Alissa Kendallis a doctoral student in the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. She works in the Center for Sustainable Systems and researches material use in civil infrastructure and its impact on social, environmental, and economic sustainability. Previously, Alissa worked as a design engineer for TH!NK, a division of Ford Motor Company, on hybrid electric car development. Her other research interests include sustainable transportation and mobility, policy implications of carbon trading on developing countries, and issues of girls’ and women's education in math and sciences. Alissa is also active in Transformers, a community of graduate students and young professionals who come together to create a sustainable planet through education, celebration and positive action. Transformers members come from a variety of backgrounds, including natural resources, business, public policy, engineering, and medicine.
Jim Crowfoot is Emeritus Professor of Natural Resources and Environment. He is former Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan and former President of Antioch College. Jim's current living and work focuses on contributing to environmental and social sustainability. His past teaching and research has been in the areas of environmental advocacy and dispute resolution, organizational theory and management, and strategies and processes for reducing sexism and racism.
Larry Hollaris Senior Regional Organizer with Bread for the World (BFW), the nationwide grassroots Christian anti-hunger advocacy movement. With 54,000 members, including more than 2,500 affiliated local
churches and campuses, BFW lobbies the U.S. Congress on policies affecting people who are poor and hungry in this country and other areas of the world. From BFW's regional office in Dayton, Ohio, Hollar’s work supports BFW activists and members in five states (KY, MI, OH, PA and WV), comprising 61 congressional districts. As a BFW organizer since 1994 in Washington, DC and now in Ohio, he encourages BFW members to effectively lobby their elected national leaders, as well as do grassroots media work and networking with other advocacy and community organizations to improve national policies on hunger.
Abby Jansenis the ONE Campaign Organizing Fellow for Bread for the World, based in the North Central Region office in Dayton. Abby received her Bachelor’s in Social Work from Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA and also holds a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she focused her studies on the Management of Human Services and Communities and Social Systems. Abby has interned at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work as a Leadership and Development Intern and has held various positions in nonprofit organizations, including work with low-income seniors.
Ian Robinsonis the Co-Director of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations' Labor and Global Change Program at the University of Michigan. He also serves as the Faculty Sponsor and Instructor for the Sociology Department's Project Community, for the Residential College's Spanish Language Internship Program (SLIP), and for the University of Michigan’s School of Literature, Science, and the Arts Global Transformations Minor. Before coming to the University of Michigan in 1998, he was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at ReedCollege (Portland, OR), a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), an advisor on constitutional and trade policy to the Ontario government, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for European Studies, and Assistant to the Director of Research on Federalism and Constitutional Reform for the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.
Charles Rooney and Jean Dietrick Rooneyare retired Detroiters spending full time in peace and justice work. Charlie is the chairperson and Jean the treasurer of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, a multiracial interfaith group working to educate on progressive values and perspectives. Jean is also a member of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice and is currently serving on the Globalization Task Force.
Francis Shoris a Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University, where he teaches courses in historical and cultural studies. He is a recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Scholars Award to New Zealand and Visiting Faculty Fellowship to the University of Melbourne. His books include Utopianism and Radicalism in a Reforming America, 1888-1918 and a forthcoming comparative study of Industrial Workers of the World. Francis has a number of publications ranging from chapters on the IWW in New Zealand, gender and socialism, and anarchist communitarianism in 20th century America to a variety of scholarly articles. A veteran activist in peace, justice, and international solidarity campaigns, he is a long time member of the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
Prasad Venugopal is an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Detroit Mercy. He is a member of the Michigan Chapter of the U.S. Peace Council, which is affiliated with the World Peace Council. Prasad is an elected member of the National Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the largest grassroots anti-war coalition in the U.S. He is also active in numerous local peace and justice organizations, notably as a coordinating committee member of the Detroit Area Peace and Justice Network (DAPJN) and as a steering committee member of Southeast Michigan Jobs With Justice. Prasad also serves as the science editor for the journal Political Affairs, and has written numerous articles on U.S. foreign policy, imperialism and globalization.
Cynthia Edwards serves as Education and Outreach Director at Peoples’ Food Coop in Ann Arbor. She has twenty years of experience working with permaculture and sustainable systems design and education internationally. She worked in Nepal and India for ten years with village based sustainable development and food security.
Jeremy Moghtader is the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm Co-Manager, is on the Slow Food Huron Valley and the Agriculture Economic Development leadership team members, and serves on the Agrarian Adventure-Tappan Middle School Project steering team, which works to create a more sustainable and vibrant local food system though education and action.
Kirsten Schwind is a Program Director with Food First in San Francisco. She works with international and local social movements to implement the human right to food, produced through sustainable agriculture.She received her graduate degree from the University of Michigan in Natural Resources Management.
Shea Peebles is a librarian, researcher and activist from Minneapolis, MN. Shea specializes in challenging corporate tyranny in sustainable agriculture and establishing humane food systems. Shea is a former coordinator and current board member of the Local Fair Trade Network, which incorporates social justice standards into local sustainable agriculture.
Fr. Norm Thomas and Sr. Cathey DeSantis both work with the Detroit Metropolitan Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues. Both have been active in the peace and justice community in the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance and were founding board members of the DM-ICWI.
Lucinda Keils currently serves on the board of the Detroit Metropolitan Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues. She has experience in community organizing and fundraising, and worked as a community organizer with Groundwork for a Just World. She previously practiced law representing injured workers in worker’s compensation cases.
Lisa Dugdale is Director of the Living Economy Network of Washtenaw County. LEN’s mission is to support and cultivate locally-owned independent businesses that use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages, and serve primarily local consumers.
Josh Cleveland and Jen Herardare University of Michigan students who are giving leadership to Brewing Hope, a fair trade coffee project in solidarity with the Yachil Cooperative in a Zapatista community in Chiapas, Mexico, and in cooperation with Perk and Brew, a local Ann Arbor minority-owned coffee roasting company.
- Visit the Media Resources and Information Booth Room located in the Curtis Room on the Third Floor. Shaman Drum is selling Korten’s books as well as other pertinent reading material, various videos addressing globalization issues are available, and numerous fair trade goods are for sale as well. Additionally, numerous local activists groups will be on hand to tell you more about their work.
- Many segments of A Better World are being video taped. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the video, please let someone at the registration table know.
- The elevator is located near the registration area, closest to the west side of the building. Restrooms are located on all levels of the building.
- On May 6th and 7th the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice will conduct another important conference, Global Chaos versus Global Cooperation: Working to Make the United States a More Responsible Leader. Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of “Calling Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s UN” will be the keynote speaker. For more information about this conference, call (734) 663-1870 or visit
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