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Renee Montagne is host of NPR's Morning Edition, the most widely heard broadcast news program in the United States. Since 2004, she has been broadcasting from NPR West in Culver City, California, with cohost Steve Inskeep in Washington. Over the years, Montagne has done thousands of interviews on a wide range of topics: Kurt Vonnegut on how he transformed surviving the WWII firebombing of Dresden into the novel Slaughterhouse Five; National Guardsmen on how they handle the holidays in Iraq; Paul McCartney on singing the old songs; a Hollywood historian on how the famous hillside sign came to be; Toni Morrison on the dreams and memories she turned into novels; and Bud Montagne, Renee's father, remembering the attack on Pearl Harbor. In addition to the duPont Columbia Award, Montagne has been honored by the Overseas Press Club for her coverage of Afghanistan, and by the National Association of Black Journalists for a series on Black musicians going to war. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Her career includes serving as a fellow at the University of Southern California with the National Arts Journalism Program (currently based at Columbia University), and teaching broadcast writing at New York University's Graduate Department of Journalism.

A towering figure in the fields of Global Mission, African Christianity and Global Pentecostalism, Dr. Kalu began a distinguished teaching career at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1974, leading to a number of teaching and lecturing engagements at Harvard University, Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, South Korea, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, University of Toronto and several other colleges and universities. A prolific writer on a wide range of subjects, Kalu has authored or edited 16 published books including *Power, Poverty and Prayer: The Challenges of Poverty and Pluralism in African Christianity, 1960-1996*, *African Christianity: An African Story, and African Pentecostalism: An Introduction*, already regarded by many as the seminal work of its kind. Dr. Kalu was not only a world-class scholar but also a man of deep Christian faith and conviction. For many years he served as an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church in his home country of Nigeria and held various national leadership positions in the denomination including membership on the General Assembly Board of Faith and Order. As a resident of Chicago, Dr. Kalu was a member of Progressive Community Center, The Peoples Church, where he worshiped regularly and taught adult education classes.

Carlton Pearson is the Presiding Bishop of more than 500 churches and ministries through the AZUSA Interdenominational Fellowship of Christian Churches and Ministries and pastored Higher Dimensions Family Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for more than 20 years.

Martha Burt is the director of the Social Services Research Program at the Urban Institute. She has been involved in research and evaluation pertaining to a wide variety of populations and issues. Her work has included the first national survey of homeless individuals, conducted in 1987. She is the author of a number of books and reports on homelessness and of the federal report based on the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients.

Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D., is professor of Christian Ethics at the Howard University School of Divinity where she teaches courses in Christian ethics, pastoral ethics and African American spirituality. Her key areas of research and writing are African American religious studies, bioethics, pastoral leadership and womanist studies. Dr. Sanders has lectured at colleges, universities and seminaries all over the United States, including the 2005 C. Eric Lincoln Lectureship at Clark Atlanta University and the Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar Lectureship. She has held visiting professorships at Harvard Divinity School and High Point University, and taught as an exchange professor at Wesley Theological Seminary and the Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg. Dr. Sanders has been Senior Pastor of the Third Street Church of God in Washington, D.C. since 1997. She has ministered nationally and internationally for more than 30 years as a preacher for church services, camp meetings, conventions, conferences and revivals. In 2005, she was honored as one of the elders in the fall issue of *The African American Pulpit: Those Preaching Women*. She is an author of more than 100 articles and several books, including *Ministry at the Margins* (1997); *Saints in Exile: The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in African American Religion and Culture *(1996); and *Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People* (1995). She holds a bachelors degree in mathematics from Swarthmore College and two graduate degrees from Harvard Divinity School: Master of Divinity, cum laude and Doctor of Theology in the field of applied theology. In 2002, she was awarded the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Senator Brian A. Joyce is serving his sixth term in the Massachusetts State Senate, representing the Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth districts. Senator Joyce is the Senate Chair of the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development as well as the Senate Vice Chair of the Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditure and State Assets, the Senate Vice Chair of the Revenue Committee, and the Senate Vice Chair of the Community Development and Small Business Committee. Prior to joining the Senate, Senator Joyce served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as the 7th Norfolk District State Representative for the towns of Milton and Randolph. Joyce was elected President of his legislative class, representing 32 new Senators and Representatives. A 1984 graduate of the Boston College School of Management and a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Suffolk University Law School, where he was an editor of *the Law Review*, Senator Joyce is a practicing attorney who has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

John A. Wagner was appointed Director of the California Department of Social Services by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2007. With nearly two decades of experience in human services, he has served as senior policymaker and advisor to six gubernatorial administrations in Wisconsin and Massachusetts. Previous to his appointment, Dir. Wagner served as assistant secretary for children, youth and families for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, where he coordinated policies and programs for the Office of Children, Youth and Families with other state agencies. Director Wagner also served as commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, where he led one the state's largest agencies and oversaw the administration of cash assistance, shelter and food programs serving poor and low-income residents. Director Wagner earned a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree from Marquette University.

Donna C. Cupelo is region president of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for Verizon. She has overall responsibility for the company's service delivery, capital investment and public policy in both states. Prior to her current position, Cupelo was president for Rhode Island for Verizon, responsible for service earnings, government and regulatory affairs, public policy and economic development. Prior to that, Cupelo was vice president and general manager, with accountability for Operations, Construction, Engineering, Finance, Marketing and Public Affairs for Central and Western Massachusetts. Cupelo began her career with New England Telephone in 1978 as a market administrator supporting customer services throughout Massachusetts. She has held various leadership positions within the Sales and Marketing organizations, specializing in the Finance, Insurance, and Healthcare, Education and Government Market segments. Cupelo is active in many business, civic and charitable organizations in both MA and RI. She is on the Executive Boards of the MA Private Industry Council and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. In RI, she is a member of the boards of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and Heritage Harbor Museum. Cupelo is the Chair of Providence College's Board of Trustees' Finance Committee. She is the past Chair of the Providence Foundation Executive Board, Vice Chair of the Business Education Roundtable and serves on Brown University's Civic Leadership Board. She is the Verizon Volunteers Pioneers Denver Chapter executive sponsor. Cupelo received a BS from Providence College and a MBA from Babson College.

Kim Todd's first book, *Tinkering with Eden, a Natural History of Exotics in America*, tells the stories of non-native species and how they arrived in the United States. *Tinkering with Eden* received the PEN/Jerard Award and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award and was selected as one of *Booklist'*s Top Ten Science/Technical Books for 2001. Her second book, *Chrysalis*, *Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis* looks at the life of a pioneering explorer/naturalist who traveled to South America in 1699 to study insect metamorphosis. The story also traces ideas about metamorphosis through time. Chrysalis was published by Harcourt in 2007. It was selected as a Montana Book Award honor book, as one of the best science/technical books of 2007 by the Library Journal, and as a "Book to Remember" from 2007 by the New York Public Library. Her articles and essays have appeared in *Orion*, *Sierra Magazine*, *California Wild* and *Grist*, among other places. She has taught environmental and nature writing at the University of Montana, the University of California at Santa Cruz extension, and the Environmental Writers Institute. She currently teaches at Penn State, The Behrend College. Todd is a senior fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program. She has an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction and an M.S. in environmental studies, both from the University of Montana, and B.A. in English from Yale.