Keynote Speakers

Anya Kamenetz

Bill Murphy Luncheon, Saturday June 11

Anya Kamenetz brings an entirely unexpected perspective on the future of knowledge, talent, and innovation. She delivers companies core insights into change, innovation, technology, and talent.

Kamenetz was one of the youngest ever columnists for the Village Voice, where she earned a Pulitzer prize nomination for her reporting on the economic challenges facing Generation Next. The series later became a highly regarded book entitled Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young. Written when she was just 24, Generation Debt (Riverhead Books, 2006), drew national media attention and passionate online debate with its argument that young people are facing unique and unprecedented economic challenges.

Her new book, DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, (Chelsea Green, 2010) tells the story of how technology is disrupting one of the most tradition-bound industries in the country--no industry is safe. It’s an important book about talent, human capital, and how our institutions must evolve to meet the challenges of the next century.

She is a sought-after media expert regularly appearing on major news networks including CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CNBC, and NPR. Currently, she covers the future of business, including sustainability and social entrepreneurship, as a writer for Fast Company magazine.

Dr. Temple Grandin

Gary Hermance Luncheon, Sunday June 12

Animal behavioral scientist Dr. Temple Grandin is a strong advocate for more humane livestock handling, and has designed numerous innovations at such facilities that help to reduce stress in animals during their final minutes. She has devoted her career to improving conditions at the large processing plants that slaughter some of the 40 billion pounds of cattle and pigs for human consumption every year in the United States.

Grandin is an animal science professor at Colorado State University where she conducts ongoing research on animal handling systems and teaches courses on livestock handling and facility design. Grandin also shares animal handling and animal welfare expertise with Colorado ranchers and farmers. She regularly consults with large feedlots, commercial meat packers, organic and natural livestock producers, ranches, and major corporations including Wendy’s International, Burger King, Whole Foods, Chipotle and McDonald’s Corporation.

Grandin has published several hundred industry publications, book chapters and technical papers on animal handling, 45 refereed journal articles, and seven books including New York Times best seller Animals in Translation. She has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, and been featured in several magazines. In 2010 she was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential people.

She has received numerous awards including the Meritorious Achievement Award from the Livestock Conservation Institute, the Richard L. Knowlton Award from Meat Marketing and Technology Magazine, the Industry Advancement Award from the American Meat Institute and the Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

At age two Grandin had no speech and showed signs of severe autism. Her mother defied the advice of the doctors and kept her out of an institution. Many hours of speech therapy and intensive teaching helped Grandin learn to talk. Despite a childhood of constant teasing, Grandin persevered. Her high school science teacher and experiences on her aunt’s Arizona ranch motivated Grandin to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer.

Grandin holds a B.A. from Fanklin Pierce College (1970), an M.S. in Animal Science from Arizona State University (1975), and a Ph.D. in Animal Science from the University of Illinois (1989).

In 2010, HBO premiered a movie about Grandin’s early life and career with the livestock industry. The movie received seven Emmy awards including Best Actress in a Drama for Claire Danes.

Sources: Dr. Temple Grandin and www.notablebiographies.com

Dr. Rosa Martey

Keynote Luncheon, Monday June 13

Game On! Applying game design principles to research, teaching, and outreach strategies

Dr. Rosa Mikeal Martey is an assistant professor in the department of Journalism & Technical Communication at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on online information-seeking and social interaction through digital technologies with a focus on gender, identity, and social norms. Current research includes includes a study of perceptions of social norms and politics on Facebook, and research on game design and applying game principles in university instruction. She is also currently examining identity and group dynamics in Second Life and World of Warcraft as part of a large federally funded research project.

Prior to her graduate work, Martey did corporate and community research in advertising and non-profit organizations, as well as strategic planning and website design. Recent publications can be found in Popular Communication, New Media & Society, and Information, Communication & Society. She teaches courses in computer-mediated communication, digital research methods and the social impact of digital technologies. Martey was recently featured in The Denver Post.

Links:

New Media & Society
Visual spaces, norm governed places: the influence of spatial context online

Information, Communication & Society
FIND MORE, DO MORE, REVEAL LESS:
Women's strategies for navigating gendered contexts online

The Denver Post
Academics study the avatar life and like what they see

Larry Dreiling

ACE 2011 Reuben Brigham Award Recipient, Monday June 13

Denver native Larry Dreiling travels an average of 35,000 miles a year visiting farmers and ranchers and sharing the secrets of their success with over 50,000 High Plains Journal subscribers each week. Dreiling joined High Plains Journal as an associate editor in 1989 as was named a senior field editor in 2001.

In 1999, Dreiling received NAAJ's prestigious J.S. Russell Memorial Award. And, in 2004, Dreiling was named an AAEA Master Writer. Dreiling also is an active member of the National Agri-Marketing Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists and is a non-resident member of the National Press Club of Washington, DC.

Dreiling is the first person to hold the title of president of both of the nation's major agricultural reporting groups. He was President of the American Agricultural Editors¹ Association from 2000-01, and president of the Association of North American Agricultural Journalists from 2005-06.

Biographical Sketch of Larry Dreiling

About the Reuben Brigham Award

The Reuben Brigham Award is offered in memory of Reuben Brigham (1887-1946), who served as an extension editor in Maryland. The award, established in 1947, is reserved for a communicator who has made a major contribution in the field of agriculture, natural resources, or life and human sciences at the regional, national or international level. Active and retired members of ACE, a land-grant college or university staff, or USDA staffs are not eligible for the award. More information and a list of past awardees is available on the ACE website.

Rocky Mountain National Park
from the Denver area
Photo by: B. Katz (joiseyshowaa)