Each day, conference participants will have the opportunity to listen to brief keynote and welcome messages from our distinguished guests. They will share their experiences as readers, writers, and literacy influencers followed by an interactive question and answer period. The conference organizers are very grateful for the support these leaders have provided to make this conference a reality. 

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Francis J. Ricciardone

Francis J. Ricciardone was appointed the 12th President of The American University in Cairo and began his term on July 1, 2016. He had served as a Foreign Service Officer from 1978-2014, including appointments as U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Turkey, and the Philippines, and Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan. After graduating from Dartmouth College Summa Cum Laude in 1973, he received a Fulbright Scholarship and taught in American international schools in Trieste, Italy, and Tehran, Iran. From 2014-2016 he was Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. He was a distinguished scholar at the US Institute of Peace in 2008-2009. He speaks English, Arabic, Turkish, Italian, and French. He is married to Dr. Marie Ricciardone, a molecular biologist.

Erik J. Bitterbaum, Ph.D.

Erik J. Bitterbaum, Ph.D., president of SUNY Cortland since 2003, has overseen a physical and cultural transformation of campus and expanded the university's relevance in the community, the region and the world. As president, he has guided nearly $300 million in new construction and renovation on campus, including a state-of-the-art science complex, the creation of New York’s “greenest” residence hall and the most unique and comprehensive student recreational facility in the 64-campus SUNY system. President Bitterbaum’s commitment to diversity is reflected by the growth of students from underrepresented groups from roughly 4% of the student population when he arrived to nearly 25% in 2017.
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Leader of the largest teacher education program in SUNY and one of the most respected programs in the nation, President Bitterbaum is a commissioner of the national Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Preparation (CAEP), and he guided the university to achieve reaccreditation from NCATE and Middle States. A biologist who specializes in ornithology, President Bitterbaum previously served as president of West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

Dr. Tarek Shawqi, the Minister of Education & Technical Education

Tarek Galal Shawki is the Minister of Education and Technical Education in Egypt. He was the Dean of the School of Sciences and Engineering at The American University in Cairo. This academic assignment started on 1 September 2012 following a four and a half years tenure as the Director of the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science in Arab States [2008-2012] located in Cairo, Egypt.
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Prior to his UNESCO Cairo Office appointment in June 2008, he was the Chief of the Section for "ICTs in Education, Science and Culture" within the "Information Society Division" in UNESCO headquarters (Paris, France). Shawki has served as the Regional Advisor for Communications and Information at the UNESCO Cairo Office (UCO) between January 1999 and November 2005. The UCO is a regional office for science, technology, and information for Arab states.