Forum Network

Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, has been the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University, a position he has held since 1988. An internationally known author and lecturer, he received his primary school education in New York City, and attended secondary schools in Switzerland and New England. After graduating from Harvard College in 1940, he spent a year and a half in Harvard Law School before serving in the United States Navy, emerging with the rank of lieutenant. Past President of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society and Professor Emeritus at The Catholic University of America, Cardinal Dulles has served on the International Theological Commission and as a member of the United States Lutheran/Roman Catholic Dialogue. Cardinal Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974 and that of The Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988. He has been a visiting professor at: The Gregorian University (Rome), Weston School of Theology, Union Theological Seminary (New York, NY), Princeton Theological Seminary, Episcopal Seminary (Alexandria, VA), Lutheran Theological Seminary (Gettysburg, PA), Boston College, Campion Hall (Oxford University), the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic University at Leuven, Yale University, and St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie.

Herman Badillo, the first Congressman born in Puerto Rico to represent a district in the continental United States, was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico on August 21, 1929. After a tuberculosis epidemic claimed the lives of both of his parents, he moved with his aunt to New York City, where he attended public schools. Herman earned a B.A. degree from City College of New York, and a LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School. The following year he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in New York City. He also worked as an accountant while he was in law school, and became a certified public accountant in 1956. In 1970 Badillo was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 21st District in the South Bronx. He won with eighty-four percent of the vote and was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses, each time with an impressive percentage of the vote. During his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives he gained a seat on the Committee on Education and Labor, where he worked on legislation on behalf of his district, where at the time forty-eight percent of the people spoke English as a second language. Through his efforts, job training for unemployed non-English-speaking citizens was included in the Comprehensive Manpower Act of 1973. Badillo also served on the Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee, and the Small Business Committee, where he had a seat on the Minority Enterprise and General Oversight Subcommittee. These committee assignments were of particular importance to his constituents, many of whom lived in poverty and had low levels of education. He supported numerous legislative initiatives to establish community development programs, and he labored to expand educational opportunities by proposing tax credits for educational expenses, as well as provisions aimed at encouraging disadvantaged youth to pursue careers in the health professions. Badillo also supported legislation intended to fight various forms of discrimination, including age and marital status discrimination in employment. In addition he supported energy conservation programs and incentive programs to promote the commercial application of solar energy and renewable resources.

Derber writes mainly for a broad, public audience and spends considerable time writing and speaking for mass media and magazines. His books have been translated into German, Chinese, and Polish and are addressing a global audience. He has been intimately involved in the worldwide debate about globalization, corporate power, the war on terrorism, and American Empire. This reflects his view that sociologists who feel they have something important to say should write in a clear and simple way rather than dress their arguments up in technical jargon. Sociologists have a distinctive perspective to offer on our social problems, and we are defaulting on our responsibilities if we don't enter the public debate.

Professor Ramon Borges-Mendez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and has a professional career in the United States and abroad. He has held academic positions at American University's School of International Service, The Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Chile's Public Policy Program. Professor Borges-Mendez has also served as a Research Associate at the Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at UMass Boston. He has also worked as a consultant for the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Economics Commission on Latin American and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAS), the Inter-American Development Bank, the Brookings Institute, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency and the government of Chile. He has written on various public policy issues ranging from Latino poverty and community development in the United States (especially in Massachusetts) to decentralization and civil society matters in Latin America. Most recently, he has been evaluating participatory practices in sustainable forestry and environmental services in Costa Rica; assessing programmatic options to support innovative practices in local government, participation and plural networks in Chile and Peru; assessing the value-added contributions of community-based organizations to workforce development in various US cities; and the implementation of regional workforce development strategies in the US.

Dennis L. Haarsager has led Washington State University's public broadcasting and educational telecommunications organization since 1978, serving as associate vice president and general manager, Educational Telecommunications and Technology since 1995. His organization includes 13 public radio stations operating as Northwest Public Radio, two public television stations, the country's busiest statewide distance learning network, and WSU's instructional support services. From 2001-2003, he took a half-time leave of absence to head up the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Digital Distribution Implementation Initiative and has done consulting work for several other organizations. Currently, he is one of the principals behind the Public Service Publisher initiative and he edits a weblog at technology360.com. Prior to WSU, Haarsager served as state coordinator for Idaho Public Broadcasting and as director of administration for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Haarsager has his master's degree in public administration and a bachelor degree in political theory, both from the University of South Dakota.

Dan Gillmor is founder and director of the Center for Citizen Media, a nonprofit organization aimed at enhancing and expanding grassroots media and its reach. The center is an affiliate of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Law School and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. Dan is the author of We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People, published in 2004. From 1994-2004, Dan was a columnist at The San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper, and wrote a blog for SiliconValley.com. He joined The Mercury News after six years with The Detroit Free Press.