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Mary Robinson became High Commissioner for Human Rights on 12 September 1997, following her nomination to the post by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the endorsement of the General Assembly. Mrs. Robinson assumed responsibility for the UN human rights programme at a time of great change. As she took up her post in Geneva, the Office of the High Commissioner and the Centre for Human Rights were consolidated into a single Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Under her leadership, the Office has been gearing up to better face existing and emerging human rights challenges, harnessing the energies of new actors in the global quest for a universal culture of respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Mrs. Robinson came to the United Nations after a distinguished seven-year tenure as President of Ireland. As President, Mrs. Robinson developed a new sense of Ireland's economic, political and cultural links with other countries and cultures. She placed special emphasis during her Presidency on the needs of developing countries, linking the history of the Great Irish Famine to today's nutrition, poverty and policy issues, thus creating a bridge of partnership between developed and developing countries. Before her election as President in 1990, Mrs. Robinson served as Senator, holding that office for 20 years. In 1969 she became the youngest Reid Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College, Dublin. She was called to the bar in 1967, becoming a Senior Counsel in 1980, and a member of the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1973. She also served as a member of the International Commission of Jurists (1987-1990) and of the Advisory Commission of Inter-Rights (1984-1990). Educated at Trinity College, Mrs. Robinson also holds law degrees from the King's Inns in Dublin and from Harvard University.

Jeff Greenfield is a veteran political, media, and culture reporter who contributes to *The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric*, *The Early Show*, *CBS News Sunday Morning* and other CBS News broadcasts, as well as CBSNews.com. Prior to his return to CBS News in May 2007, Greenfield had been senior analyst for CNN since 1998. During that time, he served as its lead analyst for its coverage of the primaries, conventions, presidential debates and election nights, as well as presidential funerals and Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Greenfield also has reported on the media, culture, and trends for the cable network. Greenfield has won three Emmy Awards, two for his reporting from South Africa and one for a profile of Ross Perot. His work has appeared in many publications, including *The New York Times Magazine*, *Harper's* and *National Lampoon*. Greenfield is the author or co-author of 11 books. His first novel, *The People’s Choice*, was a national bestseller and was named by *The New York Times Book Review* as one of the notable books of the year. His most recent book was *Oh, Waiter, One Order of Crow*, an insider's account of the contested 2000 presidential election. **

Harvey A. Silverglate is an attorney practicing in Cambridge, MA. He holds degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Along with Alan Kors he co-founded the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and is a board member of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He has taught at Harvard Law School, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, and in the University of Massachusetts College III program. In addition to his law practice and his teaching, he is also a regular columnist for *The Boston Phoenix* on matters relating to political, legal issues and civil liberties.

Jeff Jacoby has been an op-ed columnist for *The Boston Globe* since 1994. Seeking a conservative voice, *the Globe* hired him away from *the Boston Herald*, where he had been chief editorial writer since 1987. *The Boston Phoenix* has dubbed his twice-weekly essays ''a must-read,'' describing him as ''the region's pre-eminent spokesman for Conservative Nation.'' A native of Cleveland, Jeff Jacoby graduated with honors from George Washington University in 1979, and from Boston University Law School in 1983. He briefly practiced law at the nationally renowned firm of Baker & Hostetler, returning to Boston in 1984 to work on a political campaign. He is also a frequent guest on radio talk shows across North America. He serves on the board of the New England chapter of the American Jewish Committee, and is a director of the Ford Hall Forum, the nation's oldest free public-lecture series. In 1999, Jacoby became the first recipient of the Breindel Prize, a $10,000 prize for excellence in opinion journalism. In 2004, he received the Thomas Paine Award of the Institute for Justice, an award presented to journalists ''who dedicate their work to the preservation and championing of individual liberty.'' Jeff Jacoby is married to the former Laura Weller. They live in Brookline, Massachusetts, with their sons, Caleb and Micah.

Noam Chomsky is a leading linguistic scientist and a longtime professor at MIT. His 1957 book Syntactic Structures outlined his theories of transformational generative grammar and made him a prominent and controversial figure in the field. Chomsky is also known as a political activist suspicious of big media, big business and big government. His books include Manufacturing Consent (1988) and Propaganda and the Public Mind (2001).

Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is Brooklyn native. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg. He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as *The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal*, and more than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers.

Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, a husband and wife team, began working together in 1979 co-producing a documentary for Paul's television show, Watchworks. Called, The Arms Race and the Economy, A Delicate Balance, they found themselves in the midst of a swirling controversy that was to boil over a few months later with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Their acquisition of the first visas to enter Afghanistan granted to an American TV crew in the spring of 1981, brought them into the middle of the most heated Cold War controversy since Vietnam. But the pictures and the people inside Soviet occupied Afghanistan told a very different story from the one being broadcast on the evening news. Following their exclusive news story for the CBS Evening News, they produced a documentary (Afghanistan Between Three Worlds) for PBS and in 1983 they returned to Kabul for ABC Nightline with Harvard Negotiation project director Roger Fisher. They were told that the Russians wanted to go home and negotiate their way out. Peace in Afghanistan was more than a possibility. It was a desired option. But the story that President Carter called, "the greatest threat to peace since the second World War" had already been written by America's policy makers and America's pundits were not about to change the script. As the first American journalists to get deeply inside the story they not only got a view of an unseen Afghan life, but a revelatory look at how the US defined itself against the rest of the world under the veil of superpower confrontation. Once the Soviets had crossed the border into Afghanistan, the fate of both nations was sealed. But as Paul and Liz pursued the reasons behind the wall of propaganda that shielded the truth, they found themselves drawn into a story that was growing into mythic dimensions. Big things were brewing in Afghanistan. Old empires were being undone and new ones, hatched. America had launched a Medieval Crusade against the modern world and the ten year war against the Soviet Union was only the first chapter. It was at the time of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 when Paul and Liz were working on the film version of their experience under contract to Oliver Stone, that they began to piece together the mythic implications of the story. During the research for the screenplay many of the documents preceding the Afghan crisis were declassified. Over the next decade they trailed a labyrinth of clues only to find a profound likeness in Washington's official policy towards Afghanistan - in the ancient Zoroastrian war of the light against the dark - whose origins began in the region now known as Afghanistan. It was a likeness that grows more visible as America's involvement deepens. Afghanistan's civil war followed America's Cold War while Washington walked away. A new strain of religious holy warrior called the Taliban arose but no one in America was listening. As the horrors of the Taliban regime began to grab headlines in 1998 Paul and Liz began collaborating with Afghan human rights expert Sima Wali. Along with Wali, they contributed to the Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future book project. In 2002 they filmed Wali's first return to Kabul since her exile in 1978. The film they produced about Wali's journey home, The Woman in Exile Returns, gave audiences the chance to discover the message of one of Afghanistan's most articulate voices and her hopes for her people. In the years since 9/11 much has happened to bring Paul and Liz's story into sharp focus. Their efforts at combining personal diplomacy with activist journalism is a model for restoring a healthy and vibrant dialogue to American democracy. Ultimately their book, Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold Story lays bare why it was inevitable that the Soviet Union and the U.S. should end up in Afghanistan and what that means to the future of the American empire.

Retiring after 20 years, Malcolm Rogers is the longest-serving director in MFA history. During his tenure, Rogers has created a legacy of "opening doors" to the Boston community and global audiences. Under his leadership, the MFA underwent a transformation that includes renovation and expansion- most notably the highly acclaimed Art of the Americas Wing.