2027 Keynote Speakers

Cate Denial

Catherine (Cate) Denial, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Center for Learning Innovation at the University of Minnesota-Rochester. A winner of the American Historical Association’s Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award, she has served as a member of the Educational Advisory Committee of the Digital Public Library of America, and as a Learned Scholar for the National Historic Landmarks division of the National Park Service. Cate currently sits on the board of Commonplace: A Journal of Early American Life. She has held an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation fellowship from the American Philosophical Society, and she is an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society.

From 2001 to 2011 Cate served as the Lead Historian for Bringing History Home, a professional development program for K-12 educators funded by $3m from the U.S. Department of Education. Her latest book, A Pedagogy of Kindness argues that higher education needs to get aggressively and determinedly kind. A Pedagogy of Kindness is about attending to justice, believing people, and believing in people. It’s a transformational discipline.

From 2022 to 2023, Cate was PI on a $150,000 grant awarded to Knox College by the Mellon Foundation, bringing together thirty-six participants from across higher education in the United States to explore “Pedagogies, Communities, and Practices of Care in the Academy After COVID-19.” She is also a pedagogical consultant who works with individuals, departments, and institutions in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Canada, and Australia.

Peter Liljedahl

Peter Liljedahl is a former math teacher and current professor of Mathematics Education known for his significant contributions to the field of mathematics education, particularly in the development of "Building Thinking Classrooms." With a passion for fostering deep mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills, Peter has dedicated his career to reshaping classroom environments. His work emphasizes collaborative learning, problem-solving, and student engagement, leading to more effective and meaningful mathematics education experiences. Through his innovative teaching methods and research, Peter continues to inspire educators worldwide to create dynamic and thought-provoking learning spaces.

Jessica Zeller

Jessica Zeller, Ph.D., MFA, is a Professor of Dance in the TCU School for Classical & Contemporary Dance. She is persistent in her efforts to figure out how the teaching of ballet could better center student agency, autonomy, and equity in a field whose traditionally authoritarian pedagogies are both historical and embodied. Zeller brings this line of inquiry to students in ballet technique, repertoire, and pedagogy courses; and in historical and critical studies courses in dance. Her second book, Humanizing Ballet Pedagogies: Philosophies, Perspectives, and Praxis for Teaching Ballet was published by Routledge in 2025.