Over the last 40 years, Jonathan Spence of Yale University has become the West's leading authority on Chinese history. His books, such as The Gate of Heavenly Peace and The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, have brought remote times and places to life for the general reading public, while The Search for Modern China has become a standard text in universities around the world. The undergraduate course he teaches on the modern history of China is among the most popular ever given at Yale. Year after year, a new class of students packs the lecture hall to enjoy his spellbinding presentation. Born and educated in England, Spence did not discover his passion for Chinese studies until he came to Yale University, from Clare College, Cambridge, on a Mellon Fellowship. While still a graduate student, he became the first Westerner to study the confidential correspondence of the Manchu (Qing Dynasty) Emperors, preserved at the Palace Museum in Taiwan. The resulting dissertation became his first book, Ts'ao Yin and the K'ang-hsi Emperor: Bondservant and Master, published in 1966. The same year, Spence joined the Yale history faculty. It is Spence's distinctive achievement to make the life of a single person -- whether an emperor or a commoner -- reveal the essence of an entire era. His powers of description far exceed those of the conventional academic historian, and he brings historical figures to life as vividly as characters in a novel. Emperor of China: Self-Portrait of K'ang-hsi presents a Qing Dynasty monarch in his own words, and reached an audience beyond the world of China scholars. The Death of Woman Wang affords us a view of Qing society as seen through the lives of ordinary people, and has become a classic, read by nearly all students of Chinese history. His latest book is Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man. Professor Spence lives most of the year in West Haven, Connecticut with his wife, Annping Chin, also a scholar of Chinese history. Since 1974, he has made frequent trips to China to further his research. In recent years, he has also served as a visiting professor at Beijing University.

When Susan Hockfield was a student, women in the sciences had few role models. As a senior at the University of Rochester, she had come up with an idea for an interesting experiment, but lacked the confidence to carry it out herself. "People like me don't do these things," she remembers thinking. Fortunately, a sympathetic professor encouraged her, and she resolved to pursue a career in the sciences. Today, she is a neuroscientist of international reputation, and the president of one of the world's leading research universities. Dr. Hockfield's research has focused on the development of the brain and central nervous system. She pioneered new technology in brain research and has discovered proteins that regulate structural changes in the neurons and influence the movement of cancer cells in the brain. Among other insights, her work may open new avenues for the treatment of the deadly brain cancer glioma. When she was chosen to head the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she was not only the first woman to hold the post, but the first biologist to head a faculty better known for its achievements in physics and electrical engineering. Although her appointment reflects the ever-increasing importance of biology and biomedical research, she is also winning praise for her leadership of the MIT Energy Initiative, a massive research program that may well transform the way we power our homes, cars and businesses. In this podcast, recorded at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Dr. Susan Hockfield discusses the importance of collaborative thinking in both science and academic leadership.

"F. Scott Fitzgerald said there are no second acts in American lives. I think I've proved him wrong. And all because I refused to settle for a one-act existence, the 30 years I taught English in various New York City high schools." Frank McCourt was already retired when he published his first book at age 66. Angela's Ashes, a memoir of his impoverished boyhood in Limerick, Ireland, shot to the top of the best-seller lists and remained there for over a year. Angela's Ashes won McCourt the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. It was still topping the paperback lists when McCourt's second book 'Tis hit the bookstores, and the best-seller lists. A third bestseller, Teacher Man, recounts his years teaching in the New York City public schools. "After retiring from teaching I wanted a second act, not a rocker in Florida," McCourt says. After a lifetime of helping young people find their own voices, Frank McCourt has found his own, and millions of readers have found a friend to treasure.

One day in 1993, an exhausted mountain climber stumbled from the slopes of the treacherous peak known as K2 into an isolated Pakistani village. The impoverished villagers sheltered and fed him until he was well enough to move on. When he learned they had no school for their children, he vowed to return and build them one. In the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, war and poverty have limited education for all, while custom and prejudice have denied education to women altogether. With no other means to escape a life of crushing poverty, many young people become recruits for the Taliban or Al Qaeda. Unfazed by the immensity of the problem, Greg Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute to promote education and literacy, especially for girls, in this remote and volatile region. Fundamentalist mullahs, unwilling to see Muslim children taught by outsiders they regard as infidels, issued religious edicts -- fatwas -- to put a stop to Mortenson's project. On one mission, he was kidnapped and held hostage for eight days. On another, he escaped the crossfire of feuding warlords by hiding for eight hours under a heap of stinking animal hides, in a truck bound for the tannery. His efforts have often been misunderstood by his own countrymen as well. The CIA has investigated his operations, and he has received hate mail and even death threats from misinformed Americans who resent his efforts to educate Muslim children. Undeterred, he has now founded more than 60 schools, providing educational opportunities to over 25,000 children, more than half of them girls who might otherwise have received no education at all. The Minnesota-born Mortenson was raised by his missionary parents on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He served in the army for 12 years before embarking on the series of mountain-climbing expeditions that led him to Pakistan and his life's calling. He has related the story of his adventurous life and his humanitarian vision in the gripping memoir Three Cups of Tea, still number one after more than a year on The New York Times bestseller list. By showing the youth of Central Asia the way to a better life, Greg Mortenson has proved that in the war on terror, education is the most powerful weapon of all.

