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Loretta J. Ross is a founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, composed of 70 women of color organizations across the country. Ross' areas of expertise are reproductive rights, human rights, women's issues, diversity issues, hate groups and bias crimes. Ross is the founder and former Executive Director of the National Center for Human Rights Education (NCHRE), a training and resource center for grassroots activists on using human rights education to address social injustices in the United States. Prior to that, from 1990 to 1995, she served as the national program research director for the Atlanta-based Center for Democratic Renewal. Ross' involvement in women's health issues was initiated as a result of a personal triumph. She was one of the first African American women to direct the first rape crisis center in the United States in the 1970s. Women's human rights are of significant concern for Ross because she was sterilized at age 23. Ross was also one of the first black women to win a suit against A.H. Robins, manufacturer of the Dalkon Shield that sterilized thousands of women worldwide. Ross is co-author, with 3 other writers, of the book *Beyond the Politics of Inclusion: Women of Color in the Reproductive Rights Movement* (2004, South End Press). She is currently authoring a book on a black women's activism in the reproductive rights movement called *Black Abortion*. Other writing projects include editorials for the Progressive Media Project for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain and she serves as a political analyst for Pacifica News Service and Alternative Radio. Ross has appeared on talk shows such as *The Donahue Show*, *The Charlie Rose Show*, CNN, BET *Lead Story*, and *Good Morning America*. She has also been featured in *Emerge Magazine*, *Biography Magazine*, *San Antonio Express News*, and the* Los Angeles Times*. For the last two years, she has also been collecting oral histories of elder feminists of color for archives at Smith College. Ross was invited to testify before the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, and the Food and Drug Administration on women's health and human rights issues. She served eight years on the Washington D.C. Commission for Women. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Foundation for African American Women, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, and SisterLove Women's AIDS Project. Ross received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law degree in 2003 from Arcadia University.

Steven Bach was senior vice-president and head of worldwide productions for United Artists studios. In *Final Cut: Dreams And Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate* (1985), Bach chronicles his involvement in the troubled production of *Heaven's Gate* (1980), a film widely considered to have been the decisive reason for the financial bankruptcy of United Artists. Bach is the author of *The Life and Legend of Marlene Dietrich and Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart*. He taught film studies at Columbia University and Bennington College. His biography of the Nazi-associated filmmaker, *Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl* (2007) overturns many of the claims Riefenstahl put forward in her self-defence regarding her contact with Hitler's regime, and was named by the New York Times as one of the most notable books of 2007. Bach died after a brief illness in March of 2009. He was survived by his companion, Werner Rohr.

Deborah Rodriguez has worked as a hairdresser since 1979, except for a brief time when she was a corrections officer in her hometown of Holland, Michigan. She used to direct the Kabul Beauty School, the first modern beauty academy and training salon in Afghanistan where she lived with her Afghan husband. According to *the New York Times*, six women also involved in the beauty school in Afghanistan dispute parts of her memoir, particularly concerning the Beauty School's founding, how she won control of the school and why, and her stories about several Afghani women. The author and publisher say that in the future, they will make it clear Rodriguez didn't found the school and that the Afghani women's identities needed to be protected. Rodriguez left Afghanistan in April 2007 after returning to Kabul from a book tour to find that her husband, Haji Sher Mohammed, had been sexually harassing salon girls and planning to steal her money. After being warned that she would be kidnapped if she stayed, she fled. The Kabul Beauty School has caused outrage in Afghanistan, where websites have revealed the salon girls' true identities. They have been denounced as prostitutes who have soiled the reputation of Afghan women.

**Dr. Vishakha Desai** is the special advisor for Global Affairs to the President of Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs. Desai served as President and CEO of the Asia Society, a global organization dedicated to strengthening partnerships among peoples of Asia and the U.S. from 2004 through 2012. Under her leadership the society expanded the scope and scale of its activities with the opening of new offices in India and Korea, a new center of U.S.–China Relations, various leadership initiatives, and inauguration of two new architecturally distinguished facilities in Hong Kong and Houston. Prior to becoming President, Desai held various senior positions at the Asia Society from 1990 to 2004. Before joining the Asia Society in 1990, Desai was at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as a Curator and the Head of Public Programs and Academic Affairs. She has taught at Columbia University, Boston University, and the University of Massachusetts where she was given a tenured appointment. Desai holds a B.A. in political Science from Bombay University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Asian Art History from the University of Michigan. The recipient of numerous international and national grants and fellowships, Desai has received four honorary degrees from American Universities. For her work on Asian American issues, she has received awards from the University of Massachusetts, City University of New York, Asian Americans for Equality, and Leadership Education for Asian Pacific Americans (LEAP).

Jerome Ringo is a dedicated champion of environmental justice and vocal advocate of clean energy. He has firsthand experience with environmental challenges we are facing, after having worked for more than 20 years in Louisiana's petrochemical industry. Jerome spent most of his career as an active union member working with his fellow members to secure a safe work environment and quality jobs. Jerome's experience organizing environmental and labor communities and his drive to further diversify the environmental movement bridges many partners creating a broad based coalition that provides real solutions for our energy crisis. *Ebony* magazine named Jerome Ringo one of the most influential African Americans for 2006 in its April issue. Jerome Ringo was also highlighted in the May issue of *Urban Influence Magazine* as one of the Top Ten African American Influences in the country. Jerome is now the Immediate Past Chairman for the National Wildlife Federation. Jerome Ringo was the United States only black delegate at the 1998 Global Warming Treaty Negotiations in Kyoto, Japan. In addition to being present during Kyoto Treaty Negotiations, Ringo represented the National Wildlife Federation at the United Nations' conference on sustainable development in 1999.

