Parker J. Palmer (PhD, University of California at Berkeley) is a world-renowned writer, speaker and activist who focuses on issues of education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. He is founder and Senior Partner of the Center for Courage & Renewal, which cultivates leaders in some of society’s most crucial roles—educating children, caring for patients, serving congregations, fostering civic community, and leading teams and organizations. He has reached millions worldwide through dozens of poems, hundreds of essays and many books, including Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, A Hidden Wholeness, and Healing the Heart of Democracy.

Palmer’s work has been recognized with eleven honorary doctorates, two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press and the William Rainey Harper Award. In 1998, the Leadership Project named Palmer one of the thirty "most influential senior leaders" in higher education and one of the ten key "agenda-setters" of the past decade. In 2011, he was named an Utne Reader Visionary, one of "25 people who are changing your world." A member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), Palmer and his wife Sharon live in Madison, Wisconsin.

Find an overview and critical review of Palmer's written work on education at infed.org, an open, independent, not-for-profit site that explores educational theory and practice.