Rhonda V. Magee is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco. She earned her J.D. M.A. (Sociology) and B.A. (with Distinction) from the University of Virginia, and was promoted to full tenure at USF in February, 2003. She teaches Torts; Insurance Law and Policy; Racism and Justice in American Legal History; Contemporary Issues of Race and Law and Evolving Notions of (In)equality; Immigration Law and Policy, and, beginning in Spring 2010, Contemplative Lawyering. She has served on the Board of Directors of a number of organizations, including the Center for Youth Development Through Law, the National Coalition Against Crime and Delinquency, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach, and the Humanizing Legal Education Section of the American Association of Law Schools.

Professor Magee was raised in the South, and was a first-generation college student in her family. Her interests in learning how society "really worked" led her to the study of sociology, where she focused on conflict management, inequality, and qualitative research methods. These studies led to her interest in law school. While in law school, Professor Magee's interest in restorative justice, reconciliation and the contemporary effects of unredressed historical wrongs led her to publish an article in the Virginia Law Review on the subject of the African American reparations, "The Master's Tools, From the Bottom Up: African American Reparations Theory in Mainstream and Outsider Remedies Discourse," 79 Va. L. Rev. 864 (1993), one of the earliest treatments of the topic in a mainstream legal scholarly journal. Though written by Professor Magee while she was a law student, her essay is considered a classic in the field of reparations scholarship. Professor Magee's current projects in legal education, which include an effort to reorient the study of U.S. Immigration law to underscore its origins in slavery and working to include mindfulness in traditional legal education and law practice, represent the latest iterations of her longstanding commitment to reforming education for the full, completely inclusive and holistic needs of democratic humanity in the 21st century.

Prior to entering academia, Professor Magee practiced law in San Francisco, representing a variety of corporate clients in multi-state complex litigation. Her leadership background includes training as a U.S. Army Officer and serving as a Public Affairs Officer for the Virginia National Guard - where she experienced first hand a sense of common humanity "broad enough to include military soldiers from the South." Her articles and essays have appeared in publications such as the Law Reviews of the University of Virginia, University of Alabama, Temple Law School, and in the San Francisco Chronicle. Her expansive interests range from a deeper consideration of the history of race and law in America (and the implications of "race" for what it means to be a human being under American law) to working with others to teach law and reform law practice to more bring about more self-reflective, compassionate advocates and community-builders. Her work challenges the limits of the possible regarding "race relations" and coalition-building, pushing for a dismantling altogether of the politics of "Othering" and remaking the world with a commitment to justice for all. She is dedicated to exploring the inter-relationships between law, philosophy and notions of justice and humanity, with a commitment to listening to and re-telling the stories of the impact of law on the lives of traditionally marginalized and subordinated people. She aspires to create her version of what Dr. Martin Luther King called the "Beloved Community"--a fully-inclusive world community, capable of managing its conflicts and distributing its resources compassionately, equitably and sustainability through contemplative practice and the power of love.

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Daniel Barbezat is Professor of Economics at Amherst College. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University, Yale University and has taught in the summer program at Harvard University. In 2004, he won the J. T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching Economic History from the Economic History Association. Over the past decade, he has become interested in how self-awareness and introspection can be used in higher education and economic decision-making. He has developed courses that integrate contemplative exercises designed to enable students to gain deeper understanding and insight. His approach to these economic classes has been featured in the Boston Globe, the U.S. News & World Report, as well as on the NPR program "Here & Now." Since 2009, he has been working with the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society as a Board Member and Associate Director of the Academic Program. He is currently writing a handbook of contemplative practices in higher education with Mirabai Bush, editing a group of papers with Arthur Zajonc, and a book entitled Wanting.

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Mirabai Bush was a co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and served as Executive Director until 2008. Under her direction, The Center developed its programs in education, law, business, and activism and its network of thousands of people integrating contemplative practice and perspective into their lives and work.

