Forum Network

Janice Bourque has been Senior Vice President and Group Head-Life Sciences for Comerica Bank for the past 3 years. She is responsible for leading Comerica's national strategy for the life sciences, delivering value to the industry and generating portfolio growth in the Northeast positioning Comerica to be the "Bank of Choice" for the life sciences. Formerly, Ms. Bourque was President/CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) for 12 years where under her leadership the MassBiotech 2010 was released which provided a blueprint for Massachusetts to remain at the forefront of the biotechnology revolution. She has held several previous senior managerial positions, including CFO/controller of Cambridge Medical Technology Corporation, senior public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand Emerging and Middle Market Group, and as a NASA Space Science grant project manager for the first satellite payloads to be repaired by the space shuttle missions. Ms. Bourque is currently on the Board of the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Board Chair of the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative, treasurer for National Foundation for Family Homelessness and board member of the Women Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology (WEST). She has won numerous awards and was a Boston Magazine 100 most influential woman. Ms. Bourque received her MBA degree in finance and accounting and her BS degree in veterinary science from the University of New Hampshire.

Professor Csikszentmihalyi is the director of the Quality of Life Research Center (QLRC). The QLRC is a non-profit research institute that studies "positive psychology"; that is, human strengths such as optimism, creativity, intrinsic motivation, and responsibility. Professor Csikszentmihalyi is a member of the American Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Leisure Studies.

Steve Cohen is a lecturer at the Department of Education and is in his sixth year at Tufts. Professor Cohen edited and wrote anthologies to accompany the public television documentaries *Vietnam A Television History* and *Eyes On The Prize* . Steve has been a Program Associate with "Facing History and Ourselves" for two decades and written articles about teaching controversial issues like Vietnam, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and the Holocaust.

Mona Abo-Zena, a former public school teacher and principal of the Islamic Academy of New England, is a doctoral student in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Her primary research interests include religious and identity development, family and community contexts, and immigrant and other multicultural individuals and communities. In addition to her work as a research assistant on the John Templeton Foundation study of religion and positive youth development, Mona works on the Adoption & Development Project (ADP) at Tufts. The ADP project studies how children adopted from China understand aspects of adoption and their identity, and how their families address adoption and ethnicity as a family. Mona earned her BA in sociology from the University of Chicago and her EdM from Harvard University. She has over 10 years of teaching and administrative experience in public and Islamic schools, and serves on several boards that serve children and families.

John L. Esposito is University Professor, Professor of Religion and International Affairs, Professor of Islamic Studies and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam from North Africa to Southeast Asia, and Religion and International Affairs. He is editor-in-chief of the four-*volume The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World*, *The Oxford History of Islam*, *The Oxford Dictionary of Islam* and *The Islamic World: Past and Present*. His more than thirty five books include *Who Speaks for Islam*, *Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam*, and *The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?*. Many have been translated into Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu, European languages, Japanese and Chinese. A former president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, he is currently a member of the World Economic Forum

Kim Westheimer is a diversity consultant, educator, and writer. She conducts workshops and designs written materials related to organizational diversity and strategic planning. Kim is the coauthor of *When the Drama Club is Not Enough: Lessons from the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students*. Her work has also been published by Phi Delta Kappan, The American Psychological Association, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy. She formerly directed The Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students at the Massachusetts Department of Education. Organizations which have hired Kim to address their membership include the California Association of School Health Educators, The National Institute for Teaching excellence, The Centers for Disease Control Division of Adolescent School Health, congregation Agudat Achim, Casey Family Services, and Harvard University's Askwith forum. Kim received her master's degree in Urban Policy from Tufts University and her bachelor's degree from Cornel University. She has taught undergraduates at Harvard University and graduate students at Framingham State University. She has received numerous awards including a Health and Human Services research grant; a Harvard University Certificate of distinction in Teaching; and an honor award for service from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.