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Lee D. Hoffer is an associate professor in the department of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Hoffer’s research focuses on understanding the political, social, cultural, and clinical contexts related to illicit drug use. This work has informed a range of topics, including; HIV risk behaviors of drug injectors, diagnostic nosology for substance use disorders, understanding trends in drug use, as well as drug policy and intervention studies. More recently, Dr. Hoffer’s research examines how illicit drug markets, and the acquisition of drugs, influences users behaviors and negative health outcomes. In 2000, Dr. Hoffer conducted an eighteen month ethnographic case-study of a heroin dealing network in Denver, Colorado. This fieldwork focused on the dealer’s business operations; transactions with customers; the interaction between addiction and drug acquisition; social and economic exchange relationships; as well as, characterizing the history of the local heroin market. This research is detailed in his book _[Junkie Business: the Evolution and Operation of a Heroin Dealing Network](https://smile.amazon.com/Junkie-Business-Evolution-Operation-Contemporary/dp/0534644953/)_ (Thompson-Wadsworth Press, 2006). His on-going research involves synthesizing agent-based computational modeling techniques and ethnographic research to develop new tools for policymakers and researchers. Borrowing from theories of Complexity Systems, these projects seek to connect the rich descriptive detail offered by anthropology with the epidemiology of drug abuse. From 1997-1999 Dr. Hoffer was Colorado’s representative to NIDA’s Community Epidemiology Workgroup. He was also active in the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV community planning efforts. From 2002-2005 he trained as a (T32) NIDA post-doctoral fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at Washington University School of Medicine, Epidemiology and Prevention Research Group (EPRG), mentoring with Dr. Linda Cottler. His research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse, as well as, The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology & Methods, Measurement, and Statistics program). [](https://smile.amazon.com/Junkie-Business-Evolution-Operation-Contemporary/dp/0534644953/)

Jeffrey E. Cohen received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1979. After teaching at, among other institutions, the Universities of Alabama, Illinois, and Kansas, he joined the Fordham faculty in 1997. This June, he escaped from a term as Department Chair. Professor Cohen has published extensively in the major political science journals, including the _American Political Science Review_, the _American Journal of Political Science_, and the _Journal of Politics_. His books include _[Presidential Responsiveness and Public Policy](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0472086308/)_ (1997, University of Michigan Press), which won the 1998 Richard E. Neustadt Award from the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association; _[The Presidency in an Era of 24 Hour News](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/069113717X/)_ (2008, Princeton University Press); and _[Going Local: Presidential Leadership in the Post-Broadcast Age](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0521141435/)_ (2010, Cambridge University Press), which was awarded the Goldsmith Book Prize from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Policy of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His newest book is _[The President’s Legislative Policy Agenda, 1789-2002](https://smile.amazon.com/Presidents-Legislative-Policy-Agenda-1789-2002/)_. Professor Cohen earned his B.A. from CWRU in 1973. [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1107443695/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/069113717X/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0521141435/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Presidents-Legislative-Policy-Agenda-1789-2002/dp/1107012708/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0472086308/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0822985098/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Politics-Telecommunications-Regulation-Divestiture-University/dp/B011YTY6NW/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K13KYTW/ target='_blank')

Mark Avsec is an expert in negotiating agreements that involve music-related intellectual property. A significant portion of his practice is also devoted to non-musical matters, including trademark, trade dress, and copyright prosecution and litigation as well as other types of intellectual property licensing and agreements. He has experience in combating international piracy for consumer product companies and regularly counsels media clients on the doctrine of fair use. Since 2003, Professor Avsec has taught “Law of the Music Industry” at CWRU. As a member of the Federal Judicial Conference, he teaches copyright law basics and litigation to U.S. federal judges at the University of California, Berkeley. Before becoming a lawyer, he worked as a studio musician, producer, and songwriter. He has written more than 500 songs and produced or played on sound recordings for, among other artists, Bon Jovi (“She Don’t Know Me”) (writer), Carlos Santana (“Angel Love (Come For Me)”) (writer), Donnie Iris (“Ah! Leah!” and “Love Is Like A Rock”) (writer, performer, and producer), Wild Cherry (“Play That Funky Music, White Boy”) (performer), and Mason Ruffner (“Gypsy Blood”) (performer). Professor Avsec has toured extensively with world-class artists and served as a session musician for multiple record companies in the United States and for CBS United Kingdom. He is the recipient of an American Music Award and was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

