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Trio of keynote speakers announced for program of 2013 NSBA national conference in San Diego next April

An Oscar-winning actress, an education researcher of international renown and a former kid from the Bronx in New York who has worked for NASA and on presidential commissioners will bring the keynote remarks at the National School Boards Association’s annual conference, April 13-15 in San Diego.

Geena Davis

From “Thelma and Louise” to “The Accidental Tourist,” Geena Davis is probably best known as an Academy Award-winning actress. But her work off the screen is even more impressive. A member of Mensa, she founded the non-profit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. She works with film and television creators to reduce gender stereotyping and increase the number of female characters in media targeted for children 11 and under. Hear from Davis how media plays a key role in children’s development, and how her organization is making a difference.


Neil deGrasse Tyson


Educated in the public schools of New York City, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson took his passion for science to Harvard and Columbia and then went on to become one of the world’s most engaging and passionate science advocates. From PBS to NASA to Presidential Commissions, organizations have depended on Tyson’s down-to-earth approach to astrophysics. He has been a frequent guest on The Daily ShowThe Colbert ReportReal Time with Bill Maher, and Jeopardy! In his own words, he wants to reach “all the people who never knew how much they’d love learning about space and science.”

Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch is a research professor of education at New York University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Internationally acclaimed for her expertise on past and present education, her most recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, makes the case that public education today is in peril and offers a clear prescription for improving public schools.

For more on the 2013 NSBA conference, including early registration, click here  http://annualconference.nsba.org/.