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Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning syndicated columnist and an international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues. Before she moved to the U.S. in 2000, Ms Eltahawy was a news reporter in the Middle East for many years, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a correspondent for *Reuters* and she reported from the region for *The Guardian and U.S. News* and *World Report*. She is one of a few writers whose essays appear regularly in both the western and Arab press. Her opinion pieces have been published frequently in the* International Herald Tribune*, *The Washington Post*, the p*an-Arab Asharq al-Awsat* newspaper and *Qatar's Al-Arab*. In 2006, the Next Century Foundation awarded Ms Eltahawy its Cutting Edge Prize for distinguished contribution to the coverage of the Middle East and in recognition of her continuing efforts to sustain standards of journalism that would help reduce levels of misunderstanding. She has reported for various media from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and China. Ms Eltahawy was the first Egyptian journalist to live and to work for a western news agency in Israel. She reported on the terrorist campaign in Egypt in the 1990s and is familiar with the groups and ideology behind the attacks of September 11, 2001 and others since then. In November 2006, she was named Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC), her alma mater.

Charles Bahne is a historian living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the author of *The Complete Guide to Boston's Freedom Trail*. Bahne regularly teaches Elderhostel programs about Boston's role in the early years of the American Revolution.

Gary Radke is professor of Fine Arts at Syracuse University. A fellow of the American Academy in Rome, he has received fellowship support from the Mellon Foundation, Kress Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, among others. His publications include Viterbo: Profile of a Thirteenth Century Papal Palaceand Art in Renaissance Italy, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on Italian Renaissance architecture and sculpture. Radke is past president of the Italian Art Society and guest curator for exhibitions of Italian art at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Dr. Gilbert M. Burnham is the co-director of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at Johns Hopkins. He has extensive experience in emergency preparedness and response, particularly in humanitarian needs assessment, program planning, and evaluation that address the needs of vulnerable populations, and the development and implementation of training programs. He also has extensive experience in the development and evaluation of community-based health program planning and implementation, health information system development, management and analysis, and health system analysis. He has worked with numerous humanitarian and health development programs for multilateral and non-governmental organizations, regional health departments, ministries of health (national and district level), and communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. A major current activity is the reconstruction of health services in Afghanistan.

Now in his seventh season as Owner & CEO of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blanks passion and commitment to the team has never been more intense. Blank has distinguished himself as one of the most innovative and progressive owners in all of professional sports. Blank is also chairman, president and CEO of AMB Group, LLC, and chairman of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Joyce Kulhawik, arts and entertainment anchor for WBZ-TV, has been an integral part of the region's cultural landscape since she began reporting for the station in 1981. Covering all aspects of art, entertainment and pop culture, Kulhawik reports weekdays at 5:00PM, 6:00PM and 11:00PM on WBZ-TV. She also anchors the *Joyce's Choices* entertainment report on TV38 News at 9:00PM. Kulhawik was co-host of the weekly nationally syndicated movie review program *Hot Ticket* with veteran movie critic Leonard Maltin, and was a continuing co-host on *Roger Ebert & The Movies*. Kulhawik joined WBZ-TV in 1978 as an associate producer and tipster for *Evening Magazine*. In 1981 she became the station's arts and entertainment reporter and played a key role in the public service campaign, You Gotta Have Arts! As part of the campaign, Kulhawik hosted the station's Emmy Award-winning *You Gotta Have Arts!* magazine program during its one year run, as well as three specials, the first of which received an Emmy Award in 1982. From 1982 through 1985 Kulhawik served as co-anchor of the station's *Live on 4* newscast. A three-time cancer survivor, Kulhawik was called upon to testify before Congress on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of The National Cancer Act. Since 1983 she has served as the Honorary Chairperson for the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days. Most recently, Kulhawik was chosen to become a member of the Boston/New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Silver Circle. She received the Community Spirit Award at the 2006 New England Women's Leadership Awards. She was also inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the spring of 2007. Kulhawik received a 2001 Boston/New England Emmy Award for WBZ-TV 's Outstanding Team Coverage of Ground Zero. Kulhawik also starred in the WBZ-TV Emmy award-winning promotion The Look for Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

Michael Edward Luckovich is a multiple Pulitzer Prize award winning cartoonist for *The Atlanta Journal Constitution*.

Steven M. Walsh is serving his third term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He is the chairman of the Community Development and Small Business committee. An attorney by education, Steve is a member of the Ward 6 Democratic City Committee and the Democratic State Committee. He is a Rotarian and a Hibernian. He is a referee with the Association of New England Football Officials. He is also a commissioner with the Essex National Heritage Area, and a friend of Lynn Woods and Lynn and Nahant Beach.