Charles R. Jordan received the Pugsley Medal in 1995. He is perhaps the leading evangelist in the parks and recreation field of his time. He is an articulate, passionate visionary who has inspired thousands of professionals in the field and citizens in his home community of Portland, to make a difference in their own lives and in the lives of those around him. He was born in Texas, but as a young person moved to Palm Springs, California. At six-foot-seven he thought he might have a future in basketball and aspired to be a coach. After college he went on to work as a recreation leader for the city of Palm Springs in 1961, his home town, and that launched his influential career in the field. Jordan received his BS from Gonzaga University in education, sociology and philosophy, undertaking graduate work in education at Loma Linda University, and in public administration at the University of Southern California. In 2001, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by the University of Vermont. Mayor Neil Goldschmidt supported his appointment to a city council vacancy in 1974, making Jordan the city's first African American commissioner. After his appointment, he was elected in 1976 and re-elected in 1980 and 1984. During his ten years as an elected official, Jordan was fire commissioner for two years, police commissioner for five years and parks commissioner for three years. Through experiences that ranged from responsibilities for senior and youth programs, job training, educational research, and human relations, to the duties of an urban police commissioner, Jordan brought a perspective to parks that has been described as insightful, refreshing, bold and visionary.

A regular on the national singer/songwriter circuit, Doria Roberts creates songs that have been described as "a delicious, bohemian blend of folk, jazz and pop". Doria's versatility as a songwriter and entertainer is never lost whether she is performing solo or with her band. The Atlanta based Singer/Songwriter has released her fifth recording project, a new 26 track, live disc entitled *Alive & Well*. The album is a culmination of solo, band, spoken word and storytelling performances from shows captured live at Eddie's Attic (Decatur, GA) and the Red Light Cafe (Atlanta) in June & August 2001 and January 2002.

Walter Isaacson received his BA in history and literature from Harvard. From there he went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, gaining an MA in philosophy, politics and economics. He began his journalism career at *The Sunday Times* (UK) and then at the *New Orleans Times-Picayune*. He joined *TIME* magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's fourteenth managing editor in 1996. He became chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and in 2003 became president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." He is the author of *Benjamin Franklin: An American Life* and of *Kissinger: A Biography*, the coauthor of *The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made* and author of *Einstein*.

Judson Mitcham was born in Monroe, Georgia, where he grew up and where much of his work is centered. He was not formally trained as a writer. Instead he studied psychology at the University of Georgia, where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees. He received his Ph.D. in 1974. He is recently retired from Fort Valley State University, where he taught psychology for many years. He has also served as adjunct professor of creative writing at the University of Georgia and at Emory University, where he has directed the Summer Writers' Institute and currently teaches fiction. His poetry has been widely published, appearing in such journals as Harper's, Georgia Review, Chattahoochee Review, Gettysburg Review, Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, and Southern Review. His poetry collection, Somewhere in Ecclesiastes (1991), earned him both the Devins Award and recognition as Georgia Author of the Year. His second poetry collection, This April Day, was published in 2002. His novel The Sweet Everlasting (1996) won him the Townsend Prize for Fiction and a second Georgia Author of the Year award. Mitcham's second novel, Sabbath Creek (2004) also won the Townsend Prize, the first time an author has twice won the award. Mitcham has received fellowships from the NEA and the Georgia Council for the Arts. He resides in Macon with his wife, Jean. They are the parents of two children.

Marty is a lifelong resident of Quincy, MA. He has been a member of the Quincy Board of Appeals since 2004, and will be completing his second year as Chairman in February. He also sits on several state boards and commissions related to his expertise in renewable energy. Marty cares deeply about the environment and hopes to be able to spread that message throughout Quincy. In fact, Marty has installed solar panels on his Houghs Neck home and has been called a "Green Hero" for installing the regions first wind turbine. You have probably seen it, the huge "windmill" owned by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers just off of Route 93 in Boston. Marty wants to be a leader in advancing good jobs in Quincy with an idea to promote Quincy residents. He believes the Council should be working tirelessly with the Mayor to control costs and get the best possible services out of every dollar spent.

Paul Staiti is a specialist in American art, particularly the work of eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century painters. He has cocuratored and coauthored* John Singleton Copley in America*, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; and *Jefferson's America* and *Napoleon's France* at the New Orleans Museum of Art. For the Louvre in Paris he wrote "American Artists and the July Revolution," an essay that was published in conjunction with the exhibition American Artists and the Louvre. His essays on the relationship between nineteenth-century American artists and the culture of deception have been included in exhibition catalogues for the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum. Staiti also authored a book on the artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse and recently published essays on portraits of American capitalists, and on the late sea pictures of Winslow Homer. He is currently at work on Gilbert Stuart's portraits of Washington. He is particularly interested in how they were used as political propaganda for the Federalist Party in the 1790s. Staiti has lectured widely and most recently delivered the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Lecture at the University of Virginia. He has received numerous fellowships and awards, including those from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Liguria Study Center. He teaches courses in American art, American studies, and film studies, as well as the seminars Hollywood Film and The Gilded Age.