Community invited to attend Horizon Symposium on Nov. 15
October 31, 2019Award-winning journalist and author Anya Kamenetz will be keynote speaker
Yuma, AZ (October 31, 2019) – Arizona Western College is bringing back the Horizon Symposium and inviting the public to come be a part of the conversation again, and to dream big about local education.
The Horizon Symposium is a half-day, TED Talk-style interactive event where college staff will work with community members to imagine a thriving, sustainable future for higher education in the region through brief, engaging presentations, and then share ideas and brainstorm in hosted focus groups. Input from all areas of the community are welcome including: parents, educators, hiring managers, business people, elected officials, and nonprofits.
Registration is free for this community event, which will be held on Friday, Nov. 15, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Schoening Conference Center at the AWC Yuma Campus, 2020 S. Avenue 8E. Visit the event page here to sign up. The symposium will also be streamed live to AWC Parker Learning Center and San Luis Learning Center via television broadcast.
Attendees will hear from noted journalist and author Anya Kamenetz as well as from Strategic Planning leaders who will be speaking about the work that has been done by faculty and staff on the AWC Strategic Plan since the last symposium was held in 2017. When the initial symposium was held two years ago, nearly 480 people participated in the event from Yuma, Parker, and San Luis campuses. Based on a post-event online survey, the Horizon Symposium participant mix was diverse, with almost 50 percent coming from external groups. Impact statements gathered from focus groups during the event were considered by the Strategic Planning Task Force and influenced the development of strategies and objectives that are now in the process of being implemented as part of the AWC Strategic Plan.
More about Anya Kamenetz: She is endlessly curious about learning and the future. Kamenetz is an author, a speaker, a journalist for NPR, and a mom. She was named a 2010 Game Changer in Education by the Huffington Post and won 2009, 2010, and 2015 National Awards from the Education Writers Association. Her NPR Ed team also won a 2017 Edward R. Murrow award for Innovation from the Radio Television Digital News Association.
Breakfast and refreshments will be served during the symposium.
Comments about the strategic plan can also be made to strategic.planning@azwestern.edu.
Event schedule:
8:30am - Registration and breakfast
9:10am - Keynote - Anya Kamenetz, award-winning journalist & author
Innovation in Education: What the Future Holds
10:00 am - ED Talks (7 mins each) - related to the AWC Strategic Plan
10:35 am - Topic-specific Community Focus Groups
11:30am - High-level findings and wrap-up
Contact:
Lori Stofft
Vice President for Advancement
Arizona Western College
Lori.Stofft@azwestern.edu
(928) 314-9595