Keynote Speakers | Teachers College Columbia University

Lisa Miller, PhD, is Professor of Psychology and Education, Director of the Clinical Psychology Program at Columbia University's Teachers College, and founder and Executive Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute. Professor Miller’s research has been published in journals including JAMA-Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. She has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and Weekend Today as an expert psychologist. She is the author of "The Spiritual Child," which contains over a decade of research on the impact of religion and spirituality. "Every child is born a spiritual child. We all are 'hardwired' with a natural spirituality, but this inborn capacity can be strengthened into the greatest of all our human resources through parenting." She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children. Professor Miller will keynote the morning session of the conference to discuss spiritual awareness and development in childhood and adolescence. 

*Keynote and guest speakers will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

As Senior Advisor to the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Seth helps lead the Obama Administration's efforts to promote and diversify STEM education as well as improve the country's voter registration process. Previously, he founded and served as teacher, principal and superintendent of Democracy Prep, a network of 17 public charter schools in New York and DC. Under Seth’s leadership, Democracy Prep Charter School was the number one middle school in all of NYC, and Harvard researchers determined that the network is one of the most academically impactful institutions in the nation. He recently served as Senior Advisor to Secretary Arne Duncan and Superintendent in Residence at the U.S. Department of Education with a focus on education technology. 

 
Seth started his career as a teacher working in South Africa, South Korea and Massachusetts where he learned many of the best practices for serving disenfranchised communities. A zealot for civic learning and engagement, Seth has testified before Congress and been featured by dozens of media outlets, think tanks, and universities. The Truman Foundation, Common Cause, and the Prime Minister of South Korea among others, have recognized him for his contributions for social entrepreneurship and civic participation. Born and raised in Upper Manhattan, Seth was recently honored with the “Hometown Hero” award from the New York Daily News. Seth holds an Ed. M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA from Brown University. He has traveled to 63 nations on seven continents visiting schools in nearly all of them, and looks forward to seeing the remaining 132 countries with his wife Lana and twin daughters Zannah and Lennox.