Mirabai holds a unique background of organizational management, teaching, and spiritual practice. A founding board member of the Seva Foundation, an international public health organization, she directed the Seva Guatemala Project, which supports sustainable agriculture and integrated community development. Also at Seva, she co-developed Sustaining Compassion, Sustaining the Earth, a series of retreats and events for grassroots environmental activists on the interconnection of spirit and action. She is co-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service, published by Random House.

Mirabai has organized, facilitated, and taught workshops, weekends, and courses on spirit and action for more than 20 years at institutions including Omega Institute, Naropa Institute, Findhorne, Zen Mountain Monastery, University of Massachusetts, San Francisco Zen Center, Buddhist Study Center at Barre, MA, Insight Meditation Society, and the Lama Foundation. She has a special interest in the uncovering and recovery of women's spiritual wisdom to inform work for social change. She has taught women's groups with Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Sharon Salzberg, Joan Halifax, Margo Adler, Starhawk, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Vicky Noble, and other leaders.

Her spiritual studies include meditation study at the Burmese Vihara in Bodh Gaya, India, with Shri S.N. Goenka and Anagarika Munindra; bhakti yoga with Hindu teacher Neemkaroli Baba; and studies with Tibetan lamas Kalu Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Kyabje Gehlek Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and others. She also did five years of intensive practice in Iyengar yoga and five years of Aikido with Kanai Sensei. Her earlier religious study included 20 years of Catholic schooling, ending with Georgetown University graduate study in medieval literature. She holds an ABD in American literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Before entering the foundation world, Mirabai was the first professional woman to work on the Saturn-Apollo moonflight at Cape Canaveral and later co-founded and directed Illuminations, Inc., from 1973 to 1985 in Cambridge, MA. Her innovative business approaches, based on mindfulness practice, were reported in Newsweek, Inc., Fortune, and the Boston Business Journal. She has also worked on educational programs with inner-city youth of color.

Mirabai has trekked, traveled, and lived in many countries, including Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, Morocco, Ireland, England, Scotland, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Italy, Pakistan, and the Caribbean. She is an organic gardener in Western Massachusetts and the mother of one adult son, Owen.

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Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., is currently writing scenarios for the post global financial crisis world with a group from the James Martin Institute at Oxford University. From 2002 through 2009, she served as Director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Before that time, she was the Joan Negley Kelleher Centennial Professor in the English Department at the University of Texas, as well as a Piper Professor and a member of the University's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. During her years at the University of Texas, she also served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Director of the Plan II Honors Program.

Flowers is a native Texan with degrees from the University of Texas and the University of London. Her scholarly publications include a book entitled Browning and the Modern Tradition and articles on Donald Barthelme, Adrienne Rich, Christina Rossetti, poetry therapy, writing and other subjects. Her annotated edition of Christina Rossetti's complete poems was published in 2001 in the Penguin Classics Series. She also edited Daughters and Fathers with Lynda Boose, as well as four books in collaboration with Bill Moyers: "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth," "A World of Ideas," "Healing and the Mind," and "Genesis." She has published three books of poetry: "Four Shields of Power" (with three other poets), "Extending the Shade" and "Blue Lioness" (2002).

Flowers was consultant for the nationally televised series, "The Power of Myth" as well as a host for the radio series "The Next 200 Years". Her 10-part television series, "Conversation with Betty Sue Flowers," was aired on the Austin PBS affiliate, KLRU. Flowers has served as a moderator for executive seminars at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, as a consultant for NASA, as a member of the Envisioning Network for General Motors, as a member of the vision team for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and as a Visiting Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. In 1992, and again in 1995, 1998 and 2001, she worked with an international team to write Global Scenarios for Shell International in London-stories about the future of the world for the next 30 years. She has edited a book in conjunction with Joseph Jaworski on the inner dimensions of leadership, Synchronicity, and is finishing another with Jaworski, Peter Senge and Otto Scharmer on "Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future." Flowers was the editor of global scenarios for sustainable development and scenarios for the future of biotechnology, both sponsored by the World Business Council in Geneva.

