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Gail Willumsen produces, directs and writes long-form documentary films and videos for clients like *National Geographic* Television, WGBH/*NOVA*, Vulcan Productions, and the Discovery Channel. Through her company Gemini Productions, and with her producing partner Jill Shinefield, Willumsen has chased down stories all over the world, on a wide range of topics. Her expertise and personal interests lie in projects that explore the human experience, especially these themes: the complex and enduring bond between people and animals the unraveling of humankind's roots and history through archaeology and anthropology

After graduating from Brown University in 1966, Marilynne Robinson enrolled in the graduate program in English at the University of Washington. While writing her dissertation, Robinson began work on her first novel, *Housekeeping* (1981). *Housekeeping* received the PEN/Hemingway award for best first novel and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. After the publication of *Housekeeping*, Robinson began writing essays and book reviews for *Harper's*,* Paris Review*, and *The New York Times Book Review*. She also started teaching, serving as writer-in-residence and visiting professor at numerous colleges and universities, including the University of Kent in England, Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts. From an essay she wrote for Harper's, entitled "Bad News from Britain", Robinson wrote the controversial book *Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution* (1989), a finalist for the National Book Award. In the tradition of 19th century novelists who turned to the essay, Robinson published a critically acclaimed collection in 1998 called *The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought*. Through essays on topics ranging from John Calvin to Darwinism to Freud and 20th century psychologists, the book examines and critiques the ideas our culture has handed down to us. Although Robinson has published only three books, she is widely regarded as one of America's best contemporary writers.

Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for works such as "Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century", a scholarly and literary essay that places rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism. Marcus was born in San Francisco. He earned an undergraduate degree in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also did graduate work in political science. He has been a rock critic and columnist for *Rolling Stone* (where he was the first reviews editor, at $30 a week) and other publications, including *Creem*, *The Village Voice*, and *Artforum*.

Scott Alarik has been the principal folk music writer for *The Boston Globe* since 1986. He is also a frequent contributor to *Sing Out!* the Folk Music Magazine, and was folk critic for the public radio program "Here and Now" for seven years. From 1991-97, he was editor and chief writer for the *New England Folk Almanac*. With the release of a new CD *All That Is True* and the launching of a long-awaited website, scottalarik.com, Alarik hopes to more closely connect his long careers as music journalist and folk singer. Before moving to Boston in the early 80s, Alarik spent nearly 15 years as a folk singer and songwriter. He released three albums and appeared regularly on the public radio hit "A Prairie Home Companion." During that time, writing overshadowed performing for Alarik. In 1991, the *Globe* briefly minimized the attention it paid to folk music, and Alarik, in partnership with the Folk Arts Network, founded the *New England Folk Almanac* to fill the breach in print media coverage. From 1991-97, it grew from a regional music calendar into a nationally respected magazine. At the peak of its popularity in 1997, an internal struggle within the sponsoring organization forced Alarik to leave the Almanac. It went out of business a year later.

Millie Rahn is a Massachusetts based folklorist who has done extensive fieldwork throughout New England and beyond. Her research interest include food traditions, traditional music, 1960s folk music revival, oral history, and industrial communities of New England. She has developed long and short term projects and events involving living cultural traditions for cultural and educational organizations, government and economic development agencies and the tourism and heritage industries. She has curated exhibits for many regional folk festivals, including the annual Lowell Folk Festival, the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine, the Boston Cultural Heritage Festival and the Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, MA.

Bill Nowlin began writing about the Boston Red Sox as a young teenager, for a self-published neighborhood newspaper. Though the paper's circulation hovered in the single-digit range, it was the first step on what would become a life-long journey for Nowlin. Since the early '90s he has established himself as an authority on the much-beloved Sox via 15 published books and over 100 articles in various newspapers, magazines, and journals. His books include *Mr. Red Sox: The Johnny Pesky Story*, *Fenway Lives*, *Ted Williams: The Pursuit of Perfection*, *Blood Feud: The Red Sox*, *the Yankees*, *The Struggle of Good vs. Evil*, and *Day by Day with the Boston Red Sox* (the first two titles co-authored with fellow Sox enthusiast Jim Prime). Nowlin's devoted scholarship - particularly his detailed exploration of the life and legacy of Ted Williams - led to his recent election as Vice-President of the Society for American Baseball Research, as well as his continuing role as publications editor for the Ted Williams Museum in Florida. These days he appears frequently on radio and television in the Boston area, discussing his favorite team, the Boston Red Sox. Bill Nowlin grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. For the first dozen years of Rounder Records' existence, Bill also served as a professor of political science at the University of Lowell; Dr. Nowlin retired from teaching in 1982.

Andrew Norman Wilson, is an English writer, known for his critical biographies, novels and works of popular and cultural history. He is also a columnist for *the London Evening Standard* and was an occasional contributor to *the Daily Mail*, *Times Literary Supplement*, *New Statesman*, *The Spectator* and *The Observer*. A. N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his fiction. He lives in North London.

Marc W. Kirschner is founding chair of the Department of Systems Biology. He is co-author of Cells, Embryos, and Evolution (Blackwell, 1997) and a newly published book, The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma (Yale University Press, 2005). Kirschner was elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London and as a Foreign Member of the Academia Europaea in 1999. He was the 2001 recipient of the William C. Rose Award, presented by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Later that year, he received a 2001 International Award by the Gairdner Foundation of Toronto. He was awarded the Rabbi Shai Shacknai Lectureship Prize for 2003 at the Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In December 2003, Kirschner received the EB Wilson Medal, the American Society of Cell Biology's highest scientific honor named for an early 20th century pioneer of American biology who advocated the chromosomal theory of inheritance, is awarded by scientific peers to those who have made significant and far reaching contributions to cell biology over the course of a career. He received the Dickson Prize for Science from Carnegie Mellon University for his outstanding contributions to science in 2004. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health and as President of the American Society for Cell Biology. Kirschner's laboratory investigates three broad, diverse areas: regulation of the cell cycle, the role of cytoskeleton in cell morphogenesis, and mechanisms of establishing the basic vertebrate body plan.

Palmer is a writer, teacher, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality, and social change. His work spans a wide range of institutions, colleges and universities, public schools, community organizations, religious institutions, corporations, and foundations. He serves as senior associate of the American Association of Higher Education, as senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute, and is the founder and senior advisor for the Center for Courage & Renewal. Palmer has published a dozen poems, more than 100 essays and numerous books, including several best-selling and award-winning titles. His work includes: *The Company of Strangers: Christians and the Renewal of American Public Life* (1983), *To Know as We are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey* (1983), *The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teachers Life* (1998) and *A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life *(2004). Palmer has been awarded eight honorary doctorates and several national awards, including two Distinguished Achievement Awards from the National Educational Press Association, an Award of Excellence from the Associated Church Press, and major grants from the Danforth Foundation, the Lilly Endowment and the Fetzer Institute. The Leadership Project, a 1998 U.S. survey of 10,000 administrators and faculty named Palmer one of the 30 most influential senior leaders in higher education and one of 10 key agenda-setters of the past decade.