2009 Annual Conference Speakers

AIEA is pleased to announce the following keynote speakers at the 2009 AIEA Conference:

Monday, February 23, Opening Plenary Speaker: John Stremlau, Carter Center

Tuesday, February 24, Morning Plenary Speaker: Colleen McEdwards, CNN International Anchor

Wednesday, February 25, Plenary Luncheon Speaker: Nontombi Naomi Tutu

The Association of International Education Administrators is pleased to announce that Ms. Nontombi Naomi Tutu will be a keynote speaker on Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at the 2009 AIEA Conference. Her bio follows. Please check back for details on other keynote speakers as they become available.

Nontombi Naomi Tutu

The challenges of growing black and female in apartheid South Africa has led Naomi Tutu to her present as an activist for human rights.  Those experiences taught how much we all lose when any of us is judged purely on physical attributes.  In her speeches she blends the passion for human dignity with humor and personal stories.

Ms Tutu is the third child Archbishop Desmond and Nomalizo Leah Tutu.  She was born in South Africa and has also lived in Lesotho, the United Kingdom and the United States.  She was educated in Swaziland, the US and England, and has divide her adult life between South Africa and the US.   Growing up the ‘daughter of …’ has offered Naomi Tutu many opportunities and challenges in her life.  Most important of these has been the challenge to find her own place in the world.  She has taken up the challenge and channeled the opportunities that she has been given to raise her voice as a champion for the dignity of all.

Her professional experience ranges from being a development consultant in West Africa, to being program coordinator for programs on Race and Gender and Gender-based Violence in Education at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town.  In addition Ms Tutu has taught at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut and Brevard College in North Carolina.

She started her public speaking as a college student at Berea College in Kentucky in the 1970’s when she was invited to speak at churches, community groups and colleges and universities about her experiences growing up in apartheid South Africa.  Since that time she has become a much sought after speaker to groups as varied as business associations, professional conferences, elected officials and church and civic organizations.  Ms Tutu has also led Truth and Reconciliation Workshops for groups dealing with different types of conflict.  Together with Rose Bator she presents a workshop titled Building Bridges dealing with issues of race and racism.  The two also lead women’s retreats through their organization Sister Sojourner.  They are also writing a book provisionally titled I Don’t Think of You as Black: Honest Conversations on Race and Racism.

In addition to speaking, Ms Tutu is a consultant to two organizations which reflect the breadth of her involvement in issues of human rights.  The organizations are the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV), founded by renowned author Riane Eisler and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams, and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa (FHSSA). 

John Stremlau, Ph.D. Vice President, Peace Programs

Dr. John Stremlau is vice president for peace programs at The Carter Center, named to the post in January 2006. He oversees the Center's programs to advance human rights, democracy and conflict resolution globally, regional cooperation in the Americas, and promotion of grassroots democracy, rule of law, and social justice in China.

For the past eight years he resided in South Africa where he was Jan Smuts Professor and Head of International Relations and the founding director of the Centre for Africa's International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Previously, he served as senior advisor to the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict in Washington, D.C. (1994-1998), deputy-director for policy planning in the office of the U.S. Secretary of State (1989-1994), strategic planning officer for the World Bank (1988-1989), and an officer of the Rockefeller Foundation (1974-1987), directing its international relations division from 1984-1987.

At the Rockefeller Foundation, his responsibilities included supporting research and training in the fields of international security, arms control, and international economic cooperation. He also administered a special trustee-supported program to fund black leadership development in South Africa.

Dr. Stremlau publishes extensively on foreign affairs and is a frequent media commentator on international network news programs. He authored "The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War," and edited several books. He comments frequently on foreign affairs, including more than 200 opinion pieces for South African and international media since 1998.

Colleen McEdwards World News CNN International

Colleen McEdwards is anchor of World News on CNN International. Before joining CNN, she worked for the CBC in various regions of Canada. She covered politics for six years, reporting on several elections, and anchored the CBC's evening newscast. During her 15 years as a broadcast journalist, McEdwards has covered such major international stories as the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the final pullout of Soviet troops from the Czech Republic, political unrest in Haiti and the Lockerbie bombing trial. McEdwards has received several awards for her political reporting, including the New York Festival Award and a Worldfest Houston Award. She studied Russian in St. Petersburg and honed her French conversational skills while living in Canada and Europe. McEdwards has received several awards for her political reporting, including the New York Festival Award in 1992 and a Worldfest Houston Award in 1996. McEdwards earned an honor's degree in English and Russian literature from the University of Waterloo. She is the 1999 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Waterloo. She studied Russian in St. Petersburg and honed her French conversational skills while living in Canada and Europe.