One day in 1993, an exhausted mountain climber stumbled from the slopes of the treacherous peak known as K2 into an isolated Pakistani village. The impoverished villagers sheltered and fed him until he was well enough to move on. When he learned they had no school for their children, he vowed to return and build them one. In the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, war and poverty have limited education for all, while custom and prejudice have denied education to women altogether. With no other means to escape a life of crushing poverty, many young people become recruits for the Taliban or Al Qaeda. Unfazed by the immensity of the problem, Greg Mortenson founded the Central Asia Institute to promote education and literacy, especially for girls, in this remote and volatile region. Fundamentalist mullahs, unwilling to see Muslim children taught by outsiders they regard as infidels, issued religious edicts -- fatwas -- to put a stop to Mortenson's project. On one mission, he was kidnapped and held hostage for eight days. On another, he escaped the crossfire of feuding warlords by hiding for eight hours under a heap of stinking animal hides, in a truck bound for the tannery. His efforts have often been misunderstood by his own countrymen as well. The CIA has investigated his operations, and he has received hate mail and even death threats from misinformed Americans who resent his efforts to educate Muslim children. Undeterred, he has now founded more than 60 schools, providing educational opportunities to over 25,000 children, more than half of them girls who might otherwise have received no education at all. The Minnesota-born Mortenson was raised by his missionary parents on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He served in the army for 12 years before embarking on the series of mountain-climbing expeditions that led him to Pakistan and his life's calling. He has related the story of his adventurous life and his humanitarian vision in the gripping memoir Three Cups of Tea, still number one after more than a year on The New York Times bestseller list. By showing the youth of Central Asia the way to a better life, Greg Mortenson has proved that in the war on terror, education is the most powerful weapon of all.

This podcast presents an exceptional panel discussion recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. The panelists are among the nation's most distinguished leaders in the field of education policy. Margaret Spellings was the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009. Longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley turned around a troubled school system by obtaining unprecedented direct control over the schools, earning national acclaim for his innovative approach to issues of education in America's third largest city. The President of New York University, Dr. John Sexton, is a former professor of religion, an attorney, law school dean and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The distinguished neuroscientist Dr. Susan Hockfield is the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Shirley Jackson, a nuclear physicist and former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is now the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest institute of technology. The discussion is moderated by David Gergen. An adviser to presidents of both major parties, Mr. Gergen served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He is now Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

This podcast presents an exceptional panel discussion recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. The panelists are among the nation's most distinguished leaders in the field of education policy. Margaret Spellings was the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009. Longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley turned around a troubled school system by obtaining unprecedented direct control over the schools, earning national acclaim for his innovative approach to issues of education in America's third largest city. The President of New York University, Dr. John Sexton, is a former professor of religion, an attorney, law school dean and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The distinguished neuroscientist Dr. Susan Hockfield is the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Shirley Jackson, a nuclear physicist and former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is now the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest institute of technology. The discussion is moderated by David Gergen. An adviser to presidents of both major parties, Mr. Gergen served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He is now Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

This podcast presents an exceptional panel discussion recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. The panelists are among the nation's most distinguished leaders in the field of education policy. Margaret Spellings was the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009. Longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley turned around a troubled school system by obtaining unprecedented direct control over the schools, earning national acclaim for his innovative approach to issues of education in America's third largest city. The President of New York University, Dr. John Sexton, is a former professor of religion, an attorney, law school dean and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The distinguished neuroscientist Dr. Susan Hockfield is the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Shirley Jackson, a nuclear physicist and former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is now the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest institute of technology. The discussion is moderated by David Gergen. An adviser to presidents of both major parties, Mr. Gergen served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He is now Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

This podcast presents an exceptional panel discussion recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. The panelists are among the nation's most distinguished leaders in the field of education policy. Margaret Spellings was the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2005 to 2009. Longtime Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley turned around a troubled school system by obtaining unprecedented direct control over the schools, earning national acclaim for his innovative approach to issues of education in America's third largest city. The President of New York University, Dr. John Sexton, is a former professor of religion, an attorney, law school dean and Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The distinguished neuroscientist Dr. Susan Hockfield is the President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Shirley Jackson, a nuclear physicist and former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is now the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest institute of technology. The discussion is moderated by David Gergen. An adviser to presidents of both major parties, Mr. Gergen served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. He is now Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

At the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C., the Academy of Achievement presented a panel discussion with social entrepreneurs who have founded nonprofit organizations to provide quality education or nutrition to disadvantaged youth. The panel includes Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp, as well as Mike Feinberg, Kirsten Lodal, Jon Schnur and Billy Shore. Wendy Kopp was still an undergraduate at Princeton when she created a plan to build a national teachers corps -- drawn from the top students in our best universities -- to teach in some of our neediest communities. Today thousands of members of Teach for America are working where their talents and education are needed most. Mike Feinberg was a Teach for America volunteer who remained in Houston, Texas to found a new kind of college preparatory academy in the inner city. His Knowledge is Power Program – KIPP -- soon spread to 20 states and is now operating 99 locally run college preparatory schools in low income communities. As a sophomore at Yale, Kirsten Lodal founded the National Student Partnerships, the nation’s first year-round student-led volunteer service organization, mobilizing students to staff drop-in social service resource centers in low income communities, providing assistance with job training, housing, health care, child care, and transportation. Jon Schnur is the founder and CEO of New Leaders for New Schools, a national nonprofit organization that has placed hundreds of principals and assistant principals across the country. Bill Shore is the founder and executive director of Share Our Strength, the nation's leading organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. The discussion was led by David Gergen, Director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. An adviser to presidents of both major parties, Mr. Gergen served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.