National Advisory Board

Daniel E. Atkins is the Kellogg Professor of Community Information in the School of Information and is a professor in the Division of Computer Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. He is also coordinator of the Community Informatics specialization within the SI Master of Science in Information program.

Atkins also serves part-time as U-M associate vice president for research, cyberinfrastructure, a position which reports to the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost.

From June 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008, he served as director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C., while on leave from the University of Michigan.

Atkins began his research career in the area of computer architecture and did pioneering work in parallel computer architecture and high-speed computer arithmetic that is widely used in modern processor chips. He also conducts research and teaching in the area of distributed knowledge communities and open learning resources. He has directed several large experimental digital library projects as well as projects to explore the socio-technical design and application of collaboratories for scientific research.

Atkins served as chair of the National Science Foundation Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure. The panel issued a landmark report in February 2003 recommending a major Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Program intended to revolutionize science and engineering research and education. The report catalyzed new priorities and the new Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the NSF.

Among his many distinctions, Atkins was the 2008 winner of the Paul Evan Peters Award from the Coalition of Networked Information, Association of Research Libraries, and EDUCAUSE. The award recognizes notable, lasting achievements in the creation and innovative use of information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity through communication networks.

Joshua Berman is a partner at the national law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, where he specializes in health care law, government investigations, criminal defense and complex litigation. He represents hospitals, health systems, nonprofit organizations, physician groups, insurance companies, device and pharmaceutical companies, senior officers, directors and executives and other corporate entities in a variety of matters nationwide. Mr. Berman is one of the national leaders of the firm’s White Collar and Government Investigations practice.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Berman spent seven years as a federal prosecutor in New York City and Washington, D.C. In that capacity, Mr. Berman investigated, prosecuted and tried cases relating to health care fraud, white collar crime, securities and bank fraud, public corruption, anti-piracy and copyright infringement, racketeering, cybercrime, espionage, counter-terrorism, and organized and violent crime. Mr. Berman was on an elite team of prosecutors that investigated and prosecuted al Qaeda members and their associates overseas and within the United States. In 2001, Mr. Berman served as Associate Investigative Counsel on the Webster Commission, leading one of the teams that reviewed the FBI’s national security and counterintelligence programs in the wake of FBI Special Agent Robert Hanssen’s espionage.

Mr. Berman is a frequent speaker and author. He has served as an adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School, Georgetown University, American University, The George Washington University, The Catholic University of America, and Cardozo Law School, where he taught courses on white collar crime, federal prosecutions and cybercrime. Mr. Berman regularly provides legal insight to the media on numerous topics, including sensitive health care and government investigation matters. Some of his recent media appearances include The New York Times, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, Good Morning America, Nightline, CNBC , TIME andUSA Today.

Mr. Berman has been actively involved in advocacy and efforts on behalf of health organizations, including recently the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation (New York) and Cure Autism Now (Washington, D.C.).

Mr. Berman received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and an editor on the Michigan Law Review. He received his B.A. from Cornell University, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Best known for winning our hearts as Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter is an accomplished singer who has performed to rave reviews before sell-out crowds around the world. In addition to her long acting career, Lynda has the distinction of producing and starring in five highly rated network television specials, several of which were Emmy-nominated. She has appeared onstage with many of the world's most popular singers, including Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, Bob Hope, George Benson, and Ben Vereen.

Lynda made her professional singing debut at fourteen in Tempe, Arizona, and has studied classical dance and piano. In 1973, she won the Miss World-U.S.A. title and shortly thereafter outdistanced hundreds of other actresses for the part of "Wonder Woman," a character she infused with such depth and humor that it has become one of the most indelible characters in TV history. Her fame led to her becoming the “face” of Maybelline Cosmetics, and she remained Maybelline’s top model for over a decade. But her roots remained with her music.

“Singing is in my soul”, says Lynda. “I was on the road performing in my teens and traveled from the Catskills to Las Vegas, and from San Francisco to the saloons in Texas”. An engaging storyteller, she takes her audience on a journey where her life story and her music intertwine.

Though Lynda continued to act in films and television, she left the road when she had children to raise her young family. She returned to live performing in 2006, appearing on the London stage with an acclaimed star turn in “Chicago.” In 2007, Lynda started touring again in venues across the country with her band of Nashville all stars. Her new CD, “At Last” was released in June of 2009 and dropped at #6 on the Billboard charts. She is working on her new CD which will be released this winter.