Ezra F. Vogel is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1950 and serving two years in the U.S. Army, he studied sociology in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958. He then went to Japan for two years to study the Japanese language and conduct research interviews with middle-class families. In 1960-1961 he was assistant professor at Yale University and from 1961-1964 a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard, studying Chinese language and history. He remained at Harvard, becoming lecturer in 1964 and, in 1967, professor. He retired from teaching on June 30, 2000. Vogel succeeded John Fairbank to become the second Director (1972-1977) of Harvard’s East Asian Research Center and Chairman of the Council for East Asian Studies (1977-1980). He was Director of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at the Center for International Affairs (1980-1987) and, since 1987, Honorary Director. He was Chairman of the undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies from its inception in 1972 until 1991. He was Director of the Fairbank Center (1995-1999) and the first Director of the Asia Center (1997-1999). Vogel was Chairman of the Harvard Committee to Welcome President Jiang Zemin (1998). He has also served as Co-director of the Asia Foundation Task Force on East Asian Policy Recommendations for the New Administration (2001). Drawing on his original field work in Japan, he wrote _[Japan’s New Middle Class](https://smile.amazon.com/Japans-New-Middle-Class-Salary/dp/B000JZBP6E/)_ (1963). A book based on several years of interviewing and reading materials from China, Canton Under Communism (1969), won the Harvard University Press faculty book of the year award. The Japanese edition of his book _[Japan as Number One: Lessons for America](https://smile.amazon.com/Japan-As-No-Lessons-America/dp/B001NGDFZC/)_ (1979) is the all-time best-seller in Japan of non-fiction by a Western author. In _Comeback_ (1988), he suggested things America might do to respond to the Japanese challenge. He spent eight months in 1987, at the invitation of the Guangdong Provincial Government, studying the economic and social progress of the province since it took the lead in pioneering economic reform in 1978. The results are reported in One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong Under Reform (1989). His Reischauer Lectures were published in The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (1991). His most recent publication is _[Is Japan Still Number One?](https://smile.amazon.com/Japan-Still-Number-One/dp/9679787281/)_ (2000). He has visited East Asia every summer since 1958 and has spent a total of over six years in Asia. Vogel has received honorary degrees from Kwansei Gakuin (Japan), the Monterrey Institute, the Universities of Maryland, Massachusetts (Lowell), Wittenberg, Bowling Green, Albion, Ohio Wesleyan, Chinese University (Hong Kong) and Yamaguchi University (Japan). He received The Japan Foundation Prize in 1996 and the Japan Society Prize in 1998. He has lectured frequently in Asia, in both Chinese and Japanese. From fall 1993 to fall 1995, Vogel took a two-year leave of absence from Harvard to serve as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council in Washington. He directed the American Assembly on China in November 1996 and the Joint Chinese-American Assembly between China and the United States in 1998. [](https://smile.amazon.com/Japans-New-Middle-Class-Salary/dp/B000JZBP6E/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Japans-Middle-Pacific-Perspectives-2013-07-18/dp/B01FKSRRT8/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Comeback-Building-Resurgence-American-Business/dp/0671617729/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Japan-Still-Number-One/dp/9679787281/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/CUHK-Xiaoping-Transformation-Simplified-Chinese-ebook/dp/B00A33SKII/)

John Zaller is Professor of Political Science at UCLA. His first book,_ The American Ethos: Public Attitudes Towards Capitalism and Democracy_ (with Herbert McCloskey, 1984) explored the tensions in public opinion between the two most basic tenets of American ideology. _[In The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion](https://smile.amazon.com/Origins-Opinion-Cambridge-Political-Psychology/dp/0521407869/)_ (1992) he explored how political messages reach the public and influence its thinking. _[The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform](https://smile.amazon.com/Party-Decides-Presidential-Nominations-American-dp-0226112365/)_ (with Marty Cohen, David Karol and Hans Noel, 2008), argues that, contrary to the common view that the party reforms of the 1970s gave the voters more power, the most consequential contests remain the candidates’ fights for prominent endorsements and the support of various interest groups and party leaders. Among his other projects is “A Theory of Media Politics,” a widely-cited paper and book in progress that describes how the conflicting interests of reporters, politicians and citizens shape the political news. Other recent projects use simulation models to explore incumbency advantages in elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and to determine the power of opinion surveys to identify the influence of media events on public sentiment. Professor Zaller teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in American politics, public opinion and statistical methods. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He served for eight years on the Board of Overseers of the biennial National Election Studies, and has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. [](https://smile.amazon.com/Origins-Opinion-Cambridge-Political-Psychology/dp/0521407869/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Party-Decides-Presidential-Nominations-American-dp-0226112365/)

