2016 AAEGT National Gifted Conference, Beyond the Boundaries in Gifted Education

Keynote speakers:

Professor the Hon Bob Carr

Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr is also the longest continuously serving Premier in New South Wales history. He served as Minister for Planning and Environment 1984 to 1988 and as Leader of the Opposition from 1988 until his election as Premier in March 1995. He was re-elected in1999 and 2003, securing an historic third four year term. He retired from politics in 2005.

During his ten years in office the State Government set new records for spending on infrastructure, became the first government in the State's history to retire debt, hosted the "world's best Olympics" in 2000, and achieved the nation's best school literacy levels. Forbes magazine called Bob Carr a "dragon slayer" for his landmark tort law reforms. As premier he received the World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award for creating 350 new national parks. He introduced the world's first carbon trading scheme and curbed the clearing of native vegetation, both anti-greenhouse measures. He was a member of the International Task Force on Climate Change convened by Tony Blair, and was made a life member of the Wilderness Society in 2003. Bob Carr has recieved the Fullbright Distinguished Fellow Award Scholarship. He served as Honorary Scholar of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. He is the author of Thoughtlines(2002) and Diary of a Foreign Minister(2014).

In March 2012 he was designated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard as Australia's Foreign Minister, elected to the Australian Senate to fill a casual Senate vacancy, and sworn in to the Senate and Cabinat on March 13, 2012. As Foreign Minister, Bob Carr fostered stronger relations between Australian and South East Asia, lifted sanctions on Myanmar, campaigned for the passage of global Arms Trade Treaty and laid the final stages of Australia's sucessful bid for Australia's seat on the UNSW Security Council as a non-permanent member. His plan for a Syrian medical pact was backed at the G20. He assisted Prime Minister Gillard in achieving a strategic partnership with China.

Following his resignation from the Senate on October 24, 2013 the University of Technology, Sydney appointed him to lead the Australia-China Relations Institute- a think tank dedicated to Australia-China relations.

Bob Carr serves on the Board of the Dymocks Children's Charity; is a Director of The Lysicrates Foundation and as a Committee Member of the UNSW Matraville Education Program Advisory Council

Dr. Paula Olszewski-Kubilius

Dr. Paula Olszewski-Kubilius is currently the director of the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University and a professor in the School of Education and Social Policy. Over the past 32 years, she has created programs for diverse groups of gifted learners and written extensively on issues of talent development, particularly on programming for under-represented gifted students and outside-of-school and accelerative models of gifted education. Her most recent work is a monograph written with Rena Subotnik and Frank Worrell, “Rethinking Giftedness and Gifted Education: A Proposed Direction Forward Based on Psychological Science”, published by the Association for Psychological Science, which received the Award for Excellence in Research in 2013 from the Mensa Education and Research Foundation of Mensa International, Limited, She has served as editor of Gifted Child Quarterly, co-editor of the Journal of Secondary Gifted Education and on the editorial review boards of Gifted and Talented International, The Roeper Review, and Gifted Child Today. She currently is on the board of trustees of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and the Illinois Association for the Gifted. She also serves on that advisory boards for the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary and the Robinson Center for Young Scholars at the University of Washington. She is the past- president of the National Association for Gifted Children from whom she received the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2009 and the GCQ Paper of the Year Award in 2011.

Dr. Del Siegle

Dr. Del Siegle is a professor of gifted and talented and Head of the Department of Educational Psychology in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He is among a select group of university professors who has been honored as a teaching fellow. This is the highest honor the University can award for outstanding teaching. He has also received the Neag School of Education’s Outstanding Alumni Young Investigator Award for his research in gifted education. He teaches graduate courses in educational research, creativity, the social and emotional needs of gifted students, and the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. Under his direction, UConn was one of the first universities to offer online courses in gifted education and an online master’s in gifted education. Dr. Siegle has directed the Three Summers Master’s Degree program at UConn for 15 years.

Prior to earning his PhD, Dr. Siegle worked as a gifted and talented coordinator in Montana. In that role, he developed and coordinated a gifted and talented program for academically talented students. While in Montana, he served on the board of directors of the state gifted and talented organization and also served as president of that organization (Montana Association of Gifted and Talented Education). A student scholarship honoring him is awarded each year to a deserving student.

Michele Juratowitch

Michele Juratowitch is Director of Clearing Skies. She worked in schools for more than twenty years before establishing Clearing Skies to provide a range of services for gifted children, adolescents, parents, professionals, educational institutions and organisations. Michele was a regular guest lecturer in postgraduate courses, professional development seminars, parent courses and student programs at the Gifted Education Research, Resource and Information Centre (GERRIC), UNSW. She managed GERRIC programs, including the Regional and Remote Parent Workshop Project, to deliver fifty workshops for parents of gifted children throughout regional and remote areas of Australia; the APTS, ASSETS and Scientia Student Residential Programs, to provide intensive, advanced academic courses and affective programs for gifted students.

Michele’s work within State, Catholic, Independent schools and universities; her experience with students, parents, teachers and associations, enable her to provide professional development, consultancy, research, project management, resource development, counselling, parent education and advocacy for gifted students. Programs developed by Michele include STEAM Residentials for gifted girls, social skill development workshops and study skills seminars. Her recent research examines gifted students’ and their parents’ beliefs about happiness and the contexts within which they experience happiness.

Michele was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study counselling and intervention strategies appropriate to meet the needs of gifted youth and their families. She is a regular presenter at state, national and international conferences and serves on educational advisory committees. Michele wrote Study: The Simple Facts; co-authored the research report, Releasing the Brakes for High-Ability Learners, examining acceleration policies, together with administrator, teacher and parent attitudes and beliefs that block or assist the implementation of school policies on academic acceleration attitudes and practices throughout Australia and co-authored Make a Twist: Curriculum differentiation for gifted students