Kathy Cronkite is a popular writer, journalist and public speaker. As one of the millions who suffer from clinical depression, she has become a tireless champion for mental health. As an advocate, Cronkite delivers a clear message: Depression must be accepted as the medical condition it is in order to combat depression's stigma by accepting it as a treatable disease.

Her book, "On the Edge of Darkness: Conversations About Conquering Depression" (Doubleday, 1994), has received wide acclaim for its informative and eloquent treatment of mental illness. In writing the book, Cronkite interviewed celebrities who suffered from depression, including Mike Wallace, Joan Rivers, Dick Clark, Kitty Dukakis, Rod Steiger, Rona Barrett, Jules Feiffer, John Kenneth Galbraith, and William Styron. Combined with interviews with well-known researchers of mental illness, these celebrity conversations cast a dispelling light on the myths and stigma that surround mental illness.

Her knowledge and work are well respected by mental health professionals. Honored by the Texas Psychological Association for outstanding public contribution to psychology in 1999, Cronkite has spoken all over the country and has appeared many times on television and radio. Her appearance on the TODAY show prompted over 12,000 calls in three hours to the 800 number of the National Institute of Mental Health, on whose advisory board she served. Cronkite also worked on the Communications Workgroup and the Bridging Science and Services Workgroup. Cronkite was presented with the William Styron Award by the National Mental Health Association. This award is presented to a prominent American who has managed a mental illness and helped others through their openness and outspoken advocacy. She was also the recipient of the Media Award from the Mental Health Association of Austin in 1987 and 1996.

Cronkite drew on her experiences as the daughter of famed television newscaster Walter Cronkite in penning her first book, "On the Edge of the Spotlight: Celebrities' Children Speak Out About Their Lives. Using a similar method to the one that she later employed in "On the Edge of Darkness"; she interviewed the children of celebrities to explore the challenges and privileges that were afforded to them.

Debbie Dingell is currently the President of D2 Strategies, and is Chair of the Manufacturing Initiative of the American Automotive Policy Council.  She is an active civic and community leader in both Michigan and Washington, D.C. and is a recognized national advocate for women and children. She recently completed a more than 30 year career at General Motors as a senior executive, where she headed the GM Foundation and public affairs. Mrs. Dingell has both a B.S.F.S. in Foreign Service and an M.S. in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. 

Mrs. Dingell is also a national Democratic strategist, a member of the Democratic National Committee and has chaired numerous political campaigns.  She currently chairs several boards, initiatives and committees and sits on numerous cultural, health, social services and civic boards in both Michigan and Washington, D.C. Much of her recent work has been focused on ethical issues and social responsibility as it relates to government and business.  

As a respected, bi-partisan voice, she is a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, co-hosts “AM I Right” on the Detroit Public Television station, and is a regular roundtable Panel participant on Detroit’s WDIV’s “Flashpoint” as well as several other media programs in Michigan and Washington, D.C.   She is included in Washingtonian’s 2009 100 most influential women in Washington, DC and Detroit Crain’s listing of the 100 most influential women in Michigan.

Mrs. Dingell is married to Congressman John D. Dingell of Michigan.

Ken Duckworth, M.D. is the Medical Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness as well as Medical Director of Vinfen Corporation, a non-profit human services organization headquartered in Cambridge, MA.  He is triple board certified in adult, child and adolescent, and forensic psychiatry, and is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Duckworth has held many positions in clinical and leadership roles, including serving as the Medical Director and then Acting Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and, before that, as Medical Director of Massachusetts Mental Health Center for five years.  While State Medical Director, Dr. Duckworth worked to reduce restraint and seclusion
in Massachusetts hospitals, implemented a clinical approach to the medication cost challenge at Mass Health, and also supervised the first study on early mortality of public mental health clients.  This last endeavor led him to develop the nationally acclaimed NAMI educational program, Hearts and Minds, promoting lifestyle changes to help reduce risks of type II diabetes, heart disease and related conditions.  He recently co-authored NAMI’s 2006 state-by-state mental health system analysis, Grading the States Dr. Duckworth is a member of the National Coordinating Council, Standards for Bipolar Excellence (STABLE) Project; Steering Committee, NIMH Bipolar Disorder Trials Network; and the national board of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists.  A Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Duckworth teaches at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Public Health.  He has received numerous awards and honors for clinical excellence and has written papers on a variety of psychiatric issues.

