18 May 2010, Oakland, CA – Paul Brest, President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will serve as the keynote speaker at the college’s 2010 commencement ceremonies. Brest will be recognized for his leadership in education and will share his vision for California’s students and community colleges in particular.
“We are deeply honored to welcome Mr. Brest into the Laney community for this important day,” said Dr. Elnora Webb, president of Laney College. “Mr. Brest and the Hewlett Foundation have both shown unwavering dedication to the ideals of student achievement and increased access to learning opportunities, ideals that we hold at the heart of our Laney College educational mission.”
As president of the Hewlett Foundation, Brest oversees a foundation with programs spanning education, the arts, population, global development, and the environment for one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations. In 2009 alone, the Hewlett Foundation disbursed over $345 million in grants and gifts. The foundation’s educational grantmaking is directed towards improving education for California students, equalizing educational opportunities in the United States and throughout the world through Open Educational Resources, and improving achievement in disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Hewlett Foundation has undertaken an array of initiatives involving community colleges, including the “Community College Open Textbook Project,” an initiative to provide free, online textbooks to students. (more…)
