Meet the Speaker: Parker Palmer
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Parker J. Palmer is a writer, speaker, activist, and founder and Senior Partner Emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. His wisdom has reached millions worldwide through his ten books, including the bestselling Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach, and A Hidden Wholeness.
His latest bestseller is On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old (2018). Palmer holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and 13 honorary doctorates.
In 1998, the Leadership Project, a national survey of 10,000 educators, named him one of the 30 “most influential senior leaders” in higher education and one of the 10 key “agenda-setters” of the past decade.
In 2010, Palmer was given the William Rainey Harper Award, whose previous recipients include Margaret Mead, Elie Wiesel, and Paolo Freire. For twenty years, the Accrediting Commission for Graduate Medical Education has given annual Parker J. Palmer “Courage to Teach” and “Courage to Lead” Awards to directors of exemplary medical residency programs.
Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer, was published in 2005.
A member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Dr. Palmer and his wife, Sharon L. Palmer, live in Madison, Wisconsin.