Dr. James J. Duderstadt received his baccalaureate degree in electrical engineering with highest honors from Yale University in 1964 and his doctorate in engineering science and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967.  After a year as an Atomic Energy Commission Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1968 in the Department of Nuclear Engineering.  Dr. Duderstadt became Dean of the College of Engineering in 1981 and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1986.  He was appointed as President of the University of Michigan in 1988, and served in this role until July, 1996.  He currently holds a university-wide faculty appointment as University Professor of Science and Engineering, directing the University’s program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy, and chairing the Michigan Energy Research Council coordinating energy research on the campus.

Dr. Duderstadt's teaching and research interests have spanned a wide range of subjects in science, mathematics, and engineering, including work in areas such as nuclear fission reactors, thermonuclear fusion, high powered lasers, computer simulation, information technology, and policy development in areas such as energy, education, and science.

During his career, Dr. Duderstadt has received numerous national awards for his research, teaching, and service activities, including the E. O. Lawrence Award for excellence in nuclear research, the Arthur Holly Compton Prize for outstanding teaching, the Reginald Wilson Award for national leadership in achieving diversity, and the National Medal of Technology for exemplary service to the nation.  He has been elected to numerous honorific societies including the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Science, Phi Beta Kappa, and Tau Beta Pi.

Dr. Duderstadt has served on and/or chaired numerous public and private boards.  These include the National Science Board; the Executive Council of the National Academy of Engineering, the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy of the National Academy of Sciences; the Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee of the Department of Energy; the National Commission for the Future of Higher Education, the Big Ten Athletic Conference; the University of Michigan Hospitals, Unisys, and CMS Energy.

He currently serves on or chairs several major national study commissions in areas including federal science policy, higher education, information technology, and engineering research, including NSF’s Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure, the National Commission on the Future of Higher Education, the National Academies Committee on the Future of the American Research University and the National Academies Policy and Global Affairs Division Committee (Interim Chair).

Michael J. Fitzpatrick is executive director at NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Prior to taking that role in January of 2004, he served both as the director of NAMI’s Policy Research Institute and as NAMI’s national director of policy.

Mr. Fitzpatrick currently serves on the board of REACH (Resource for Advancing Children’s Health) Institute (2006) and has served on numerous community, government and nonprofit boards and expert panels in the past. He served as the chair of the Campaign for Mental Health Reform as well as the president of the board of the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program in his home state of Maine.

Prior to joining NAMI in 1999, Mr. Fitzpatrick held senior management positions in state government, nonprofit agencies and the private sector where he developed successful education, employment, housing, outreach and rehabilitation programs.

He also served in the Maine State Legislature where he served as the House Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. Mr. Fitzpatrick earned his M.S.W. in Administration and Planning from Boston College.

As a lifelong resident of Michigan, Lisa has devoted her time to many social causes centered on children, education, and the environment. She received a BA in Economics from Princeton University and has been married to Bill Ford for 28 years.

Through her Board work at The Children’s Center, located in Detroit, she has co-chaired the annual events, Auto Glow and Detroit Uncorked for 10 years. Most notably, Lisa co-chaired the “Touch the Heart of a Child” Capital Campaign which raised $10.2 million and resulted in the Paul D. Marsh Programs Building which allowed the agency to expand its work of healing the hearts and minds of thousands of children annually. As part of the campaign, and with the completion of Ford Field, she organized the first public event at the new stadium, called “Impact at Ford Field.”  This event won the acclaim of the single largest fundraising event for one charity in Michigan history, raising in excess of $4.2 million dollars in 2002.

To build off the campaign’s success, Lisa helped to launch an aggressive individual donor growth and expansion plan with the “Power of Possibilities Breakfast.”  This annual mission-based fundraiser was designed to attract new donors and to deepen  connections to existing donors.  Lisa, along with her husband, provided an annual challenge grant for the first two years, helping secure $1.25 million in multiple year gifts.

Lisa continues to help build strategic partnerships, most recently with the Tau Beta Association.  This volunteer group has adopted The Children’s Center by creating the notable, long-term project, called “The Center for Discovery,” which helps children to realize the potential within themselves to achieve.

