ACCS Spring 2007 Workshop :: April 18-20, 2007 :: Doubletree Charlottesville

Keynote Speakers

Thursday Keynote - Rachel Smith, Director of Special Projects & Publications, New Media Consortium (NMC)

Rachel S. Smith is the Director of Special Projects & Publications for the New Media Consortium (NMC), an international consortium of colleges, universities, museums and technology companies dedicated to using new technologies to inspire, energize, stimulate, and support learning and creative expression. A specialist in project coordination, user interface design, and visual facilitation, Rachel directs NMC projects and all internal and external publications. She serves as an interorganizational liason, bringing together various groups to develop new projects. Formerly of the California State University Center for Distributed Learning, where she was involved with the development of online educational materials including MERLOT (www.merlot.org), Biology Labs On-Line, and Light Bridge, Rachel authors instructional materials, guides, and monographs on the creative and technical aspects of teaching with technology.

Friday Keynote - Brett Leake, Comedian and Motivational Speaker

Brett Leake has worked as a standup comic from 1983 until 1997, when he began working as a sit-down standup comic.

In 1998, he began to work also as a motivational speaker adding to his standup act, personal stories and what have been called 'philosophic lecturettes', that address using humor as a problem-solving device, and as a means to get more out of life. Has performed at the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, and Wolftrap. Corporate clients include IBM, Toyota, and Ford.

Brett has facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. In 1991, he became the first disabled comic to appear on NBC's The Tonight Show about which Jay Leno said, "He broke up the whole room. People realized here's a man with a disability and he's not gonna' let it bother him." Other television appearances include Entertainment Tonight and the American Comedy Awards. In 2003, public broadcasting stations around the country began running his hour-long comedy special "Laughing Matters with Brett Leake."