Speakers

Patricia Nailor, Ed.D.  Keynote Speaker, President, American School Counseling Association  (ASCA)

Patricia serves as an Adjunct Instructor at Providence College, Providence RI, in the Graduate Program in Counselor Education.  During her career, Patricia has been an elementary and middle school teacher and a school counselor at each level. She retired from the Providence (RI) Public Schools as Director of School Counselors (K-12). Currently she consults with school districts in the development and implementation of school counseling programs.  Patricia has served as President and Professional Development Chair of Rhode Island School Counselor Association and is currently a member.  She served on the ASCA Governing Board as the Vice President of the North Atlantic Region, and, as of October 1, 2009, is ASCA’s President.

Bob Fellmeth, J.D.,  Director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, University of San Diego

For the past 33 years Bob has been a tenured professor at the University of San Diego School of Law where he holds the Price Chair in Public Interest Law.  In 1989, he founded the Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI), an academic center on child rights at the USD School of Law.  CAI trains child advocates, offering clinics, including representing children in dependency and delinquency court.  CAI also functions as a statewide law firm for child rights, lobbies at the state capitol and litigates for children. It sponsored statutes over the last two decades include child safety (bicycle helmets, swimming pool safeguards, playground safety), California’s “Kid’s Plates,” child support collection enhancement, child care regulation reform, and child welfare improvement.  Professor Fellmeth’s scholarship includes 14 books and 150 articles, op eds and columns.  He has drafted and co-sponsored fifty federal and state statutes – including sunshine, special prosecutor, campaign finance reform initiatives, et al.  He has argued 40 reported appellate cases.     He serves as the Chair of the Public Citizen Foundation in Washington, D.C., and as of 2009 now Chairs the Board of the National Association of Counsel for Children.

Russell Rumberger, Ph.D., Director, California Dropout Research Project, University of California Santa Barbara

Russell W. Rumberger is a Professor in the Gervirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Director of the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.  He received a Ph.D. in Education and a M.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1978 and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1971.  He serves on the editorial board of four journals:  American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Economics of Education Review, and the Sociology of Education.  He conducts academic and policy research in two areas of education: education and work, and the schooling of disadvantaged students.  His research in the area of education and work has focused on the economic payoffs to schooling and on educational requirements of work.  His research on at-risk students has focused on several topics: the causes, consequences, and solutions to the problem of school dropouts; the causes and consequences of student mobility; the schooling of English language learners; and the impact of school segregation on student achievement. 

Scott Himelstein, Director, Center for Education Policy and Law, University of San Diego

Scott Himelstein is the former deputy secretary of Education and later acting secretary of Education for the state of California. In that capacity he served as chief policy advisor to the governor on K-12 and higher education. Prior to his appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger, he served as chairman and CEO of the National Even Start Association, president of the William D. Lynch Foundation for Children, and chairman and CEO of San Diego Reads. Himelstein is an instructor in the USD School of Leadership and Education Sciences and School of Law. He was recently appointed by the governor to the California Community College Board of Governors.

Duncan Mathison - “Unlock the Hidden Job Market” (Afternoon Breakout Session)

Duncan Mathison helps elite executive clients pursue senior level positions through his company Duncan Mathison & Associates. He previously spent eighteen years as Vice President, Managing Director, and Senior Consultant for Drake Beam Morin (DBM), a leading provider of career transition and executive coaching services.  Throughout various boom and bust economic cycles, Duncan has advised companies and their employees through reductions in force (RIFs), reorganizations, acquisitions, and operation shutdowns. For the employees impacted by job loss as a result of these actions, he has developed and delivered career transition strategies to help them rapidly find work in their field or successfully reinvent their careers. His clients have ranged across industries including finance, technology, telecommunications, biotechnology, retail, and entertainment.

 

Emily Desmond – “Stress Management through The Practice of Yoga” (Afternoon Breakout Session)

Emily received her Master’s Degree in Counseling from the University of San Diego in Spring, 2009 as well as her PPS credential.  She is passionate about working and connecting with people.  She believes in the power of the individual to realize change in their own lives.  She has experience as a middle and high school teacher as well as an academic counselor.  She enjoys working with students both in a group and individual setting and welcomes all ages.  Emily has been trained to utilize yoga as a medium to heal trauma, stress, anxiety and depression.  She has been teaching yoga to kids and teens in schools for the past two years.