Panel Of Advisors
Our Board of International Advisors extends their expert advice and updates us on the latest trends and innovations in early childhood education. We tap on their expertise and extensive experience to incorporate best practices in early childhood education in our curriculum, thus allowing us to continually refine and enhance our programmes.
Professor Barbara T. Bowman
Co-founder And Former President of Erikson Institute
Professor Bowman is an internationally recognised authority on early childhood education, a lifelong proponent of higher education for those who teach and care for young children, and a pioneer in building knowledge and understanding of the issues of access and equity for minority children. Currently, she serves as chief officer of the Chicago Public Schools' Office of Early Childhood Education. For more than 50 years, through teaching, research, and advocacy, Professor Bowman has been a powerful advocate for children and those who have made them their life's work.
She is also past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and has served on numerous boards, including the High Scope Educational Foundation, the Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the Chicago Public Library Foundation. Her most recent appointments include the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Great Books Foundation, and chair of the Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy of the National Research Council.
Professor Bowman also writes for leading academic journals and reports, and edited the National Academy of Science's Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers. She served on the National Research Council's literacy committee that produced the report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, and participated in a public schools–focused project that introduced developmentally appropriate practices and authentic assessment in the early grades.
She has received many honours including the Chicago League of Women Voters' Civic Contribution Award, the Mercedes Award, and honorary doctorates from Dominican University, Bank Street College, Governor's State University, Roosevelt University, and Wheelock College.
Dr Lily Wong
Executive Director Of Advent Links-SAUC And Education Centre For Children And Family Studies
Dr Wong is an educational psychologist by training and has been a professor of psychology/education by appointment, for the last 30 years. She holds a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Counseling from Andrew’s University in Michigan, and Bachelor and Master in Education degrees from the Adventist University of Philippines.
Her post doctorate studies and research in Complex Instruction was from Stanford University, USA, and in Quality Infant and Toddler Care Giving from Syracuse University, USA. She has a Teacher’s Credential for the Supervision of Child Development Centres and Instruction from the State of California – for life. In Singapore, she is accredited as a supervisor and trainer for all preschool education courses.
Dr Wong is a member and resource person on a number of policy, ethics and programme committees, including MCYS, the World Forum International Advisory Board/ National Representative Scholastic Advisory Board, AECES, OMEP, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the Educational Research Association, Singapore.
She has researched, written and published on various issues concerning family, children and education. She was awarded the Woman of the Year (Family Life) award 2002, USA and a Long Service Award by MCYS, Singapore, in 2003.
Professor Jeremy Williams
Chief Academic Officer, Knowledge Universe
Dr Jeremy Williams has more than 20 years of experience in the higher education sector and, before taking up the position of Chief Academic Officer, he held the positions of Dean of Corporate Programmes and Director of Research at U21Global, and Teaching Fellow and MBA Director at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. A pioneer and specialist in the field of online education, Jeremy has won the recognition of his peers, winning awards for teaching excellence and outstanding academic contribution, and acting as a keynote speaker at numerous international seminars and conferences. Jeremy's main research focus is authentic assessment and the ways in which Web 2.0 technologies might be harnessed to promote greater student engagement and deeper learning. Find out more at Jeremy’s blog. This has been of particular interest to educational institutions in both the secondary and tertiary sectors, and to businesses looking to optimise their expenditure on corporate education.
A member and former executive committee member of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (Ascilite), he has published three books, and close to 100 articles and reviews in journals such as the British Journal of Educational Technology, Educational Media International, Educational Technology and Society, and Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. Jeremy is an editorial board member of the Journal of Learning Design, and also serves as an advisory board member of the Centre for Educational Development at Republic Polytechnic in Singapore, and the Brisbane Graduate School of Business in Australia.
Other than online education, Jeremy’s main disciplinary expertise is economics, with a focus on ecological sustainability. He is a member of the International Society for Ecological Economics, and the Australia Institute, and serves as Adjunct Professor at QUT and Visiting Professor at Reims Management School in France, where he teaches graduate level courses in sustainable development. An active researcher in this area, he has published in the likes of Ecological Economics and the International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment.
Welsh by birth, Jeremy completed his BA and MA degrees in the UK, and spent three years teaching at a high school in Yorkshire before commencing his PhD studies at the University of New England, Australia. Now a dual-national British-Australian, permanent resident of Singapore, and frequent traveller in the Asia-Pacific region, Jeremy feels 'at home' in a number of places, not least of which is India where he has made in excess of 60 business trips in the last ten years. Married with two daughters, Jeremy swims a kilometre every morning, runs in the odd marathon, and plans to learn his own language (Welsh) one day.
Dr. Elanna S. Yalow
Vice Chair of Knowledge Learning Corporation
Executive Vice President, Knowledge Universe
Dr. Yalow is Executive Vice President, Knowledge Universe (KU), and Vice Chair, Knowledge Learning Corporation (KLC). In her capacity she is responsible for supporting the global expansion of early childhood education programmes, while supervising both government relations and the education departments. Previously Dr. Yalow served as President and Chief Operating Officer of KLC, which operates nearly 1800 early childhood education centres in 39 states, including KinderCare Learning Centers and Knowledge Beginnings centres. As President and COO, Dr. Yalow was responsible for center operations, curriculum development and training, quality assurance, marketing and business development, mergers and acquisitions, and new centre development, supervising a total workforce of approximately 40,000 employees.
Prior to joining KLC, Dr. Yalow served as Project Director for numerous state and national level research and development projects in both educational assessment and health education for agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Office of Disease Prevention/Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control, and State Departments of Education in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. She also served as a lecturer at California State University, Long Beach and the University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education, and as a Teaching Fellow at the Stanford University School of Education.
Dr. Yalow has published and presented extensively on issues related to education and health in publications including the Annual Review of Health Promotion and Education, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Educational Researcher, and the Handbook of Human Intelligence. She has served as a speaker on early childhood issues at the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Hechinger Institute Seminars on Education and the Media, the World Forum on Early Care and Education, the ISSA Conference on Early Childhood Education, and the BMO Capital Markets Back to School Conference. She has also made numerous presentations on issues related to assessment and evaluation in the education and health care arena at the American Psychological Association, Psychometric Society, National Council of Measurement in Education, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She is also the author of An Insider's Guide to Education for Parents, a blog for parents. http://education-blog.kindercare.com/
Dr. Yalow holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the Stanford University School of Education, an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. in Psychology from State University of New York at Stony Brook. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the National Childhood Obesity Foundation, the Board of Trustees for Ellis University, and the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Council and Busy Bees Nurseries.
Dr. Yalow is married and the mother of two sons. She is the daughter of Dr. Rosalyn Yalow, 1977 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and/or Medicine.
