Speakers & Panelists - Citizens' Civility Symposium 2010
The Citizens' Civility Symposium will bring together top civility leaders and thinkers from across the nation. Speakers include:
- The Honorable Lee Hamilton, President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
- Representative Henry Cuellar, U.S. Representative (TX-28)
- The Honorable Jim Leach, Chairman, the National Endowment for the Humanities
- The Honorable Bill Archer, Former Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee
- Mr. Eric Gnezda, Singer-songwriter, speaker, author and educator
- Dr. P. M. Forni, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Civility Project
- Dr. Os Guinness, author, social critic, and Senior Fellow at the EastWest Institute. Co-founder, Trinity Forum
- Dr. Bertie Simmons, Principal of Furr High School, Houston
- Rev. Cassandra Dahnke and Rev. Tomas Spath, Co-founders, the Institute for Civility in Government
Additional panelists wil be listed as their participation is confirmed. Please see profiles of our speakers below.
The Honorable Lee Hamilton
President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Lee H. Hamilton is president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University. He served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's ninth district, from 1965 to 1999. Since leaving the House, Hamilton has served on numerous Commissions, including the United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission), and was Vice-Chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), and as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group. He is Co-Chair of the National Security Preparedness Group with Tom Kean, Co-Chair of the National Advisory Committee to the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, co-chair of the Department of Energy Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future with Brent Scowcroft, and serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the FBI Director’s Advisory Board, the US Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil, and the CIA External Advisory Board. Hamilton is the author of numerous books, including How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, and Strengthening Congress.
Representative Henry Cuellar
U.S. Representative (TX-28)
Congressman Henry Cuellar was first sworn into office in January 2005. Prior to his election to Congress, Representative Cuellar served as Texas’ 102nd Secretary of State and as a fourteen-year member of the Texas Legislature. Congressman Cuellar is a lawyer, businessman, and educator, and is the most degreed Member serving in the House today with five advanced degrees. He has participated in two Congressional Student Forums held at university campuses in Texas by the Institute for Civility in Government.
The Honorable Jim Leach
Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities
Nominated by President Barack Obama on July 9, 2009, and confirmed by the Senate in early August, Jim Leach began his four-year term as NEH Chairman on August 12, 2009. Leach previously served 30 years representing southeastern Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the Banking and Financial Services Committee, the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus.
After leaving Congress in 2007, Leach joined the faculty at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, where he was the John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs until his confirmation as NEH chairman. In September 2007, Leach took a year’s leave of absence from Princeton to serve as interim director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Leach graduated from Princeton University, received a Master of Arts degree in Soviet politics from the School of Advanced International Studies at The John Hopkins University, and did additional graduate studies at the London School of Economics.
Leach holds eight honorary degrees and has received numerous awards.
The Honorable Bill Archer
Former Chairman, House Ways & Means Committee
The Honorable Bill Archer served as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1970 to 2001, representing the 7th Congressional District of Texas for 30 years. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Archer served as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. As he was leaving public office, Mr. Archer worked with the University of Texas to establish the Archer Center in Washington, DC, where students from the UT system can come and learn about government firsthand. He is now Senior Policy Advisor to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Archer received an LL.B. with Honors from the University of Texas, a B.B.A. with Honors from the University of Texas, and has also received numerous awards.
Mr. Eric Gnezda
Singer-songwriter, speaker, author and educator
The works of award-winning songwriter Eric Gnezda have been featured on NPR, PBS, ABC, ESPN and Nickelodeon. One of his recent songs –– Is This America? –– calls on Americans to rise above "Red State-Blue State" divisions...to foster true respect for one another...and to restore civility in our culture. Included on his CD, Songs of Hope in a Changing World, the song is garnering praise across the political spectrum. A former journalist, Eric has written for a variety of publications, and he received an Emmy nomination for a story he wrote and produced in Europe for American syndicated television. Away from the stage, Eric teaches speech at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Dr. P.M. Forni
Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Civility Project, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. P. M. Forni is an award-winning professor at Johns Hopkins University, where he has taught for the past twenty years. In 1997 he co-founded the Johns Hopkins Civility Project. An aggregation of academic and community outreach activities, the JHCP aimed at assessing the significance of civility, manners and politeness in contemporary society. He now directs The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins. A noted author and lecturer, Dr. Forni has been a guest on radio and television, including ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Sunday Morning, Oprah and BBC's Outlook. He is the author of Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct, and The Civility Solution: What to Do when People Are Rude.
Dr. Os Guinness
Author, social critic, and Senior Fellow at the EastWest Institute. Co-founder, Trinity Forum
Os Guinness is an author, social critic, and Senior Fellow of the EastWest Institute in New York. Great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War II where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. Os has written or edited more than twenty five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth, and A Case for Civility. Previously, Os was a freelance reporter with the BBC. Since coming to the United States in 1984, he has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, and is a frequent speaker and seminar leader in both the U.S. and Europe. As a European visitor to this country and a great admirer but detached observer of American culture today, he stands in the long tradition of outside voices who have contributed so much to America’s ongoing discussion about the state of the union.
Dr. Bertie Simmons
Principal of Furr High School, Houston, Texas
Dr. Bertie Simmons has been an educator for 48 years, holding numerous positions within the Houston Independent School District. Since 2000, she has been the principal at Furr High School, and in that role has turned the school and its student body around from one of hopelessness, violence, and fear to one of creativity, determination and achievement. Dr. Simmons was recently recognized for her work when she received the Texas State HEB Secondary Principal of the Year Award in 2009, the most recent in a long line of recognitions.
Rev. Cassandra Dahnke and Rev. Tomas Spath
Co-founders, the Institute for Civility in Government
Cassandra Dahnke and Tomas Spath are the co-founders of the Institute for Civility in Government. Both are Presbyterian pastors (in Houston and Crockett, Texas respectively) who have led legislative conferences to Washington, DC since 1991 – first for adults, and now primarily for high school students from areas with high “at-risk” populations. As co-founders, they have addressed schools, civic organizations, faith communities, and members of Congress. They are co-authors, along with Donna Bowling, of Reclaiming Civility in the Public Square – 10 Rules That Work.