ask First Lady Michelle Obama to describe herself, she doesn't hesitate to say that first and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom. As First Lady, Mrs. Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country.” Noam Chomsky http://chomsky.info/bios.htm “Noam Chomsky is a US political theorist and activist, and institute professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Besides his work in linguistics, Chomsky is internationally recognized as one of the most critically engaged public intellectuals alive today. Chomsky continues to be an unapologetic critic of both American foreign policy and its ambitions for geopolitical hegemony and the neoliberal turn of global capitalism, which he identifies in terms of class warfare waged from above against the needs and interests of the great majority.” Paul Farmer http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/dr-paul-farmer/ "Growing up in Florida, Paul Farmer took a Job picking citrus where he learned firsthand about the bitter conditions Haitian migrant laborers endured. On his first trip to Haiti, he witnessed the misery of life for the poor. Instead of being overwhelmed by what he observed, Paul set out to prove that cost-effective, high-quality health care could be delivered in the most hopeless of contexts. He founded Partners in Health (PIH) and started working in Haiti in 1987. In addition to building a community-based health care system, he forged an academic and medical discipline around the concept of global health equity and created the Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change at Harvard Medical School. In 1993, Paul received a MacArthur Award and developed an advocacy and teaching branch of PIH with the award money. He is inspiring a new generation of practitioners in health and social Justice." Rachel Maddow – http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26318771/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#.USYy1ldi0k4 “Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC’s primetime hit, the critically acclaimed “The Rachel Maddow Show.” “The Rachel Maddow Show” features Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis and stories no other shows in cable news will cover.” Sonia Sotomayor http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/ “Over a distinguished career that spans three decades, Judge Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of our Judicial system – yielding a depth of experience and a breadth of perspectives that will be invaluable – and is currently not represented -- on our highest court. New York City District Attorney Morgenthau recently praised Sotomayor as an "able champion of the law" who would be "highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character could be assets." [Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09]” Spike Lee http://www.biography.com/people/spike-lee-9377207 “Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was making amateur films by age 20, and won a Student Academy Award for his graduate thesis film. Lee drew attention with his first feature, She's Gotta Have It -- one of the most profitable films made in 1986 -- and continues to create films that explore provoking topics like race, politics and violence. He is also known for his documentaries and commercials.” Valerie Strauss – Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/page/valerie-strauss “I’ve been covering education for at least as long as I went to school – from kindergarten through graduate school – and The Answer Sheet gives me the opportunity to keep learning (and get paid for it). I research my own pieces that reflect the (often unfortunate) historic changes under way in the American public education system, and I publish the work of teachers, parents, researchers and others, some people with whom I disagree. I take a wide view of what constitutes an education topic: Anything that I happen to be interested in (and I try to mention the Beatles or Bruce Springsteen whenever it makes even the slightest bit of sense to include). I like to laugh, so sometimes, I run pieces that make me do that.” Cecile Richards http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/national-leadership/cecile-richards-4676.htm “Cecile Richards is a nationally respected leader in the field of women’s health and reproductive rights. As president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Ms.