5th Annual Governor Victor Atiyeh Leadership in Education Awards

by | Feb 6, 2016 | Events, Features, Uncategorized

Portland, February 2nd, 2016. Concordia University hosted the 5th Annual Governor Victor Atiyeh Leadership in Education Awards and Carl Talton was honored as a community leader who has made significant contributions to improving education in the Pacific Northwest and his S.T.E.A.M advocacy. (Photo credit, Andie Petkus)

Those who value his contributions took time to sing Carl Talton’s praises in this tribute video.

Charton received a standing ovation from the hundreds of attendees.

Carl Talton received a standing ovation from the hundreds of attendees.

Talton has dedicated his life to enriching and improving the lives of Portland residents. He has a 40-year record of community service, initiating and serving on the boards of numerous organizations focused on economic growth, housing development, health issues and education.

He is a founding member of the STEAM Coalition of Northeast Portland, which works to prepare students of color for STEAM jobs – those in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Technology. He is also a founding member of the Northeast Community Development Corporation, an affordable housing developer whose mission is to improve the quality of life for the culturally diverse population of inner north/northeast Portland.

Since 1905, Concordia University has prepared teachers who make a positive difference in the lives of the children and families they serve. This award, given each year in early spring, is designed to honor one or more of those leaders for their unique and important contributions to significantly improving education in the Pacific Northwest or beyond. In particular, this award, named after Oregon's highly esteemed former Governor Victor Atiyeh for his life-long passion and leadership for education, is presented to the leader(s) whose professional, philanthropic, business, civic, and/or political actions, advocacy or other leadership has profoundly changed the odds for our children to succeed in school and in life.

The award, given each year in early spring, is designed to honor leaders for their unique and important contributions to significantly improving education in the Pacific Northwest or beyond. Named after Oregon’s esteemed former Governor Victor Atiyeh for his life-long passion and leadership for education.

Design Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, John Maeda, was this year’s keynote speaker.

Artist, graphic designer, computer scientist, educator and technical advisor to startups, John Maeda is leading a national conversation about the role artists and designers play in a new creative economy and the business impact of design. In recognition of his work bridging design, computer science and business, “Esquire” magazine named Maeda one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century. As a software engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Maeda also studied fine art and design. He later went on to earn a PhD in design from Tsukuba University’s Institute of Art and Design in Japan. At the start of his career, Maeda led a research team at the MIT Media Lab to connect design with computer science. He also created his own artwork that combined computer technology with traditional art techniques, some of which is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Cartier Foundation in Paris. In 2008, Maeda became president of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). While president, Maeda led a national movement to add an “A” for art to the acronym STEM – the federal initiative to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in education. Currently, Maeda is the design partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Silicon Valley and serves on the Board of Directors for Sonos and Wieden+Kennedy. He is also is a member of the Technical Advisory Board for Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on New Growth Models.

Artist, graphic designer, computer scientist, educator and technical advisor to startups, John Maeda is leading a national conversation about the role artists and designers play in a new creative economy and the business impact of design. In recognition of his work bridging design, computer science and business, “Esquire” magazine named Maeda one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century.

The proceeds from this event will benefit Concordia student scholarships and the 3 to PhD initiative, a public-private partnership between Concordia University, Faubion School, and Portland Public Schools as we develop a new national model to create safer, healthier, more educated communities.

Concordia University is a private nonprofit, liberal arts university in Portland, Oregon. The school of approximately 5,400 undergraduate and graduate students is affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Concordia University System. Located in Northeast Portland, the school also has branch campuses across Oregon and operates the Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho. The university has four colleges and eighteen majors. Athletic teams, known as the Cavaliers, are members of the Cascade Collegiate Conference and compete at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level.

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