Panelists:
John Huppenthal
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction
Arizona Department of Education
During Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthals 26 years in public service, he has established himself as one of Arizona’s leading education reformers. As a state legislator, he successfully authored and passed over 200 bills, more bills than any other legislator in state history. A substantial number of those bills focused on improving education. For each of his 18 years in the state legislature, Huppenthal either served on or chaired education committees, ushering in an era of important education reforms, including:
1. Reforming Arizona’s Career Ladder Program for public school teachers. It is now recognized as the only Career Ladder Program in the country tied to verifiable academic gains.
2. Spreading teacher performance pay programs across Arizona, ensuring good teachers are rewarded for increasing student achievement.
3. Revamping measures of academic progress and graduation standards.
4. Providing critical resources to special needs children, including children with autism and blind and deaf students.
5. Expanding Arizona’s charter school system and Teach for America program.
6. And improving vocational education opportunities for children.
Recently, in 2010, Senator Huppenthal championed common course numbering legislation for Arizona’s universities and colleges. He also passed an important school district accountability bill, which will hold school district’s performance more accountable with fair, easy-to-understand letter grades.
Since the mid-90’s Huppenthal has spent thousands of hours in schools observing best practices and personally implementing important education reforms and programs. His innovative accountability system which ties academic improvement and qualitative measures of excellence with performance pay has shown remarkable success in school districts that have adopted it.
Arizona Department of Education
Paul Luna
President and Chief Executive Officer, Helios Education Foundation
Paul J. Luna is president and chief executive officer of Helios Education Foundation. He brings more than 25 years public and private professional experience to his leadership role with the Foundation. As President/CEO, Paul is responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the growing organization, cultivating strong community relationships and initiating strategic partnerships in Arizona and Florida for the Foundation. Prior to his role at Helios, Paul servedpresident of Valley of the Sun United Way where he led a community-wide fundraising effort approaching $50 million. Under his presidency, Valley of the Sun United Way was consistently recognized for its model early childhood education, youth workforce development and domestic violence intervention community initiatives.
He currently serves as a member of the Arizona Governor's P-20 Council, STEMAz Advisory Council, Florida STEMM Task Force, Center for the Future of Arizona Board, Arizona Community Foundation Board, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, is the Chair of the Oversight Board for Expect More Arizona, and Co-Chair of the Arizona State University College of Public Programs board of directors. A graduate of Stanford University, Paul holds a degree in Civil Engineering.
Linda Arzoumanian, Ed.D.
Pima County School Superintendent
Linda Arzoumanian serves as the Pima County School Superintendent and is responsible for the flow of over a billion dollars for 17 school districts. She is the head of the Pima County Accommodation District Governing Board, which serves the educational needs of students in jail and detention center. Her office is responsible for all election services for schools in Pima County, affidavit registration for children who attend private and home schools along with the data management of 28,000-teacher certificates. She has a doctorate in Early and Middle Childhood from Nova Southeastern University, master's degree in Human Relations from Ohio University, and B.S. in Home Economics from Stout State University.
Arzoumanian was appointed to her current position by a majority vote of the bi-partisan Pima County Board of Supervisors. She has been elected to the partisan office three times (2000, 2004 and 2008). She promotes providing women/girls the opportunity to be involved in the political process by whole hearted giving of her time and effort to a program sponsored by the League of Women Voter and American Association of University Women (AAUW) for female high school students. The name of the Program is Running and Winning. She has extensive expertise in community development, early childhood education, and behavioral health services for children. She has taught at all educational levels from preschool to post secondary but most recently as a teacher of teachers. She serves on the Workforce Investment Board, the University of Wisconsin-Stout Foundation, the Metropolitan Education Commission, the Arizona Humanities Council, the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council and a variety of other boards and councils.
Vicki Balentine, Ph.D.
Superintendent, Amphitheater Public Schools
Vicki Balentine is completing her tenth year as Superintendent of the Amphitheater School District, a K-12 school district with three high schools, two middle schools, three K-8 schools, 11 elementary schools, and 3 alternative education schools totaling approximately 17,000 students with an annual operating budget of approximately $110 million and employing over 2,200 full and part time people. Before being named Superintendent of Amphitheater, Balentine has been a teacher for fifteen years, principal, central office administrator, curriculum director, and assistant superintendent in another local district. Thus far, she has committed a total of 35 years in the support of public education in Arizona.
In addition to her professional responsibilities, Balentine was appointed to the Arizona State Board of Education by Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2005. She currently serves as president of the board. Also, she currently serves as a board member of the Arizona Business and Education Coalition. Inside Tucson Business recognized her as one of 10 Women of Influence in 2007 and American Executive Magazine featured her in their April 2008 Corporate Spotlight. The University of Arizona recognized Balentine as a 2006 Alumnus of the Year. Balentine was also recognized by LULAC with the 1999 National Presidential Citation – Outstanding Educator Award in recognition of leadership, dedication and commitment to the youth of Tucson. In addition, she received a YWCA Woman on The Move award in 1999. She is married and has two married daughters and two grandsons.