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Bradford C. Grant is the Associate Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Sciences, and the Director of the School of Architecture and Design at Howard University. He is the former Chairperson and Endowed University Professor of Architecture in the Department of Architecture at Hampton University, Hampton, VA. He received his Master’s degree in Architecture with a focus on social and cultural factors from the University of California at Berkeley. A registered architect, Mr. Grant has extensive experience in housing and community design through his research, teaching and architecture practice as principal of the architecture firm AGWA Architects, Hampton, VA. His research on cultural environmental design practice can be found in his work titled “Accommodation, Resistance and Appropriation in African American Building”, in Craig Barton’s Sites of Memory (Princeton Press, 2000) and in the Directory of African American Architects/Survey of African American Architects, co authored by Dennis Mann (University Cincinnati, 3rd edition released as web site). 

Mr. Grant was the Director of Hampton University Department of Architecture Urban Institute, the community design center and a service learning arm of the University. As part of the Urban Institute, Mr. Grant had conducted many urban and community design studies including the North King Street Urban Corridor, Hampton, VA., the Monticello Street Corridor, Norfolk, VA, and the Poindexter Street Commercial Corridor in Chesapeake, VA. along with architecture design assistance work with the City of Virginia Beach’s office of Housing and Community Service. His community design work has earned him the Hampton Clean City Commission Award, a Proclamation of Appreciation from the City of Hampton, the Universal Design Education Award from Adaptive Environments, Boston and Award of Merit from the Virginia Downtown Development Association.

Professor Grant has served as President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA 2001-2004) and was a member of the Board of the Hermitage Foundation, Museum and Slone Collections, Norfolk, VA. He is involved in research, practice and teaching of architecture accessibility and Universal Design, Fair Housing and cultural issues in architecture. He is currently working on or has completed several commissioned projects and planning assignments including the addition the Guiding Light Church, Portsmouth, VA, the Blair Middle School addition, Norfolk, VA and Arbor Music, a site specific environmental sculpture for the Botanical Gardens, Norfolk, VA. 

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Dr. Carolyn Jacobs is the Dean and Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor of the Smith College School for Social Work; she is also the Director of the Contemplative Clinical Practice Advanced Certificate Program. She has taught primarily within the research and practice sequences of the School. Her areas of professional interest include religion and spirituality in social work practice and organizational behavior. She has written and presented extensively on the topic of spirituality in social work. In 2001 she was elected to the National Academies of Practice as a distinguished social work practitioner.

Dr. Jacobs received her B.A. from Sacramento State University, her M.S.W. from San Diego State University, her doctorate from the Heller School of Brandeis University and her training as a spiritual director from the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. She maintains a spiritual direction practice.

Recent publications include: Jacobs, C. (2007) “Race, ethnicity, and class: A conversation with Hilda Ryūmon Gutiérrez Baldoquín, Sharon Suh, and Arinna Weisman, moderated by Carolyn Jacobs” in (Eds.) Gregory, P. N. and Mrozik, S., Women practicing Buddhism: American experiences. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications; Jacobs, C. (2007) “Spiritual Development” in Lesser, J. G. and Pope, D. S. (Eds.) Human Behavior in the Social Environment. Chapter 8, 188-203. VT: Allyn and Bacon; Jacobs, C. (2006) “Transformation and Kaleidoscope Memories” Smith College Studies in Social Work, 76 (4); and Jacobs, C. (2004) “Spirituality and end-of-life care practice for social workers” in Berzoff, J. & Silverman, P. R. (Eds.) Living with dying: A handbook for end-of-life healthcare practitioners. (pp. 188-205) NY: Columbia University Press.

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Paula C. Sager has a BA degree in dance from Bennington College, is a certified Alexander Technique teacher and has practiced Authentic Movement for 20 years. In 1993, she co-founded and served, until 2006, as editor and writer for A Moving Journal, an international publication featuring articles, stories, poetry, and art. Her long-time teaching practice focuses on the role of movement and kinesthetic awareness in supporting cognition, creativity, and presence.

