OUR LECTURERS

The DaVinci Institute has welcomed outstanding speakers from across the United States and from the United Kingdom to Oklahoma in recent years.  Our speakers have addressed creativity in the arts, humanities, sciences, and education from a range of perspectives.

Recent Lectures

Dennis W. Cheek

The 2010 banquet speaker was Dr. Dennis Cheek ,Senior Fellow and former Vice President of Education at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation – the foundation of entrepreneurship.  While at Kauffman, he directed its programs in youth entrepreneurship, the future of learning, education research and policy, and science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (STEM) education, as well as supervising community activities in the Kansas City Metro area. Dennis is a member of the teaching faculty for the midcareer doctoral program in educational leadership of the Graduate School of Education and a lecturer in the Wharton School joint doctoral program for work-based learning at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been an adjunct faculty member at eight other colleges and universities, including Pennsylvania State University - Great Valley, University of Rhode Island, University of Maryland European Division, and Empire State College – SUNY. He has authored, edited or contributed to over 800 publications and multimedia products and currently serves on the editorial or manuscript review boards of the International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Odyssey, Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, American Biology Teacher, The Science Teacher, and Philosophy of Science.  He is the former editor of both the Journal of Technology Studies and STS Today.

Rich Taylor The 2009 banquet speaker was Enid native and University of Oklahoma alumnus Rich Taylor, dean of the University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. whose 26-year career at Walt Disney World was marked with leadership positions from Florida to Paris.    For the past 10 years, Taylor led one of the world’s largest live entertainment organizations as vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment and Costuming at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. Taylor, who began his career at Walt Disney World in 1980, held a variety of increasingly responsible positions during his Disney career, including corporate director of creative development and communications; manager of special events; manager of creative show development; division manager of talent casting and resources for Walt Disney World Creative Entertainment; and director of entertainment for Disneyland Paris, where he headed the conceptual creative design and show development group, among others. In January 2000, as executive producer, he and Walt Disney World Entertainment produced the Super Bowl halftime show. Taylor earned his bachelor of fine arts degree from OU in 1972. During his college career, he received numerous awards and honors, including Big Man on Campus and Outstanding Senior as well as being named to Pe-et honor society. He also founded and directed the OU Student Entertainers, served as the show director and master of ceremonies for two Sooner Scandals and performed in University Sing plus several OU School of Music and OU School of Drama choral, opera and theatrical productions.

Dr. Elizabeth Catlos Dr. Catlos is an excellent representative of a superlative young faculty member doing nationally recognized research in Oklahoma.  Her research focuses on understanding the evolution and impact of the growth of mountain ranges. Her research seeks to discover when, why, and how the Earth’s topography is created. These simple questions have complex answers and have led her to discover new methods for understanding the Earth’s history.  Her work dating allanite and other minerals from a major fault that marks the break in slope of the Himalayas resulted in the conclusion that the structure was active more recently than thought.  The results overturned the understanding by which the Himalayas were thought to be created, and directly impacted the assessment of seismic activity in Nepal and India.  In 2006, she was awarded the Donath Medal from the Geological Society of America for best young geologist.  In 2007, Smithsonian Magazine featured Dr. Catlos one of “America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences: 37 Under [the age of] 36.”  Dr. Elizabeth Catlos is an Associate Professor in the Boone Pickens School of Geology at Oklahoma State University

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Sir John Pendry Chair in Theoretical Solid State Physics Imperial College, London University in the United Kingdom “Invisible Cloaks and a Perfect Lens” at the following locations:   Thursday, March 8th, 2007 - Constitution Hall, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond - 3 p.m.   Friday, March 9th, 2007 - ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater - 7 p.m.

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Mr. Peter Donaldson The DaVinci Institute, the University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma A+ Schools, and the Downtown Consortium hosted Mr. Peter Donaldson on February 15-19, 2007.  Mr. Donaldson appeared as Leonardo da Vinci in his one-man presentation “A Morning with Leonardo da Vinci” at several venues.  For more information on Peter Donaldson, please visit his website at www.peterdonaldson.net .

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Dr. Eric Maisel

On February 2, 2007 the DaVinci Institute, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University hosted a workshop by Dr. Eric Maisel, an internationally known creativity coach.  His workshop was entitled “Coaching the Artist Within.”  For more information on Eric Maisel, please visit his website at www.ericmaisel.com .

DaVinci Institute   presented Guest Lecturer

University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Kansas State University

In a seminar,
“Nanotechnology: A New Science; A New Business; A New Environmental Concern”
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
1:30 – 3:00 p.m.

For more information, call 405.225.9134 , or e-mail davinci@osrhe.edu .

Dr. Kenneth J. Klabunde

The Art of Nelson Shanks:  Intersection of History & Personality

On Tuesday, January 31, 2006, DaVinci Institute and the Greater Oklahoma City Downtown College Consortium hosted a Public Lecture featuring Nelson Shanks , one of the world's preeminent portraitists. Described by the National Gallery of Art Chief of Exhibits as "the most talented contemporary traditional portraitist," Mr. Shanks has been commissioned to paint portraits of some of the world’s most famous and powerful individuals of recent years including Pope John Paul II, Diana, Princess of Wales, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Luciano Pavarotti, and numerous others. 

For more information about Nelson Shanks and his art, please go to www.nelsonshanks.com 

Nelson Shanks: A Self-Portrait

Other recent speakers include:

Dr. Bulent Atalay
Professor of Physics, University of Mary Washington,
Author of Math and the Mona Lisa (2004)
http://www.bulentatalay.com/

Dr. Jane Bonbright
Executive Director, National Dance Education Organization
http://www.ndeo.org/whoweare.asp

Ben Cameron
Executive Director, Theatre Communications Group, New York
http://www.tcg.org/
TCG recipient of 2005 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre

Dr. Eliot Eisner
Professor of Education and Professor of Art, Stanford University
Author of The Arts and the Creation of Mind (2002)
http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/contents/elliot_w_eisner.html

Dr. David Elliott
Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, New York University
Author of Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education (1995)
http://education.nyu.edu/music/faculty/elliott_david.html

Dr. Richard Florida
Hirst Professor, George Mason University School of Public Policy and founder of the Creativity Group Author of The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) and The Flight of the Creative Class (2005)
http://www.creativeclass.org/

Camille Hardy
Popular Balanchine Project, Research Team Principal Researcher
former Professor of Dance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Author of the 1987 Report to Congress: "State of the Arts: Dance"
http://www.balanchine.org/03/popularbalanchine.html

Dr. Brian Lang
Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of St. Andrews
Former Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman, the British Library

Sir Ken Robinson
Senior Advisor, J. Paul Getty Center, LA
Author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (2001)
http://www.principalvoices.com/voices/ken-robinson-bio.html

Barbara Shepherd
Senior Project Director, The Kennedy Center
Partners in Education Program
Co-author of  An Artist's Handbook: Preparing to Lead Professional Development Workshops for Teachers
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/partners/handbook.html