Lisa has served on the Boards of the Detroit Zoological Society, the Telluride Academy, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, University Liggett School, and Greenhills School.

In 2008, while on the Board of Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, Lisa launched and chaired the $6.5 million PromiseRenewalOpportunity (PRO) Campaign. Greenhills School is a student-centered community that helps young people realize their full intellectual, ethical, artistic and athletic potential in preparation for college - and beyond - as curious, creative, and responsible citizens who respect all individuals and their differences, and whose meaningful and balanced lives will better the world. To date, the PRO Campaign has raised $4 million for science facility renovations and expansion.

Currently, along with continuing her leadership and support of The Children’s Center, Lisa is a new member of the Board of the United Way of Southeastern Michigan. With Southeastern Michigan known as one of the most impoverished areas in the United States today, Lisa continues to desire to help those affected by such huge challenges.

Jay Gardner is Director, Real Estate Ford Land, Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan. Jay is responsible for real estate acquisitions, leases and dispositions worldwide to support Ford's global product development and manufacturing strategy. Ford's real estate portfolio is about 250 million square feet of owned and leased facilities. Ford is acquiring real estate, entering joint ventures, and constructing research facilities/plants in China, Thailand, Eastern Europe, and India to support Ford vehicle development and growth. Ford also is in the process of closing, performing environmental cleanup and disposing of former plant sites in North America while working closely with the respective state and local governments to plan future uses of the real estate consistent with community visions.

William K. (Bill) Hall is a Chicago-based venture capitalist investing in healthcare and industrial companies.  He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Hall serves on the Board of Directors of the following organizations:

• Stericycle (SRCL: NASDAQ) - Healthcare Services
• Grainger (GWW: NYSE) – Industrial Distribution
• Actuant (ATU: NYSE) – Diversified Manufacturing
• Rush University Medical Center – Academic Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois
• Northwestern University Settlement Association – Inner City Social Services in Chicago, Illinois

From 1980 – 2009, Mr. Hall was a senior corporate executive in five companies:

• Procyon Technologies, Inc.—Actuation and electrical devices for aerospace/defense  ($95M)
  • Co-founder, Chairman and CEO (2000-2009)
• Falcon Building Products, Inc. (FBP: NYSE)—Products for residential, commercial and home improvement markets ($1.2B)
  • Founder, President & CEO (1994-1997)
  • Chairman, President and CEO (1997-2000)
• Eagle Industries, Inc. (Privately owned by Mr. Sam Zell)— Diversified industrial products ($2.4B)
  • President & CEO (1988-1997)
• Farley/Northwest Industries/Fruit of he Loom (FOL: NYSE)—consumer products ($1.1B)
  • President & COO (1984-1988)
• Cummins (CMI: NYSE)—Diesel engines & power systems
  • Executive Vice President-Marketing and Components Group (1980-1984)

From 1970-1980, Mr. Hall was a Professor of Business Administration at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, the Harvard Business School, and the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD).  He has degrees in engineering, mathematics, and business administration from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Honorary Professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She is the co-author of the standard medical text on manic-depressive illness, which was chosen in 1990 as the "Most Outstanding Book in Biomedical Sciences" by the American Association of Publishers, and author of Touched with Fire, An Unquiet Mind, and Night Falls Fast. She is the author or co-author of five books and more than 100 scientific articles about mood disorders, suicide, psychotherapy, and lithium. Her memoir about her own experiences with manic depressive illness, An Unquiet Mind, was selected by The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly and the Seattle Post Intelligencer as one of the best books of 1995. An Unquiet Mind was on The New York Times Bestseller List for more than five months and was translated into fifteen languages. Her book, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, was a national bestseller, translated into twelve languages, and selected by The New York Times as a "Notable Book of 1999."  Her most recent book, Exuberance was published in 2004.

Dr. Jamison completed her undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles where she was a National Science Foundation Research Fellow, University of California Cook Scholar, John F. Kennedy Scholar, United States Public Health Service Pre-doctoral Research Fellow, and UCLA Graduate Woman of the Year. She also studied zoology and neurophysiology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Dr. Jamison, formerly the director of the UCLA Affective Disorders Clinic, was selected as UCLA Woman of Science and has been cited as one of the "Best Doctors in the United States." She is the recipient of a MacArthur Award, the American Suicide Foundation Research Award, the UCLA Distinguished Alumnus Award, the UCLA Award for Creative Excellence, the Siena Medal, the Endowment Award from the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, the Fawcett Humanitarian Award from the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association, the Steven V. Logan Award for Research into Brain Disorders from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the William Styron Award from the National Mental Health Association, the Falcome Prime for research in affective illness from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, and the Yale University McGovern Award for excellence in medical communication.  Dr. Jamison was a member of the first National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research.

