Keynote Speakers

Cheryl and Linda Brown are two of the three children of the late Rev. Oliver L. Brown. Along with their mother and sister the family is dedicated to preserving the historic legacy of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1954, Oliver L. Brown et. al v. the Board of Education of Topeka, et. al.

Linda has been a Head Start teacher and at one time taught private music lessons in piano. She is currently Program Associate with the Brown foundation and serves as director of music for one of the Methodist churches in Topeka, where she has chaired several project committees.

Cheryl has been a 6th grade teacher, university guest lecturer, a school guidance counselor, a state educational administrator, and is currently Executive Director of the Brown Foundation.

The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1942, The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes is an American Baptist minister ordained to the Christian Ministry by The First Baptist Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since 1970 he has served in The Memorial Church, Harvard University; and since 1974 as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church.

Widely regarded as one of America's most distinguished preachers, Professor Gomes has fulfilled preaching and lecturing engagements throughout this country and the British Isles. Named Clergy of the Year in 1998 by Religion in American Life, Professor Gomes participated in the presidential inaugurations of Ronald Wilson Reagan and of George Herbert Walker Bush. His New York Times and national best-selling books, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, (1996); and Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living (1998), were published by William Morrow and Company, Inc.; and he has published seven additional volumes of sermons as well as numerous articles and papers.

Profiled by Robert Boynton in The New Yorker, and interviewed by Morley Safer on 60 Minutes, The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes was included in the summer 1999 premiere issue of Talk magazine as part of its feature article, 'The Best Talkers in America: Fifty Big Mouths We Hope Will Never Shut Up.'

Focus Session Speakers

Shirley Malcom is Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The directorate includes AAAS programs in education, activities for underrepresented groups, and public understanding of science and technology. Dr. Malcom serves on several boards—including the Howard Heinz Endowment, the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, and the National Park System Advisory Board. She is a Fellow of the AAAS and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She served on the National Science Board, the policymaking body of the National Science Foundation, from 1994 to 1998 and from 1994-2001 served on the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Dr. Malcom received her doctorate in ecology from Pennsylvania State University; master’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Los Angeles; and bachelor’s degree with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. In 2003 Dr. Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.

Okianer Christian Dark is a professor at the Howard University School of Law. Professor Dark came from the United States Attorney’s Office in Portland, Oregon where she was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division and the supervisor of the Community Relations Unit. She joined the United States Attorney’s Office in May 1995 and remained until July 2001. At the time that Professor Dark joined the USAO in Portland, she was a full professor of law at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, in Richmond, VA. Professor Dark has published articles primarily in the torts area on topics like the National Childhood Vaccine Act and Racial Insults. She has also published a series of articles on race, gender and the legal academy.

Dr. Orlando L. Taylor is Vice Provost for Research, Dean of the Graduate School, and Professor of Communications at Howard University.
Dr. Taylor has served on numerous national boards and is currently the President of the Consortium of Social Science Associations and a member of the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. He serves as PI on major grants from the National Science Foundation to increase the production of Ph.D recipients in science, mathematics and engineering; and the U.S. Department of Education to develop collaborative academic and research programs between universities in Brazil and the Netherlands with those in the United States.
Dr. Taylor received his bachelor’s degree from Hampton University, Master’s degree from Indiana University, and Ph.D. from University of Michigan. Dr. Taylor received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Hope College in 2001.

Catherine L. Benamou is Associate Professor of American Culture-Latina/o Studies and Film and Video Studies at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. A specialist in Latin American and Latina/o cinema and television, she has produced and curated screenings of documentaries on related subjects in New York City and in Ann Arbor. In 2003, she served as first President of the U of M Latino Faculty and Staff Association. In additiona to several chapters and articles, she has a book entitled, It’s All True: Orson Welles in Pan-America, will be published by University of California Press in 2005.

John Matlock, Director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives (OAMI), manages research programs, multicultural activities, pre-college initiatives, student leadership training, and academic enrichment activities. The OAMI involves a large number of students with its own programs and supports student-initiated academic and multicultural programming. As Assistant Vice Provost, he provides leadership in developing and implementing the multicultural goals of the University and maintains active relationships with the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti and Detroit communities.
He received his B.S. from Ferris State University, and his M.A. in Journalism and Ph.D. in Higher Education both from the University of Michigan.

Steven Spencer is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Co-editor of a text on social perception, Dr. Spencer is also the author of several journal articles. A Hope College graduate, Dr. Spencer did his graduate work at the University of Michigan.

He specializes in research on motivation and the self, particularly on how these factors affect stereotyping and prejudice. In examining motivation and the self he has begun to examine how implicit processes that are outside of people's awareness affect people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In examining stereotyping and prejudice he looks at how threats to the self-concept can lead to stereotyping and prejudice, and how this stereotyping and prejudice affects subsequent feelings about the self.

Barbara Leys is the Director of Professional Development and University Relations for the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) and an adjunct faculty member at National-Louis University. She earned her MSEd in Early Childhood Education and is in the process of completing her dissertation in Educational Psychology.
She teaches graduate courses at the Academy, for AUSL. In addition, she works with master teachers to co-create a professional development that supports continued growth for all of the teachers who teach in AUSL’s professional development schools where, together with NLU faculty, they are developing the next generation of urban educators for underperforming Chicago Public Schools.

Christopher Miller received his B.A. in Religion from St. Olaf College and his M.A. in Theological Studies from the Claremont School of Theology. He is currently employed as a first grade teacher at the Chicago Academy, a contract school that works jointly with Chicago Public Schools and National-Louis University in Evanston to train mid-career professionals to teach in severely underperforming urban schools throughout the city of Chicago.

 

Edward Fubara is an ordained Associate Minister and Executive Assistant to the Pastor at the Union Missionary Baptist Church in Lansing, Michigan (Rev. Dr. Melvin T. Jones, pastor). He is also an adjunct instructor in Management at Lansing Community College and the University of Phoenix. Additionally, he is a management consultant and trainer for corporations, government agencies, churches and other organizations. He serves his community by organizing special church activities, ministering to those in need, and serving on boards and committees.
Edward holds a Ph.D. in Management from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. He previously earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from the same school, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Benin in Nigeria. His work has been published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and the Journal of Management Studies.

Dr. Fred L. Johnson III, Assistant Professor of History at Hope, joined the Hope faculty in the fall of 2000. His primary field is 19th century U.S. history, specifically the Confederacy during the Civil War. He is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, A Man Finds His Way, published early this year, and Bittersweet, published early in 2002.
Dr. Johnson is currently revising his doctoral dissertation for a publication. entitled The Tracks of War: Confederate Rail Policy and the Struggle for the Baltimore & Ohio.