In 2008, she received a degree from the Barfield School at Sunbridge College for Witness Consciousness and the Development of the Individual. Paula is co-author with Lizbeth Hamlin of Red Thread, Two Women, (2006) published by Pacific Editions in a limited and handcrafted edition by book artist, Charles Hobson.

Her interest in the applications of movement-based and contemplative learning led to co-founding The Mariposa Center of which she is board president. Mariposa, a non-profit education and social justice initiative, is one of only seven state-wide program providers for the Rhode Island Department of Education's PreK Demonstration Project. Mariposa's goal is to create a nurturing learning environment that supports creativity, growth, and friendship among children in partnership with families and community.

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David K. Scott was born on the northernmost of the Orkney Islands off the Coast of Scotland (same latitude as the upper Hudson Bay) - a small island 4 miles long and 2 miles wide, with a population of 100 people and approximately 30 farms, or crofts. This setting exposed him at an early age to the forces of nature through displays of the aurora borealis on winter nights and spectacular storms at sea which sometimes swept waves across the island, and led him on the path to becoming a physicist. He had to leave his home, parents and family at age 10 years to attend a boarding school - a harsh necessity at that time (1950) if a child from the Orkney Islands wanted to go on to attend a university. Sacrifices, both emotional and financial, were necessary to ensure a better education for the next generation. This commitment of his parents and of the island community has remained a shaping force in Scott's own commitment to education and to the democratization of privilege.

After completing his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Edinburgh, Scott then went on to Oxford University in England to do research in Nuclear Physics, completing the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1967 as a member of Linacre College. For several years thereafter, Scott was a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford University, but then decided to spend some time at the University of California at Berkeley, where he stayed for 7 years (1972-1979) conducting pioneering research on the high speed collisions of heavy nuclei to study extreme states in nuclear systems, such as the temperature and pressure in the Big Bang theory of the universe. In 1978 he was appointed Scientific Director of the Cyclotron Laboratory at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, but was attracted to Michigan State University (MSU) in 1979 as the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and of Chemistry. MSU provided a special attraction through the construction of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, the foremost laboratory in the world for research in collisions of nuclei.

In 1982 Scott served as the Director for Research at the Cyclotron Laboratory, and thereby was led back once again into academic administration, becoming Associate Provost in 1983 and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1986. As Provost, Scott felt he drew on his early experiences in his island birthplace where he developed an interest in all areas of knowledge as well as the interrelationships between them. He also felt he could advance the "democratization of privilege" that had enabled him as a child from a 20-acre croft in the Orkney Islands to gain access to great institutions of learning like Edinburgh, Oxford, Berkeley, Michigan State University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Scott left the position of Provost at MSU in September 1992, following a six-year tenure, to become the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Learning, Science and Society at MSU. In July 1993, Scott became Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a position he held until 2001.

Scott is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and is well known nationally and internationally for his work in nuclear collisions and higher education. He has written more than 100 papers on topics in Nuclear Science and Higher Education and delivered over 200 lectures in countries around the world.

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Arthur Zajonc is president of the Mind & Life Institute, former director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, and a professor of physics at Amherst College, where he has taught since 1978. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan. He has been visiting professor and research scientist at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, and the Universities of Rochester and Hannover. He has been Fulbright professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics he researched electron-atoms collision physics and radiative transfer in dense vapors. His research has included studies in parity violation in atoms, the experimental foundations of quantum physics, and the relationship between sciences, the humanities and contemplation. He has written extensively on Goethe's science. He is author of the books Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Catching the Light, co-author of The Quantum Challenge, and co-editor of Goethe's Way of Science. In 1997 he served as scientific coordinator for the Mind and Life dialogue with H.H. the Dalai Lama published as The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama (Oxford 2004). He again organized the 2002 dialogue with the Dalai Lama, “The Nature of Matter, the Nature of Life,” and acted as moderator at MIT for the “Investigating the Mind” dialogue in 2003 (see www.mindandlife.org). He has also been General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America (1994-2002), president of the Lindisfarne Association, and a senior program director at the Fetzer Institute.

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