Phil Jenkins is a lifelong resident of Michigan and the founder and CEO of Sweepster Inc. Jenkins was a young engineer working for Caterpillar Tractor when he got a call from his mother in 1949 asking him to return home to take over the family farm equipment business in Dexter, then called Jenkins Equipment Company. Sweepster Inc. manufactures attachment, walk-behind, self-propelled and airport runway sweepers for all types of equipment used in airports, municipalities, agriculture, and construction around the globe. Annual sales total about $50 million, with aviation products generating about 25 percent of the gross revenue. Sweepster Inc. is an Earth Share of Michigan company supporting environmentally responsible workplaces. Jenkins is also a board member of Equipment Manufacturers Institute (EMI) in Chicago, Illinois, as well as an active community member helping to establish the Generations Together Center in Dexter an inter-generational daycare center that provides day care for both the very old and the very young together. In 1999, Jenkins lost his wife of forty-seven years who suffered from depression.

Former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy served eight terms in Congress as the representative from the First District of Rhode Island, retiring from Congress at the end of the 111th session in 2010. He is co-founder of One Mind for Research, a national coalition formed in 2011 to seek new treatments and cures for neurologic and psychiatric brain diseases such as depression, bipolar illness, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, alzheimer's and autism.

A graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, Kennedy came to Rhode Island to attend Providence College where he received his degree in Social Science in 1991. While at Providence College, Kennedy became politically active, first helping to revive the college's Young Democrats' organization, and then, in March 1988, winning election as a Democratic National Convention delegate committed to Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

In the Democratic primary in September 1988, at the age of 21, he unseated a five-term incumbent in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, becoming the youngest Kennedy family member ever to win office. Representing District 9, comprised of the Mount Pleasant and Elmhurst neighborhoods of Providence, Kennedy was re-elected in 1990 and 1992. As a member of the Rhode Island House, he served on both the Health, Education and Welfare and Special Legislative Committees. In 1992, he was named Chairman of the House Rules Committee and championed reform and open government in the General Assembly. He was a leader on gun control issues, sponsoring the state's seven-day waiting period for gun purchases. In November 1994, he defeated Republican Kevin Vigilante to win an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the age of 27, he was the youngest member elected to Congress that year.

Kennedy served three terms on both the House Armed Services Committee and the Resources Committee. In December 1998, he was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee, but requested a leave of absence in order to fulfill a two-year term as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He remained a member of the Armed Services and Resources Committee while overseeing the operations of the DCCC, the Democrats' campaign and political arm. In January 2001, Kennedy assumed a seat on the Appropriations Committee, which has the authority over all of the federal government's discretionary spending. Congressman Kennedy completed his eighth term of office at the completion of the 111th United States Congress.

Former Congressman Knollenberg began his sixth term in Congress on January 7, 2003, when he was sworn-in to represent the people of Michigan’s Ninth Congressional District. First elected in 1992, Joe spent his first ten years in office representing Michigan’s 11th District, which stretched from western Wayne County to southwest Oakland County. Following the 2000 Census, Michigan’s congressional districts were redrawn and Knollenberg’s home fell in the new Ninth District, which consists of 22 cities and townships entirely in Oakland County.

He is best known at home for his strong record of constituent service and focus on improving the quality of life in Southeast Michigan. He is particularly proud of the dedication his staff shows to helping constituents navigate the federal bureaucracy as well as his efforts to secure federal funds to help clean up the Rouge River, to redirect federal resources to the Northern Border so that Detroit-area border crossings with Canada are secure and efficient, and to promote free trade agreements that bring high-paying jobs to our part of Michigan.

In his years in Congress, Joe has earned a reputation for his hard work and his common sense approach that has produced results for his constituents and the entire state of Michigan. As Vice President Dick Cheney noted in a August 2002, “Both Republicans and Democrats respect his diligence, his viability, his good judgment.”

