Forum Network

Will Holton is associate professor of sociology at Northeastern University. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 164, majoring in sociology with a minor in history, and then earned two degrees in sociology at Boston University, an M.S. in 1966 and a Ph.D. in 1972. He joined the faculty at Northeastern University in 193, where his teaching and research focus on neighborhood change, group relations, poverty, and political issues in Boston. Since 1975 he has taught the popular "Sociology of Boston" course, for which he has prepared a text, "Discovering Boston: A Social Perspective on the City." From 1984 to 2000 he operated "Discovering Boston Walking Tours." In 1986 Holton delivered a series of N.E.H. lectures titled "The Social History of the South End" at the South End Branch of the Boston Public Library. His current major research focuses on the motivations for the massive project that filled the 850-acre Back Bay marsh in Boston in the nineteenth century. Holton is president of The Partnership of the Historic Bostons, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about its historical legacy from the town of Boston, England. [Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=Qg\_uLLXLY5kC&pg=PA260&lpg=PA260&dq=Wilfred+E.+Holton&source=bl&ots=oErqiO1HO7&sig=bLD5qr3xK29Y7\_3uT\_pOY-dmTkU&hl=en&ei=DidPTKjVFYGynAeklI3WBw&sa=X&oi=book\_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CCMQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=Wilfred%20E.%20Holton&f=false]

From his student days to his current Chairmanship of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Julian Bond has been an active participant in the movements for civil rights and economic justice. As an activist who has faced jail for his convictions, as a veteran of more than 20 years service in the Georgia General Assembly, a university professor and a writer, he has been on the cutting edge of social change since 1960. He was a founder, in 1960 while a student at Morehouse College of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation organization and of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As SNCC's Communications Director, Bond was active in protests and registration campaigns throughout the South. Bond serves as Chairman of the Premier Auto Group PAG (Volvo, Land Rover, Aston-Martin, and Jaguar) Diversity Council and is on the Boards of People for the American Way, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council for a Livable World, and the advisory board of the Harvard Business School Initiative on Social Enterprise, among others. He was a commentator on America's Black Forum, the oldest black-owned show in television syndication. His poetry and articles have appeared in numerous publications. He has narrated numerous documentaries, including the Academy Award winning "A Time For Justice" and the prize-winning and critically acclaimed series "Eyes On The Prize." He has served since 1998 as Chairman of the Board of the NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. In 2002, he received the prestigious National Freedom Award. The holder of twenty-five honorary degrees, he is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, DC, and a Professor in history at the University of Virginia

Doric Wilson was one of the first playwrights at NYC's legendary Caffe Cino, his comedy *And He Made A Her* opening there in 1961, with Jane Lowry and Paxton Whitehead in the leads. Other Cino productions followed, including *Now She Dances!*, *Babel Babel Little Tower* and *Pretty People*. He received his early theater training under Lorraine Larson, apprenticed with Dorothy Seeburger and the Richland Players (WA), and studied briefly at the Drama Department of the University of Washington until he was asked to leave after he initiated a one person protest against anti-gay shootings at a nearby park. Doric Wilson's plays *Street Theater*, *The West Street Gang*, *Forever After* and *A Perfect Relationship* became staples of the emerging Gay Theater circuit, widely performed here and abroad and winning numerous honors, including The Villager and Chambers-Blackwell best play citations. In 1994 Wilson received the first Robert Chesley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Gay Theatre. He is a member of The Dramatist Guild and the Evette Society. He is currently working on two new plays, *An Object of Affection* and *Saints on a Secret Mission*.

Zoe Trodd is a fellow at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in the Center for the Study of the American South. She has a PhD from Harvard University's History of American Civilization department and a BA/MA from Cambridge University in English Literature. She researches and teaches American protest literature, especially the literature of civil rights, anti-lynching and abolitionism.

Adoyo Owuor is the Founder and Executive Director of Zamani Foundation. She received her BA from the University of California, Davis where she concentrated on Italian Literature, Music Composition and Art.

Ashley Ramsden is the founder of the School of Storytelling. His unique methods of teaching voice and the skills of the storyteller have received international acclaim. He runs workshops, tours with his one man shows and is a speaker of sacred poetry.

Dr. Janis F. Andersen, interim deam of College's School of Communication, has been named its new dean. Andersen had served as the interim dean since September. "This is an exciting opportunity for me to bring to my own discipline of communication the administrative skills I have honed in central administration," Andersen said. "Emerson College is an extraordinary institution with talented and dedicated faculty, staff, students and alumni. I am honored to have been asked to stay." Before coming to Emerson, Andersen held several positions at San Diego State University (SDSU.) While at SDSU, Andersen served as a professor of communication, interim dean of the Graduate Division at SDSU, and as an associate vice president of graduate and research affairs. Andersen received undergraduate degrees from Bradley University and an Ed.D. in education psychology from West Virginia University. She has authored or co-authored three workbooks on communications and over 50 scholarly articles which have appeared in publications such as *Communication Quarterly*, and *Human Communication Research*.

Hugh Drummond is a vice president in O'Neill and Associates communications division, offering a diverse portfolio of expertise in media relations, communications, marketing, and government affairs gleaned from experience with nonprofits, corporations, start ups, public relations agencies, and Capitol Hill, as well as state-wide and national political campaigns. At O'Neill and Associates, Mr. Drummond provides crisis communications support to clients in the aviation and long-term care sectors. He also supports PR and marketing campaigns for clients in financial services, energy, non-profit, education and real estate development. Mr. Drummond's political background includes work as a special advisor to former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, national scheduling and advance director for Senator Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign, and deputy campaign manager for former Massachusetts State Senator Warren Tolman's 2002 gubernatorial campaign.