HighEdWeb is pleased to welcome our #heweb16 Wednesday keynote:
LeVar Burton, actor, director, educator
LeVar Burton (@levarburton) launched his acting career while still a student at the University of Southern California. Cast in the groundbreaking role of Kunta Kinte in the landmark television series Roots, he achieved further global acclaim as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in the iconic Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it has been his role as host and executive producer of the beloved PBS children’s series Reading Rainbow of which he is most proud. Airing from 1983 to 2009, it was not only one of the longest-running children’s television shows in history, but also one of the most acclaimed, earning over 200 awards including multiple Emmys and a Peabody.
In 2012, Reading Rainbow was re-imagined to combine today’s forms of media and technology with the goal of inspiring a new generation of children to love reading. The all-new Reading Rainbow digital reading service has had more than 16 million books and videos enjoyed since launch, and is the number one educational app on iTunes. In 2014, Burton turned to Kickstarter to bring Reading Rainbow to “Every Child, Everywhere” — especially to classrooms in need — and the wildly-successful campaign became the most popular Kickstarter campaign ever.
The honored recipient of 12 Emmy Awards, a Grammy and five NAACP Awards, Burton has demonstrated in his career that he can do it all — acting, directing, producing, writing and speaking. We are thrilled to welcome him to HighEdWeb 2016.
