Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC welcomes empowerment guru Richard Gerver to District In-service

Photos and story by James Hill

The 2012 District In-Service for staff and faculty is going to amp up the empowerment.

The program starts at 8:30 a.m., Monday, Sept. 17, in the HT Building gymnasium, Sylvania Campus. The guest speaker for this year’s in-service is Richard Gerver, who has been described as one of the most inspirational leaders of his generation. The three core principles that underpin Gerver¡¯s philosophy are communication, empowerment and impact.

Gerver shares his expertise and experience on cultural and organizational transformation, human development, leadership, creativity and innovation. He began his working life as an actor who worked as an advertising copywriter to make ends meet. He began a teaching career in 1992 and rose through the ranks fast being identified by the school¡¯s inspectorate in 1997 as one of the most outstanding teachers in the country.

By 2005, he had won the prestigious ¡°School Head Teacher of the Year Award¡± at the British National Teaching Awards for his work in leading a school on the brink of closure to becoming one of the most innovative in the world. He did that by developing an organizational philosophy of living, learning and
laughing which reached full development during his time as Head Teacher.

By 2003, Gerver was working with Tony Blair¡¯s Government as an adviser on education policy. In 2006, his work was celebrated at The UNESCO World Arts Education Conference in Lisbon, Portugal and in the same year he was invited to Shanghai to speak about education transformation to members of the Chinese Government. Gerver still plays a part in education, he was a co-founder of The Curriculum Foundation. He works around the world sharing his experiences and expertise and has advised The Blue Man Group as they develop their own school in New York. He is about to launch two new consultancy teams to help provide support beyond his speeches; Think Again Education and Think Again Change.

Gerver works closely with Sir Ken Robinson on developing the awareness of human potential and creativity and features in Robinson¡¯s best-selling book, “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.” He also works as an author and media commentator and is a regular contributor in the British print media; writing for The Times and The Daily Telegraph, as well as on the BBC¡ªmost recently on breakfast television and The Politics Show.