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  • Colleen Mone Hardy is a field epidemiologist with the International Rescue Committee, a non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian assistance, protection and resettlement services to refugees and victims of armed conflict. In this position, she provides technical support to International Rescue Committee's health programs in a number of countries. Colleen has worked in a variety of humanitarian settings with the IRC, the World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Africa and S.East Asia. She represented IRC on an interagency assessment team, which included US military, UN and Non-governmental agencies, off the west coast of Sumatra Island, following the tsunami. She is currently working in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a five member IRC team, assisting with a number of assessments.
  • Mike Lemonick is a senior science writer at *Time* magazine in New York. He has worked there for 12 years, though he left for a short while in 1988 to become executive editor at *Discover* magazine. Before coming to Time, he was a senior editor at *Science Digest* magazine for three years and before that he was a graduate student in journalism at Columbia University. Lemonick got his undergraduate degree from Harvard.
  • Walter Cronkite (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009), the former managing editor of the *CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite*, has been called "the most trusted man in America." Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Mr. Cronkite began his career as a news writer and editor for Scripps-Howard and United Press. He was a war correspondent for United Press and, after the war, reopened news bureaus for UP in Amsterdam and Brussels. Mr. Cronkite was the chief correspondent covering the Nuremberg trials and also served as bureau manager in Moscow. In 1950 he joined CBS as a television correspondent. Mr. Cronkite is the recipient of a Peabody Award, the William White Award for Journalistic Merit, an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the George Polk Journalism Award, and a Gold Medal from the International Radio and Television Society. He is a long-time member of the Society of Professional Journalists. His 1996 autobiography, *A Reporter's Life*, was a bestseller. An avid sailor, Mr. Cronkite wrote the text for South by Southeast, a record of his impressions sailing the waterways from Chesapeake Bay to Key West. A sequel, *North by Northeast*, was also published.
  • Charles Osgood, often referred to as *CBS News*' poet-in-residence, has been anchor of *CBS News Sunday Morning* since 1994. He also anchors and writes "The Osgood File," his daily news commentary broadcast on the CBS Radio Network. Osgood was recognized with the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award. He was the recipient of the 2005 Paul White Award, presented by the Radio-Television News Directors Association, for lifetime contribution to electronic journalism. In 2005, Osgood received the Walter Cronkite Excellence in Journalism Award from Arizona State University. He was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2000 and joined the ranks of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1990. Osgood was born in New York. He was graduated from Fordham University in 1954 with a B.S. degree in economics and holds honorary doctorates from 11 institutions of higher learning. He has served as a trustee for Fordham University and St. Bonaventure, is an overseer at Colby College and is a trustee at the School of Strings in Manhattan. Osgood has performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and played the piano and banjo with the New York Pops and Boston Pops Orchestras.
  • Lisa Madigan has brought a high level of activism to the Office of Illinois Attorney General. From her first days in office, she has demonstrated principled leadership, putting policy before politics and focusing her work as the state's top legal advocate on protecting the people and communities of Illinois. Madigan has dedicated the energy and resources of her office to protecting women and children from the dangers of predators on our streets and on the Internet.
  • 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.