John Zaller is Professor of Political Science at UCLA. His first book,_ The American Ethos: Public Attitudes Towards Capitalism and Democracy_ (with Herbert McCloskey, 1984) explored the tensions in public opinion between the two most basic tenets of American ideology. _[In The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion](https://smile.amazon.com/Origins-Opinion-Cambridge-Political-Psychology/dp/0521407869/)_ (1992) he explored how political messages reach the public and influence its thinking. _[The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform](https://smile.amazon.com/Party-Decides-Presidential-Nominations-American-dp-0226112365/)_ (with Marty Cohen, David Karol and Hans Noel, 2008), argues that, contrary to the common view that the party reforms of the 1970s gave the voters more power, the most consequential contests remain the candidates’ fights for prominent endorsements and the support of various interest groups and party leaders. Among his other projects is “A Theory of Media Politics,” a widely-cited paper and book in progress that describes how the conflicting interests of reporters, politicians and citizens shape the political news. Other recent projects use simulation models to explore incumbency advantages in elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and to determine the power of opinion surveys to identify the influence of media events on public sentiment. Professor Zaller teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in American politics, public opinion and statistical methods. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He served for eight years on the Board of Overseers of the biennial National Election Studies, and has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. [](https://smile.amazon.com/Origins-Opinion-Cambridge-Political-Psychology/dp/0521407869/) [](https://smile.amazon.com/Party-Decides-Presidential-Nominations-American-dp-0226112365/)

Jazmine Ulloa covers California state politics and policy for the Los Angeles Times and is based in Sacramento. A native of El Paso, she covered state and federal courts for the Austin American-Statesman in the Texas capital. Her work has appeared in Texas Monthly, the Texas Observer and the Boston Globe. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Image: [Shorenstein Center](https://shorensteincenter.org/event/speaker-series-jazmine-ulloa/ "Shorenstein Center")

With over 20 years of experience, Ted brings creative design insight and expertise, practical experience, effective public speaking and the ability to communicate at all levels of the profession and across a broad range of disciplines. His energetic interdisciplinary leadership experience with forward thinking design, complex planning and construction, urban design and historic projects is paired with a keen understanding for environments that are beautifully executed to improve our quality of life. Image: [Theodore on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodore-touloukian-64b87418/ "Linkedin")

Mia manages the Climate Ready Boston initiative for the City of Boston Office of Environment, Energy and Open Space. In this role, she leads the City's climate adaptation efforts, including implementation of the Climate Ready Boston plan, the City's participation in the Metro Boston Preparedness Taskforce, and collaboration with ongoing planning processes like Imagine Boston 2030, Go Boston 2030 and the Resilience Strategy. She has a Master's in City Planning from MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning and a BA from Brandeis University. Image: [barrfoundation](https://www.barrfoundation.org/bios/mia-mansfield "barrfoundation")

Sarah Smarsh has covered socioeconomic class, politics, and public policy for \_The Guardian, VQR, The New Yorker, Harpers\_, and many others. She has also received a Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. A former professor of nonfiction writing, Smarsh frequently speaks on economic inequality and related media narratives. She lives in Kansas. Heartland is her first book.

Dick Cluster is a writer and translator living in Oakland, California. He is editor/translator of the recently released Kill the Ámpaya!: Best Latin American Baseball Fiction, and co-author with Rafael Hernández of History of Havana. His many published translations include fiction and poetry from the Caribbean, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain. He’s the author of the novels Return to Sender, Repulse Monkey, and Obligations of the Bone. Image: [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dick-cluster-b4721834/ "Linkedin")

Gabriela Alemán, based in Quito, Ecuador, has played professional basketball in Switzerland and Paraguay and has worked as a waitress, administrator, translator, radio scriptwriter, and film studies professor. She received a PhD at Tulane University and holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Literature from Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. Her literary honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006; member of Bogotá 39, a 2007 selection of the most important up-and-coming writers in Latin America in the post-Boom generation; one of five finalists for the 2015 Premio Hispanoamericano de Cuento Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) for her story collection La muerte silba un blues; and winner of several prizes for critical essays on literature and film. Image: [wordswithoutborders](https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/contributor/gabriela-aleman "wordswithoutborders")