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  • Robin Becker was born in 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She earned a BA and MA from Boston University and taught for 17 years at the MIT. She is the author of *Domain of Perfect Affection*, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006); *The Horse Fair* (2000); *All-American Girl* (1996), which won the 1996 Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry; *Giacometti's Dog* (1990); Backtalk (1982); and *Personal Effects* (1977). Her poems and book reviews have appeared in publications such as *American Poetry Review*, *the Boston Globe*, *Gettysburg Review*, and *Ploughshares*. Her honors include the 1997 Virginia Faulkner Prize for Excellence in Writing from *Prairie Schooner* magazine and fellowships from the Mary Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to serving as poetry editor for *The Women's Review of Books*, Becker writes a column for the WRB on poetry and the poetry scene called "Field Notes." She is a professor of English and Women's Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
  • Born in Santa Monica, CA, September 2, 1933, son of the late Carey and Dorothy Hedrick McWilliams, he had formerly resided in Berkeley, CA, Oberlin, OH, Brooklyn, NY and Highland Park, NJ before moving to Flemington in 1979. A 1st Lieutenant in the 11th Airborne Division of the United States Army from 1955-57, Professor McWilliams earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. He was currently a Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ where he had been teaching since 1970. His past academic appointments include Oberlin College 1961-67, Brooklyn College 1967-70, and visiting and summer appointments at Yale University, Harvard University, Haverford College, Lafayette College and Fordham University. Author of many books and articles in the field of Political Science, Professor McWilliams won the National Historical Society Prize in 1974 for his first book, 'The Idea of Fraternity in America'. In addition to his numerous honors and awards for his service in the field of Political Science, Professor McWilliams was active in many civic and community activities as well, including serving as a Councilman in the Borough of Flemington, a member of the Hunterdon County Democratic Committee, a trustee of the Hunterdon County Historical Society and a former Elder of the Flemington Presbyterian Church.
  • Barbara Thorp has been director of the Pro-Life Office of the Archdiocese of Boston since 1985 and is on the executive boards of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing, the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment, and Women Affirming Life.
  • Melissa Kogut is executive director of Mass NARAL, state affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
  • Christopher Lydon is an American media personality and author. He is best known for being the original host of *The Connection*, produced by WBUR and syndicated to other NPR stations.
  • Mr. Zelnick spent 21 years with *ABC News*. He covered national political and congressional affairs from 1994 to 1998. He served as Pentagon correspondent from 1986 to 1994, covering the end of the Cold War and the first Persian Gulf War. Mr. Zelnick reported from Israel from 1984-86 and Moscow, from 1982 to 1984. Before joining ABC News in 1977, Mr. Zelnick covered the Supreme Court for National Public Radio and *the Christian Science Monitor *and served as executive editor of the historic Nixon-Frost Interviews, broadcast in 1977. The holder of two Emmy Awards and two Gavel Awards, Mr. Zelnick began his career in 1967 as a freelance writer from Vietnam and worked in Alaska for *the Anchorage Daily News* in 1968 and 1969. A frequent television analyst and contributor to many newspapers and scholarly journals, Mr. Zelnick is the author of four books, including *Gore: A Political Life*.