Special Guests
The New England Region is honored to welcome these special speakers to the 2008 New England Regional Convention:
Li Ciaglo – “We Are All One”
Ms. Ciaglo is Director of the Performing Arts at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Special Topics in Dance Instructor at Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield, Connecticut. She has directed and choreographed for numerous theatre, dance, and opera companies throughout the Northeast, receiving multiple awards along the way. Ms. Ciaglo is the past artistic director of Commonwealth Opera of Western Massachusetts and has served on numerous executive artistic boards. A frequent lecturer and guest artist at educational institutions and theatres in the United States and abroad, she uses her artistic talents to facilitate communication across cultural boundaries to help cultivate greater understanding and spiritual empowerment amongst students and community groups.
Mahmedein Mahmedein - Phi Theta Kappa International VP (Division III)
Mr. Mahmedein, a member and past officer of the Pi Kappa Chapter at Saint Louis Community College, Florissant Valley Campus in Missouri, is also a former officer for the Missouri Region. A native of the Darfur region in Sudan, Mahmedein came to the United States in 2001. Mahmedein has volunteered as a speaker for the Save Darfur Organization, was team member of the Hotel Rwanda Relief Organization, and initiated a children’s environmental education campaign. After Mahmedein receives his Associate’s degree, he plans to attend Washington University to study Global Leadership and Management. He would like to work for the United Nations in the future.
Kimmie Weeks – Youth Action International
A survivor of the Liberian Civil War, Mr. Weeks is the founder of Youth Action International, an international NGO dedicated to rebuilding war-torn areas and uplifting the affected youth. By age 13, Weeks was working with the United Nations and by 15, he founded and chaired Children’s Disarmament Campaign, which later became affiliated with UNICEF. After reporting on the use of child soldiers in the war, Weeks was threatened with assassination and received political asylum in the United States. Today, he speaks to almost 50,000 people every year and has received, among other honors, the Dr. Martin Luther King Peace Award.
Dr. Nancy Lee Wood – “Peak Oil and the Environment”
Dr. Wood is chairwoman of the Sociology and Psychology Department at Bristol Community College and a member of the executive board of the Center for Democracy and the Constitution, which works to “end corporate rights that destroy the Earth, our future, and the hope of democracy.” She is a leading expert in the field of permaculture, globalization, sustainability, and the peak oil crisis, and particularly their impact on disadvantaged groups.