Speakers' Bios
Lorin K. Jackson Lorin K. Jackson is a senior Philosophy major and Education Studies minor at Haverford College. As a Mellon Mays Fellow, Lorin had the opportunity to participate in a pre-graduate school research program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the summer of 2007 and is currently extending research on the foundations of modern black consciousness. Primary research interests include identifying the underlying causes of racism, the complexities of difference and dissecting oppression in her senior thesis through analysis of Hegel's master/slave dialectic in Phenomenology of Spirit. As a way of connecting to a future PhD program, and addressing these issues in relation to the power of images, Haverford's Hurford B. Humanities Center allowed Lorin to lead a seminar with seven student participants entitled, "High Contrast: Representations of Black Women in White America" in the fall of 2007. Ann duCille, Chair of English and Professor of African-American Studies at Wesleyan University, spoke on behalf of her seminar at Haverford in the fall of 2007.
Joyce Johnson is a co-founder of the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, which focuses on issues ranging from workers rights to housing to education; BCC has taken a lead role in the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project , an initiative that is becoming a national and international model for restorative justice. She runs BCCs Jubilee Institute and focuses on leadership development for women and youth, locally and nationally.
Nelson Johnson is pastor of Faith Community Church and co-founder and Director of the Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. A longtime activist around issues of labor and racial justice, he is on the board of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.
Terrence L. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Religion, joined Haverford in 2006. A graduate of Morehouse College, he received his M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and his Ph.D. from Brown University. He is a recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation's Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship and the Doctoral Fellowship from The Fund for Theological Education. His research interests include ethics, moral philosophy, African American religion and the role of religion in public life.
Duane Kight earned his BA (with a major in French) from Hobart College (Geneva, NY) in 1977, then went on to get a MA and a PhD (both in French) from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was trained as a medievalist. Since coming to Haverford College in 1988, he has been responsible for teaching beginning and intermediate French, as well as for introductory courses in culture and literature. His research interests include the medieval period, particularly the 12th century, but have expanded beyond that to include the French Second Empire and Belle Epoque, the English Victorian period, opera and music-literature relations, queer theory, cultural studies, film studies, and monsters. He is also interested in computer-assisted language pedagogy.
M. Carmen Lane is a diversity practitioner with over 18 years experience providing lectures, workshops, advocacy and consultation to non-profit social justice organizations. Using her multiple identities as a currently able bodied African-American, First Nations, Two-Spirit woman and lesbian, she is an agent of change working at multiple levels of system to dismantle oppression. Carmen recently completed a certificate program for social change agents through NTL Institute. Currently, she is in cohort XVII of the OSD program at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. She has served in the capacity of board chair and advisor to numerous social change organizations that have dealt with issues regarding age, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, spirituality/religion, and violence. Carmen is principal for The Lane-Leota Group, a diversity and social change consulting firm with a focus on transformational change and the intersections of systems of oppression.
Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Professor of History and Curator of the Quaker Collection at Haverford College, earned a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D, from the University of Pennsylvania. Research includes: family and community life, ante-bellum cities; architecture, material culture and community planning; religion and popular culture in nineteenth-century America; Quaker history; the American West; historical interpretation for popular audiences.
Farah Mokhtareizadeh is an activist with Voice in the Wilderness and a community organizer affiliated with the simple way community in Philadelphia. Her work has taken her to Iraq, Syria, and Switzerland; most recently, she spent the spring in Damascus for an intensive Arabic course. Farah will be returning to the University of Pennsylvania this fall to focus on her work in the Middle East Studies program.
Alexia Salvatierra is the Executive Director of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), an organization of religious leaders throughout Los Angeles county who come together to respond to the crisis of working poverty by supporting low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that affect them. Rev. Salvatierra is an ordained Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with over 20 years of experience in interfaith and community ministry, community organizing and legislative advocacy. In addition, she has worked on projects in the Philippines, Central and South America, and Northeast Africa.
Michael Simmons is a human rights activist who has been working in peace & justice activities for over 40 years. From his early organizing activities in the African American Civil Rights movement, to anti-war and nuclear non-proliferation movements, to advocacy on behalf of women & Roma in Europe, Michael has been at the forefront of social justice and social change organizing in wide variety of contexts and issues. Michael has lectured on US foreign and military policy, nuclear weapons, human rights racism and sexism, conflict resolution and African American history at many universities in the in the US and Africa and Europe. Currently Michael resides in Budapest, Hungary. He is the Co Director of the Raday Salon ( http://raday.blogs.com/ ), a human rights Salon based in Budapest. In addition, he consults on issues of human rights, sex trafficking and international relations. He is working on a book about his life in the international human rights movement.
Fay Strongin is a sophomore Political Science major at Haverford College. With a strong interest in global justice, community organizing, and the arts, she has worked on anti-war, living wage, and community arts campaigns. Fay will be the co-facilitator of Global Frontiers, a CPGC student-led seminar about the place of the World Social Forum within the globalization debate and the potential for student involvement in this movement, in Spring 2008.
Micaella Baum-Tuccillo is a junior Philosophy major and Education Studies minor at Haverford College. As an educational reform activist, she has done work in public schools in New York City and Philadelphia. In the Fall of '07 Mica took a Dean's Leave from Haverford College and recieved a Certificate in Labor Studies through the City University of New York. This semester she will continue her workers rights activism by getting involved with an emerging worker education program in Philadelphia, and with The Coalition of Labor Union women. Mica will be the co-facilitator of Global Frontiers, a CPGC student-led seminar about the place of the World Social Forum within the globalization debate and the potential for student involvement in this movement, in Spring 2008.