John Pedicone, Ph.D.,
Superintendent, Tucson Unified School District
John J. Pedicone is the newly-appointed Superintendent of Tucson Unified School District. Prior to this appointment, he was a senior faculty fellow in the Educational Leadership Program at the University of Arizona College of Education, and the vice-president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. Pedicone retired from Flowing Wells School District, where he served as an administrator for 22 years. His administrative leadership in the district included serving as junior high school assistant principal, high school principal (during which time the high school was selected as a the No.1 school in the State of Arizona A+ program and received the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School award), assistant superintendent and superintendent. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including Arizona Superintendent of the Year in 2002 and the Arizona Representative to the AASA National Superintendent of the Year Program in 2003.
Pedicone has served as a member of the Arizona State Board of Education, the Arizona State School Readiness Board, and the Governor's Education Advisory Board. He currently serves on the Arizona Leads Executive Board, University of Arizona Professional Preparation Board, past co-chair of the Tucson Business/Education Roundtable, Arizona Business Education Coalition Executive Board, Rodel Foundation All A's Executive Board, Northwest Fire Department Pension Board, United Way Advisory Board and is Past-President of the Southern Arizona Susan Komen For the Cure Affiliate.
Pedicone earned a B.A. with honors in English (pre-law) from St. Mary's College in Winona, Minnesota, an M.E.D. with Distinction in Curriculum and Instruction from DePaul University in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Mari Koerner, Ph.D.
Dean, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
Mari Koerner was appointed as Professor in and Dean of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University in July, 2006. The College now has students on all four of ASU's campuses, in partner school districts statewide and online with a total student population of 5000+ undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. The College is among the largest in the nation, and prepares more than half of Arizona's teachers.
Koerner received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Curriculum and Instruction. She began her career in education as a primary grade teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. Joining the faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago as an assistant professor in Early Childhood Education, she went on to become Associate Dean of the College of Education. In 1999, Koerner went to the University of Massachusetts Boston as Director of Teacher Education and then Department Chair of Curriculum and Instruction. Always focusing on teacher education, Mari has reached out to the national community of teacher educators by publishing in professional education journals as well as presenting at major education conferences.
Currently, Koerner is a Member of the Board of Examiners for National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). She serves as Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, for the Arizona K-12 Center for Professional Development, and is on the Board of Trustees for the Desert Botanical Gardens, Arizona Teach for America and the Phoenix Children's Museum. In addition, she serves on the Rodel Foundation Board of Advisors. She has been an invited panelist at the Arizona Summit on 21st Century and the keynote speaker for Commission on the Status of Women's Awards. She is also the Principal Investigator for a grant from the Arizona Community Foundation for a Tri-University Teacher Preparation and Retention Data Collaboration.
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Michael K. Block Ph.D.
Co-CEO, BASIS Educational Group
Michael K. Block serves as the Chairman of the BASIS School Boards. He is the co-founder of the BASIS Scottsdale and BASIS Tucson schools and is the Co-CEO of BASIS Educational Group, an educational management organization for BASIS Schools Inc. Prior to his involvement with BASIS, Dr. Block was a Professor of Economics, Professor of Law and Director of the Office of Economic Education at the University of Arizona. Dr. Block also held positions as a Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Fife Symington’s office, a Commissioner for the United States Sentencing Commission, and the Director of the Center for Economic Studies of the Justice System at the Hoover Institution. He has worked as a consultant to the World Bank, the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Arizona Corporation Commission’s Securities Division, and the Office of the State Attorney General’s Antitrust Division, among others. Throughout his career, he has published over 30 works. Dr. Block received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.
Moderator
Michael Crow
President, Arizona State University
Michael M. Crow became the 16th president of Arizona State University on July 1, 2002. He is guiding the transformation of ASU into one of the nation's leading public metropolitan research universities, one that is directly engaged in the economic, social, and cultural vitality of its region. Under his direction the university pursues teaching, research, and creative excellence focused on the major challenges and questions of our time, as well as those central to the building of a sustainable environment and economy for Arizona. He has committed the university to global engagement, and to setting a new standard for public service.
Since he took office, ASU has marked a number of important milestones, including the establishment of major interdisciplinary research initiatives such as the Biodesign Institute; the Global Institute for Sustainability; and MacroTechnology Works, a program integrating science and technology for large-scale applications, including the Flexible Display Center, a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army. Under his direction ASU has initiated a dramatic research infrastructure expansion to create more than one million square feet of new research space, and has announced naming gifts endowing the W. P. Carey School of Business, the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.
Prior to joining ASU, he was executive vice provost of Columbia University, where he also was professor of science and technology policy in the School of International and Public Affairs. As chief strategist of Columbia's research enterprise, he led technology and innovation transfer operations, establishing Columbia Innovation Enterprises (now Science and Technology Ventures), the Strategic Initiative Program, and the Columbia Digital Media Initiative, as well as advancing interdisciplinary program development.
He played the lead role in the creation of the Columbia Earth Institute (CEI), and helped found the Center for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) in Washington, D.C., a think tank dedicated to linking science and technology to desired social, economic, and environmental outcomes. In 2003 CSPO was reestablished at ASU as the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes.
A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, he is the author of books and articles relating to the analysis of research organizations, technology transfer, science and technology policy, and the practice and theory of public policy.