Office of the Provost
and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Office of the Provost
and Vice President for Academic Affairs
We are delighted to welcome Peter Schmidt as the keynote speaker at UM's first annual Celebrate Academics event. Mr. Schmidt is the winner of the recent Chronicle of Higher Education "Build Your Own College" contest: an article about Mr. Schmidt and an article detailing the contest entry finalists are both available from the Chronicle's website.
We were struck by the similarities between his theoretical curriculum and our Global Leadership Initiative, and have invited him to campus to discuss this new model of education. He describes his talk, "Climbing a Different Mountain," this way:
"What will be the most important qualities and characteristics of pre-collegiate and collegiate education in the 21st century? The focus of this presentation will be on the importance of deep learning and the necessity to shift the educational paradigm from coverage of many topics and the emphasis on fragmented and isolated bits of information to learning in depth through engagement with disciplined work, experiential learning which enables students to build connections across the disciplines, and civic engagement which benefits both the individual and others."
Join us for Mr. Schmidt's talk on Wednesday, February 13th, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom.
Peter Schmidt has been a member of the faculty and administration of Gill St. Bernard’s School, a PK-12 independent school in Gladstone, New Jersey, since 1976.
A 1969 graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he received his B.A. degree in Religion, and a 1973 Master’s of Divinity graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Mr. Schmidt began his teaching career in 1973 in a one-room school for children from 5-10 years old in Plainfield, New Jersey where he taught until 1976. He moved to Gill St. Bernard’s School as a History and Social Science teacher in 1976 and became the Director of the Upper School at Gill St. Bernard’s in 1985, holding that position through 2008 when he became the Director of Studies, working with teachers in all grade levels at the school.
Mr. Schmidt has received Fellowships from the Council for Basic Education for his curriculum study of “The Impact of Nonviolent Passive Resistance on American History” and from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also served on the faculty for two summers, working with teachers who were in their first years of teaching. He received grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation from 1987-1998 and was the Co-Director of “A Celebration of Teaching,” a public-private collaboration which promoted teaching as a career for bright and capable high school students throughout the United States. He has facilitated workshops on education for the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Association for Secondary School Principals, and the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.
Mr. Schmidt has been married for 39 years to Randell Schmidt who is a Research Librarian and author of two books on teaching research to secondary school students. They are the parents of two sons, Joe and Geoffrey, who are both public school teachers in New York City.