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Jeanne Belisle Lombardo is an educator, poet, writer and editor, and a lifelong student of ideas. Raised in the southwest desert town of Phoenix, Arizona, an early exposure to the family’s encyclopedia and the local library instilled in Jeanne an insatiable thirst for knowledge and a desire to pursue a career in education. She received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies, with a minor in English Literature, in 1978. For the next eight years she taught English to university-bound foreign students in Los Angeles. In California, she also undertook six years of study with the renowned dancer and teacher, Carmelita Maracci, an experience which involved an in-depth exploration not only of dance but of music, art, literature, and politics.
A fascination with foreign languages and cultures led Jeanne to accept a teaching position at a junior college in Kyushu, Japan in 1988 where, for the next four years, she taught English conversation and American Studies and immersed herself in the study of Japanese language and culture. Along with her teaching duties, she wrote articles for English literature publications, co-founded a local newsletter for English-speaking residents, and edited articles bound for publication in the U.S. written by non-native speakers of English. In 1992, she moved to London and in 1995 to Paris, where she developed a course of private study in English for Japanese and French executives and professionals, and edited their reports and articles for presentation in the U.S.
Returning to the U.S. in 1997, Jeanne went to work for Rio Salado College where she developed and coordinated a cross-college academic program for under-skilled students and non-native English speakers. This experience provided Jeanne with the opportunity to develop her organizational, communication, and presentation skills. Between 2004 and 2006, she served as editor of the online diversity newsletter for the Maricopa Community College District.
After ten years in academic administration, Jeanne left her position at the college in 2007. In 2008 she completed coursework on a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Humanities, adding to her academic credentials a broad understanding of the various areas (Art, History, Literature, Music and Philosophy) and a focus on twentieth-century movements. She has now turned her energies to writing her thesis on the evolution of utopian thought and its connection to ontology, and to collaborating with her husband, Dr. Tom Lombardo, in his work as a writer, speaker and prominent figure in the field of future studies.
A member of the World Future Society since 2002, and a presenter in her own right at the national WFS conventions, she is familiar with the major currents of futurist thought and acquainted with leading figures within the organization. Jeanne has also edited all of Tom’s publications, including his recent books, The Evolution of Future Consciousness and Contemporary Futurist Thought, and partners with him in the development of their educational business, the Center for Future Consciousness.
Jeanne has written poetry through most of her life and is a lover of languages and literature. A selection of her essays in the humanities can be found on the Center for Future Consciousness website at: http://www.centerforfutureconsciousness.com/thearts.htm. She is fluent in Spanish and has, when the circumstances demanded it, gained a working familiarity with both French and Japanese. She has lived in Mexico, Guatemala, Japan, England and France and traveled around the world, to India, Thailand, and Korea, as well as many parts of Europe. Jeanne is drawn to the beauty and excitement of place. Most recently, with her husband, Tom, Jeanne traveled to Brazil, and is now honing her rusty college Portuguese in preparation for a scheduled return trip in 2009.
Passionate about language, history and ideas, informed about current events and global issues, and committed to excellence and learning, Jeanne’s present interests include the future of marriage and gender relations, utopian models of ideal future societies, ethics and ethical evolution, biotechnology and human enhancement, the future of education, and humanities and the future.
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