Jenny Buccos, founder and director of ProjectExplorer.org will present this year’s keynote address during the 6th Annual Chicago International Education Conference. Ms. Buccos is a multi-award winning director & producer. In 2003, before the existence of YouTube, she founded ProjectExplorer.org, a free multimedia website designed to educate primary and secondary school students about global cultures and histories. Over the last 10 years, she has directed/produced nearly 500 short films for ProjectExplorer.org working with leaders and world-renowned organizations including Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The British Museum, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action. She has spoken at three TEDx conferences and regularly lectures on the importance of global competency in primary and secondary education.

Buccos is the two-time recipient of the GOLD Parent’s Choice Award for Excellence in Educational Programming. She is a 2010 recipient of a National Award for Citizen Diplomacy; honored alongside Academy Award winner Robert Redford for her work as a citizen diplomat. In July 2012, she was recognized by the Obama Administration as a White House Champion of Change. In February 2013, Buccos was recognized as one of the National School Boards Association’s “20 to Watch.” This award recognizes emerging leaders within the EdTech community who have the potential to impact the field for the next 20 years.

This event is free and open to all interested individuals, and is primarily designed for K-12 teachers and administrators.

Organized by the University of Chicago Center for International Studies and cosponsored with generous support from the Neighborhood Schools Program, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, Southern Asia at Chicago, the Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies, the Center for East Asian Studies, the Smart Museum, the Oriental Institute, and the International House Global Voices Lecture Series.