Discussions

Karen Armstrong, who was scheduled to give the final talk at GlobalEdCon, is being replaced by Marilyn Turkovich, the program director for the Charter for Compassion International, the organization that has taken the words of the Charter "planted" by Karen after she won the TED prize, and is nurturing it into a global movement. Learn how the Charter for Compassion is supporting 180 city initiatives from Anchorage to Zagreb with the help of over 500 global partners, 140 of these being education partners. In addition, a Charter for Compassionate Schools was launched this past August and already has over a thousand schools from Louisville, Kentucky to Gaborone, Botswana. Learn more about this global movement with a compassionate heart that is spreading and managing its message through technology.

I am particularly pleased to bring Marilyn to our community as I have a personal connection to her work. Back in 1988, she was the director of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Education Program in Chicago, and I spent a semester there completing my student teaching requirement. Marilyn has had a storied career and among other things, she is a multicultural education expert. Because of her vision for the UEP program, my eyes were first opened to the concepts behind global education and social justice; the roots of our community here really began with her. 

I recently caught up with Marilyn on a trip to Seattle where she now lives, and it's been a pleasure renewing the acquaintance. I know that you are going to be inspired by her work on behalf of the Charter for Compassion, and I hope that you'll consider joining us for this final keynote session before our closing session that Steve mentioned in today's email update. Of course, this session will be recorded for those of you who are unable to join and will start at 10 AM ET (GMT-5). Consult the schedule in your time zone to convert. 

It's been amazing week, and while I have this opportunity, I want to thank all of you for making this another extraordinary year. Nothing makes me happier than to see people get excited about what they are learning in our conference rooms, and to see people forming friendships and professional connections as well. There will be opportunities throughout the year for extending the conference, so let's keep moving forward. Special thanks goes out to our volunteers, presenters, and keynotes..we appreciate your professional generosity!

Hope to see you online in a few hours,

Lucy Gray

Conference Co-Chair