The Piedmont Education Foundation’s popular Education Speaker Series (ESS) returns with a robust mix of virtual and in-person events. For the last nine years, ESS has invited a mix of local and nationally-known speakers to address the PUSD community on a range of topics related to raising healthy children and young adults. (See past speakers HERE.)
The fall 2021 events will be held via Zoom with spring events (starting in January 2022) expected to be offered in-person. Unless noted otherwise, all programs begin at 7:30 p.m. PEF staff and speaker series coordinator Lisa Peters advises checking the website for information about the latest COVID-19 protocols and updates. That includes the possibility of more speakers to be added (but yet to be confirmed) in spring 2022. ESS information and tickets can be found on the PEF Store.
September 28, 2021 | Christine Carter, Ph.D
Christine Carter, Ph.D. is a sociologist at the University of California Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. With a gift for melding up-to-date findings in neuroscience, sociology, and social psychology with real-world experience as the mother of four teenagers, Carter is infinitely relatable and approachable. Her presentation, which includes a Q&A, promises to offer parents and educators “realistic ways to help preteens, teens, and college-age students find focus and fulfillment.”
October 12, 2021 | Allison Briscoe-Smith, Ph.D
Allison Briscoe-Smith, Ph.D, is the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wright Institute. After attending Harvard University and thereafter receiving her clinical psychology doctoral degree from the University of California Berkeley, she followed her longtime interest in trauma and ethnic minority mental health through an internship and postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. Much of her work has been centered around developing programs for children who have experienced trauma and homelessness. Briscoe-Smith’s services as a therapist and consultant are offered in schools, privately to individuals, and to a number of Bay Area nonprofits.
November 2, 2021 | Ron Lieber
Ron Lieber is the author of The Opposite of Spoiled: Raising Kids Who Are Grounded, Generous, and Smart About Money, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller released in 2015. His latest book, The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make, was published by HarperCollins in January 2021. Expect Lieber to lay out a roadmap for grounding children in steady financial wisdom and beneficial investments that will last a lifetime.
January 25, 2022 | Mike Robbins
Mike Robbins will appear live in ESS’ first in-person event (subject to change, but presently scheduled to be live after nearly two years of pandemic Zooming). After a brief career as a professional baseball player and a stint with internet start-ups, Robbins developed expertise in teamwork, leadership, and emotional intelligence. He is the author of five books, Focus on the Good Stuff, Be Yourself Everyone Else is Already Taken, Nothing Changes Until You Do, Bring Your Whole Self to Work, and We’re All in This Together: Creating a Team Culture of High Performance, Trust, and Belonging.
March 1, 2022 | Natasha Singh
Natasha Singh is an educational consultant and sexual literacy educator who assists schools, parents, and children in developing language and tools to address some of life’s most complex topics. By establishing communication circles around communities, Singh trains faculty in schools and parents in homes to hold conversations with children about sexuality, consent and sexual harm prevention; anti-racism, healthy friendships, racial/sexual stereotypes, media/porn literacy, gender literacy, masculinity and more.
