- How do we help human beings grow and learn so that they can build a better future?
- Why is this the moment for transforming education?
- How can we cultivate a sense of belonging in our schools, leadership, activism and workplaces?
AERO
American Montessori Society
CO Student Leaders Institute
Colorado Association of Independent Schools
Colorado League of Charter Schools
Deeper Learning Conference
Denver Public Schools Foundation
iNACOL Symposium
Iterative Space
Montessori Public Policy Institute
National Conference of Governor’s Schools
NOW Arts Educators Conference
Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission
RISE Collaborative Space
SXSW EDU
Tattered Cover Bookstore
The Lego Ideas Conference
United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26)
United States Air Force Academy
World EduLead
- Keynote speaker
- Panel Speaker
- Panel Moderator
- Program host or MC
- My keynotes are grounded in the present, but designed to take my audience back in time to understand how we got here, so that they CAN understand their role in helping to build a better future.
- Wonderful visuals and stories help bring ideas to life for audience members.
- As an interviewer and moderator, I will bring out the best in your guests or presenters.
Ulcca is an insightful and powerful presenter and her ability to frame and lead a panel discussion is among the best I have seen at any conference. In addition to the panel, she also hosted a live question and answer session with our conference keynote speaker, Isabel Wilkerson. Not only was she well received in both endeavors by the audience of 4,000, but she was also easy to work with, authentic, and personable, and she spent extra time listening to the other speakers and interacting with our members. Ulcca would be a great addition to any team, conference, or event.
-Munir Shivji, Executive Director, American Montessori Society
Ulcca’s keynote session at the AERO conference was a highlight of the event. It created space for thinking critically about how to reframe the conversation about transforming education. The ideas were fresh and challenging and made a group of adults and youth reflect on the next step in the education revolution.
-Dr. Peter Berg, AERO
Dr. Hansen delivered an incredible keynote for our school leaders and educators from around the state. So much positive feedback came back from our audience thanking us for bringing her in to speak. She hit the right notes for us in combining what she knows and brings to the table and still was able to ensure that her message and topic were relevant to our group and she could tie it to our conference theme. What a joy to work with her, but what a great asset to our event! Ulcca is a rock star.
-Peter Mason, VP Communications, Colorado League of Charter Schools
Dr. Hansen – thank you for coming to speak with us, especially at a time when we needed to relearn what leadership is. You inspire me so much. I value education so much but right now it’s failing so many when it could be the exact thing that changes someone’s life in unimaginable ways.
-Annila, 2022 CO Student Leader Institute participant
Dr. Hansen brought her depth of expertise and insight to a brilliant presentation that captivated our audience and left them inspired, which is exactly what one hopes for in a keynote. She took us on a journey, weaving together history, philosophy, science, and educational thought, connecting the dots along the way and helping our attendees see how their work fits into a bigger picture and energizing them for their work.
-Wendy Shenk-Evans, Executive, Director, Montessori Public Policy Institute
Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen is one of the most powerful and dynamic voices in educational transformation today. I had the good fortune of working with her in the research and execution phases of the 2022 feature documentary, A CURE FOR THE COMMON CLASSROOM. Dr. Hansen quickly became one of the key academics featured in the film due to her incredible expertise on the subject and, as importantly, her keen ability to synthesize the challenges and articulate them in a most accessible fashion. Dr. Hansen also traveled with the film production team to Scotland in late 2021 to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), to take part in the film’s premiere and subsequent experts panel where she was clearly one of the most engaging speakers. Her vision and roadmap to the future of education is one of achievable inspiration and intelligent architecture that will positively affect change for all.
-Andy Hourahine, Director, A CURE FOR THE COMMON CLASSROOM
- Educators:
Bring human-centered, liberatory practice alive in your classroom - Racial dialogue:
Experience a healing-centered approach to issues of race and equity - Pluralistic Leadership:
Bring communities together across lines of difference - Youth/Student:
Become agents of your own learning and reconceptualize what it means to be a leader - Parents:
Understand and support your child in their education – in and out of school
- Skillfully designed, interdisciplinary sessions center the human experience.
- My facilitation models the concepts we are discussing so participants can experience what it means to learn and lead differently.
- Custom-designed for organizations’ or individuals’ learning goals and readiness for change.
