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Harry Belafonte's studied drama at Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop, where a singing role led to night-club engagements and a recording contract as a pop singer. In 1950 he became a folksinger, learning songs at the Library of Congress' American folk-song archives. He sang West Indian folk songs as well, in nightclubs and theatres; his handsome appearance added to his appeal as a frequent performer on television variety programs. With hit recordings such as "Day-O" (Banana Boat Song) and "Jamaica Farewell," he initiated a fad for calypso music; in the mid-1950s his *Harry Belafonte and Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites* were the first of his series of hit folk-song albums. Belafonte was the male lead (but did not sing) in the film musical Carmen Jones (1954), a success that led to a starring role in the film *Island in the Sun* (1957). He also produced the film *Odds Against Tomorrow* (1959), in which he acted, and in the 1960s became the first African-American television producer. He helped introduce South African singer Miriam Makeba and Greek singer Nana Mouskouri to American audiences. A civil-rights activist, he was also active in charitable work. In the 1970s, when his singing career was a secondary occupation, he was featured in the films *Buck and the Preacher* (1972) and *Uptown Saturday Night* (1974).

Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Education and Director of Global Education and of International Education Policy at Harvard University. He teaches courses on the relationship between education policy, democratic citizenship and instructional improvement. His course 'Education Policy Analysis and Research in Developing Countries' focuses on some of the core education challenges in the development field. His course 'Education, Poverty and Inequality in Latin America' is an examination of the options to improve learning opportunities in high poverty schools in Latin America. He recently completed a study evaluating a national program to promote literacy instruction in Mexico as part of a large evaluation of major education policies of the Federal Government in Mexico, a project for which he was principal investigator, involving 8 faculty members at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This research led to a recently published book Aprender Mas y Mejor. Politicas, Programas y Oportunidades en Educacion Basica en Mexico (Fernando Reimers editor. Fondo de Cultura Economica) He also served recently on a Panel Review of the National Academy of Sciences evaluating Title VI, Fulbright-Hays and other Federally Funded Programs to promote the Internationalization of American Universities. A fellow of the International Academy of Education and member of the Council of Foreign Relations and of the Advisory Board of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Academy of Sciences, Professor Reimers is best known for his theory of 'Informed Dialogue', an approach to bridge scientific research and education policy through the mapping and mobilization of social networks. Professor Reimers is also known for his studies on the quality of education in developing countries and for his research on the relationship between education policy and instructional improvement in high poverty schools. He is the Director and creator of the International Education Policy Program at Harvard University. Prior to joining the Faculty at the Graduate School of Education in 1997 he was Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank. He also worked as Research Associate, Institute Associate and Fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development and on the faculty at Universidad Central de Venezuela. He has extensive experience in the area of international development assistance with the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank and other Development Organizations. He has worked in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and most countries in Latin America.

Richard Nisbett, distinguished university professor at the University of Michigan, addresses how schools and culture shape intellectual development in his new book, Intelligence and How to Get It.

Jeremy Jackson is Director of CMBC, the William E. and Mary B. Ritter Professor of Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and a Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama. He also served as Professor of Ecology at the Johns Hopkins University from 1971 to 1985. Dr. Jackson is the author of more than100 scientific publications and five books. His current research includes the long-term impacts of human activities on the oceans and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of the gradual formation of the Isthmus of Panama. He co-founded the Panama Paleontology Project in 1986, an international group of some 30 scientists, to help support his isthmian research. He has also worked extensively on the ecology of coral reef communities and the tempo and mode of speciation in the sea. Dr. Jackson is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and received the Secretary's Gold Medal for Exceptional Service of the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 and the UCSD Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Science and Engineering in 2002. His work on overfishing was chosen by *Discover magazine* as the outstanding environmental achievement of 2001. He has also served on committees and boards of the World Wildlife Fund US, the National Research Council, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, and the Science Commission of the Smithsonian Institution.

Kathleen Norris is the award-winning poet, writer, and author of *The New York Times* bestsellers *The Cloister Walk*, *Dakota: A Spiritual Geography*, *Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith*, and *The Virgin of Bennington*. Exploring the spiritual life, her work has been described as at once intimate and historical, rich in poetry and meditations, brimming with exasperation and reverence, deeply grounded in both nature and spirit, sometimes funny, and often provocative. In her career Kathleen Norris has published seven books of poetry. Her first book of poems was entitled *Falling Off *and was the 1971 winner of the Big Table Younger Poets Award. Soon after, she settled down in her grandparents' home in Lemmon, South Dakota, where she lived with her husband, the poet David Dwyer, for over twenty-five years. The move was the inspiration for the first of her nonfiction books, the award-winning bestseller *Dakota: A Spiritual Geography*. It was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was selected as one of the best books of the year by Library Journal. Widowed in 2003, Kathleen Norris now divides her time between South Dakota and Honolulu, Hawaii, where she volunteers at her mother's retirement home, and also at an Episcopal church, where she cooks for a homeless shelter and helps teach a spirituality class for teenagers.

Former Congressman Mickey Edwards is a lecturer at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is also a vice president of the Aspen Institute and director of the Institute's Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership program. Edwards served as a member of Congress for 16 years, during which time he was a senior member of the House Republican leadership as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, a member of both the House Appropriations and Budget committees, and ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. After leaving Congress, he taught government and public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for 11 years before moving to Princeton in 2004. He has taught at Harvard Law School and as a visiting professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. Edwards has been a regular columnist for a number of newspapers, including the *Chicago Tribune*, the *Los Angeles Times*, the *San Francisco Examiner*, and the *Boston Globe*, and for years broadcasted weekly political commentary on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

Scott Ritter, Former Marine Corps Officer who served from 1991 to 1998 as a United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq in the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM). He is a registered Republican, and his most recent book is *Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement*. His earlier books include *Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change* and *Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein*.