Prior to running for Congress, Joe ran a small business in Troy, Michigan and was involved extensively in local and civic affairs. His sons, Marty and Steve, now run the family business. Joe and his wife Sandie have lived in Oakland County for the past 35 years. They currently reside in Bloomfield Township.

Earl Lewis is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies.  Before joining the Emory faculty in July 2004, Earl served as dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and vice provost for academic affairs/graduate studies at the University of Michigan.  He was the Elsa Barkley Brown and Robin D.G. Kelley Collegiate Professor of History and African American and African Studies and formerly director of the Center for Afro-American and African Studies.  From 1984 to 1989 he was on the faculty in the department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Earl, who holds degrees in history and psychology, is author and co-editor of seven books, among them In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in 20th Century Norfolk (University of California Press, 1993) and the award-winning To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (Oxford University Press, 2000). Between 1997 and 2000 he co-edited the eleven-volume The Young Oxford History of African Americans. Earl co-authored the widely acclaimed Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White, published in 2001 by WW Norton. His most recent books are The African American Urban Experience: Perspectives from the Colonial Period to the Present, co-edited and published with Palgrave (2004), and the co-written Defending Diversity: Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan, published by the University of Michigan Press (2004).

Earl has also written essays, articles, and reviews on different aspects of American and African American history that have appeared in many academic journals.  He is a current or past member of a number of editorial boards and boards of directors.

In 1999, Earl was a recipient of Michigan’s Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award. He received the 2001 University of Minnesota's Outstanding Achievement Award given to a distinguished graduate. And Concordia College honored him with an honorary degree in 2002.

Karen M Marshall is an award-winning career journalist with extensive experience in print, broadcast and web-based reporting who is now 20 years into a second career in suicide awareness, prevention and post-vention.

This includes furthering the work of a number of local, statewide and national non-profit organizations dedicated to reducing suicide in this country and abroad. After losing her father and an uncle to suicide, she became involved in working with people bereaved by suicide, and in prevention efforts first as a volunteer and later in professional capacities.

Over the past two decades, she received training from noted experts in the field of suicide prevention, intervention and healing; and has assisted with the development, design, and delivery of training programs, has taught suicide prevention and intervention to thousands of lay people, and has written for suicide prevention publications throughout the country. She conducts workshops and seminars in the U.S. and internationally.

In 1999, she helped to build the nation's first suicide prevention crisis line network, which connects accredited crisis hotlines around the country under one toll-free telephone number to make emergency suicide prevention services available to anyone, anytime, free of charge. She now co-chars an advisory subcommittee for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK [8255]), the federally-funded crisis line network, and is a founding member of a new group recently convened to improve services and outreach to those bereaved by suicide.

She founded a nonprofit organization in her home state of Michigan in 2002 which focused on reducing suicide in the workforce, a population that accounts for two-thirds of all suicide deaths each year, and most recently was Program Development Director for the American Associatiion of Suicidology in Washington, DC.

Karen was born and raised in Michigan, attended high school and college, then began her journalism career there, and recently returned to her home state.

Herbert Ouida is currently a Consultant and an Adjunct Professor at Farleigh Dickinson University.  Herb devoted 26 years to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in a variety of positions ranging from attorney handling litigation and employee personnel matters to international business development management positions. During his tenure at the Port Authority he accepted a one-year leave of absence at the request of the Mayor of the City of New York to manage a city agency responsible for ground transportation regulation.  

In 1995, Herb began eight years of service as the Executive Vice President of the World Trade Centers Association.  He left the WTCA in 2003 to create a foundation in memory of his son Todd who lost his life in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  Herbert, his wife Andrea, and their family funded an endowment at the University of Michigan Depression Center that supports an annual clinical scholar award and distinguished guest lecturer in the field of childhood anxiety and depression.

Waltraud Prechter is President of the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund. For a quarter century, she served as the closest business advisor and confidant to her late husband, entrepreneurial visionary Heinz C. Prechter, quietly building the business empire that was Prechter Holdings.

Driven by the spirit of giving back to the community, the Prechter family established the World Heritage Foundation, a philanthropic entity dedicated to helping make a difference in the areas of health, education, welfare, arts and culture, and the community. In addition, the foundation fosters innovative public and private sector partnerships, entrepreneurial development, and German American relations. Mrs. Prechter has served as President of the World Heritage Foundation since its inception in 1985.

