Shepherd Siegel

Dr. Shepherd Siegel grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the midst of that whole utopian Sixties thing. He was a professional rock and jazz musician who switched it out for his career as an educator (in music, career + technical, and special education). His first teaching assignment was with youth in lockup in the County Juvenile Detention Center (the only un-mellow job in bucolic Santa Cruz).

Striving to make the greatest positive impact, he earned his doctorate from the UC Berkeley while inventing innovative internship programs for troubled and troubling youth (with and without disabilities). He has over thirty publications in the education field. He and his book-Career Ladders: Transition from School to Adult Life-have received numerous awards, including one from the US Department of Labor. From 1996-2012 he led Career + Technical Education for Seattle Public Schools, and then worked with the STEM-education organization Project Lead the Way until 2015. The KAPPAN published his article about a meaningful high school diploma. Somewhere in there he played with the jazz trio Swingmatism and the power pop rock band Thin Ice.

While more active as a writer, Dr. Siegel sustains an wide-ranging knowledge of music and can show you how to have fun with that. He has returned to his countercultural roots to write "Disruptive Play: The Trickster in Politics and Culture," and to spread its message of playfulness and progressive change. Shepherd Siegel is gonna work pretty hard to make you laugh, gonna make you wonder. His favorite hobby is to be with groups of people large and small, suss out the energy and, if it is to be found, find the funny bone, and see if he can't help get the group rhythm to swing. Learn more at www.shepherdsiegel.com