Hosts and Honorary Committee

Honorary Co-Hosts:

Dr. ROSE BELLANCA became President of Washtenaw Community College in August 2011.

She comes to Washtenaw from Northwood University, a multi campus system with three domestic and four international locations.  Since 2008, she served as the Provost and Chief Operating Officer at Northwood’s West Palm Beach, Florida campus.

From 2002 until 2008, Dr. Bellanca was president of St. Claire County Community College in St. Claire, Michigan, and before that, she served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan.

ROCHELLE RILEY is a columnist and blogger whose commentary on social, political and cultural issues appears in the Detroit Free Press. Find her columns online and her blog.  Rochelle also makes frequent television and radio appearances, including on National Public Radio and WDIV-TV’s “Flashpoint.” And she speaks to college students and to women’s, business and family organizations across the country.  Rochelle will receive the Neal Shine Award for Media Commitment to Philanthropy from the Association of Fundraising Professionals on November 17.

Rochelle writes passionately about, among many things, responsible government, community responsibility, public education, children aging out of foster care and Michigan’s reading crisis. At the Detroit Free Press, she has waged a campaign against functional illiteracy for more than 10 years, recruiting thousands of volunteers and tens of thousands of dollars to the cause.

Honorary Committee:

• Elliot Forsyth
• Tony and Katy Derezinski
• Patricia Denig
• David Clifford
• Tony Dearing and Pei-Pei Hsu
• Marty Friedburg and Beth Dugdale