Dr. Hansen came to our organization at the perfect time. As Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission, we were seeking an opportunity to take our equity commitment to a new and deeper level of understanding of what it means to truly engage in transformational work for our postsecondary system. Dr. Hansen’s book, “The Future of Smart” would give us the foundation we needed to better understand what we are up against. She was able to provide a meaningful 2-day workshop that got our team thinking through approaches and affirming systemic models of support for students. We are now using what we have learned to more meaningfully think through targeted and intentional policy work. Equity work requires us to slow down just enough to do intentional examination of ourselves and our historic context. Dr. Hansen allowed us to do just that and was a fantastic facilitator.
-Rudyane Rivera-Lindstrom, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, OREGON HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING COMMISSION
The best educators are those who “get down on the floor and play” with students – no matter the age and no matter how that might look. Dr. Hansen visited this year’s governor’s school class, twice. The result of her presentations was resounding. Students heard a possibility for a future in education that included them and considered their various learning styles, away from standardization and averaging.
Reading my student’s notes to Dr. Hansen after her visits and hearing their interaction over meals or in small groups, tells me that we all need to hear what she has to say. These are ideas that will not fade away as a quick fix or band aide, the methodologies and expectations are the way to move our education systems forward, resulting in students who talk to one another in genuine and honest ways, learning together in deep and cogent ways. Dr. Hansen sees educational success as student-based. About time.
-Celeste Archer, CO Student Leaders Institute,
Founding Executive Director National Conference of Governor’s Schools,
President National History Day in Colorado, Executive Director
So many young people from my program are inspired by Dr. Hansen, including me. The visual aids and activities during her workshop really ground listeners’ understanding. People were taking notes not only on the content of her presentations, but also on how she presented them.
-El Allen-Bonney, 2022 CO Student Leader Institute participant
Bring me in – virtually or in-person – to explore the ideas in my book, The Future of Smart. These conversations can help seed common language and new perspectives that enable communities and individuals TO imagine a different future for young people. Multi-part book studies enable educators, parents, community leaders, employers and young people to explore what these ideas can mean for their own work and learning.
- Intimate conversations enable participants to have their specific reflections and questions explored in-depth.
- Single or multi-part formats enable you to create the best experience for your context.
- A great first step to determine whether the Future of Smart™ framework is a good fit for deeper work.
Thank Ulcca! My whole staff REALLY loved your book talk to start the semester! I had both high school and Early Learning Center staff telling me it was great!
-Steven Bartholomew, Executive Director, New Legacy Charter School
The American Montessori Society and Dr. Joshi Hansen co-facilitated an engaging book club with The Future of Smart for educators, administrators, instructors, and learners in the Montessori community. Dr. Joshi Hansen’s work encourages all of us (inside and outside of Montessori education) to go beyond what is familiar. I strongly encourage educators to explore this text together. It will both transform and broaden your horizon, while opening important discourse about education in all its forms.
-Gina Lofquist, Senior Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives, American Montessori Society
Dr. Joshi Hansen is a terrific presenter and consultant for a wide range of school leaders and educators. Her research-based insights on effective educational approaches are practical, pragmatic, and inspirational. Ulcca understands that achieving a more equitable, effective education system requires a compelling rationale, reasonable sequential steps for implementation, and clarity of goals and outcomes. She provides all of these and more through her consultations and work studies.
-Alan Smiley, Executive Director Association of Colorado Independent Schools
Dr. Hansen holds the rare gift of being able to translate complex ideas into powerful stories to enable all of us to see and feel the change that is possible.
-Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss, Managing Director, Westphal Family Philanthropy
Dr. Hansen is truly brilliant. Her ability to deeply inspire with engaging and meaningful content while also staying grounded in tangible and actionable ways is outstanding. Ulcca’s ability to recognize and actually see the people in her audience as individual humans and then adjust accordingly struck me. She did not simply come with a stock presentation or thoughts but rather engaged and adjusted with an incredible sense of humility that clearly speaks to her nature as a true educator. She does not enter with all of the answers but with deep knowledge and a willingness to learn, even in the moment.
-Miguel Gonzalez, Director, Embark Education (middle school)
Your presentation is something I will be processing for quite some time to come. Exploring how both the conventional approach to education as well as the whole child/innovative reform approaches are still rooted in Cartesian/Newtonian/modern western worldview and mental models is a lightbulb moment for me. I’m anticipating some shifts in my own learning and advocacy.
-Rolando Fernando II, KnowledgeWorks