A strong advocate of health education for many years, she established the Heinz C. Prechter Fund for Manic Depression in memory of her late husband to help develop a cure for bipolar disorder. Mr. Prechter suffered from intermittent bouts of manic depression for most of his adult life and fell victim to suicide on July 6, 2001. Mrs. Prechter was instrumental in establishing the Depression Center at the University of Michigan.

Mrs. Prechter has been a positive force in her community, state, and country. She serves in leadership positions in numerous civic and charitable organizations, including the University of Michigan Health Care Advisory Board and President's Advisory Group; the Leukemia Society; the Kresge Eye Institute; the Robert and Gerry Ligon Research Center of Vision; Wayne State University's Detroit Medical Center Women's Clinical Services Board; Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital; Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and the Downriver Council for the Arts.

Born in the Nuremberg region in southern Germany, Mrs. Prechter attended the University of Erlangen. She came to the United States in 1977 and completed her education at the University of Michigan, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education with honors. She became a U.S. citizen in 1985. A resident of Grosse Ile, Michigan, she is parent to adult twins.

Dr. Joe Schwarz was elected to the United States House of Representatives, representing Michigan's 7th congressional district in 2004 and served until 2007.

Dr. Schwarz served as the Senate's President Pro Tempore and was also a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee where he chaired the Subcommittee on Higher Education and the Subcommittee on General Government. In addition, he was a member of Subcommittees on Capital Outlay and Health Policy.

Prior to serving in the Michigan Senate, he was Mayor of Battle Creek from 1985-1987 and a Battle Creek City Commissioner from 1979-1987. Dr. Schwarz practices medicine and surgery in Battle Creek and is on the active staff of the Battle Creek Health System. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

The former Congressman was appointed by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to serve on the Emergency Financial Advisory Panel, led by former Michigan governors Milliken (R) and Blanchard (D). On the national level, Dr. Schwarz was appointed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to serve on the independent panel to investigate the conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital in suburban Washington, DC. Dr. Schwarz has many professional affiliations. He is past president of the Calhoun County Medical Society, and a past trustee of Leila Post Montgomery Hospital in Battle Creek. He serves on the Alumni Visiting Committee for the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan and on the visiting Alumni Committee for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a trustee of Olivet College. Senator Schwarz received an A.B. in history from the University of Michigan and his M.D. from Wayne State University. He completed his residency training in otolaryngology at Harvard. Senator Schwarz also served in the United States Navy in Vietnam and Indonesia.

With more than 30 years of distinguished service in mental health services research and system reform, David L. Shern, Ph.D. is one of the nation’s leading mental health experts.

Dr. Shern was named in 2006 as the president and CEO of the Mental Health America, the country's oldest and largest nonprofit organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. Prior to joining MHA, Dr. Shern served as dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida, one of the largest research and training institutes in behavioral health services in the United States.  He also founded and directed the National Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health - a National Institute of Mental Health-funded services research center located in the New York State Office of Mental Heath (OMH).

His work has spanned a variety of mental health services research topics including epidemiological studies of the need for community services; the effects of differing organizational, financing and service delivery strategies on continuity of care and client outcome and the use of alternative service delivery strategies such as peer counseling and self help on the outcomes of care.  He has authored more than 100 publications including papers in Health Affairs, Psychiatric Services, Medical Care, Health Services Research, Behavioral Health Services and Research and the American Journal of Public Health.

In 2000, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Dr. Shern to the Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. He was elected Chair of the Commission by his fellow Commissioners and spearheaded an effort to develop a new statewide focus on and governance model for behavioral health across all human service agencies and settings.

Dr. Shern received his Bachelors of Science, Masters and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

Andrew Solomon studied at Yale University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1985, and then at Jesus College Cambridge, where he received the top first-class degree in English in his year, the only foreign student ever to be so-honored, as well as the University writing prize. He is now pursuing a PhD at Cambridge in the Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies (psychology), working on the relation between biological and psychosocial models of early attachment between mothers and infants. He is also a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical College.

In 1988, he began his study of Russian artists, which culminated with the publication of The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost (Knopf, 1991). He was asked in 1993 to consult with members of the National Security Council on Russian affairs and wrote parts of Clinton’s first Russia speeches; that year he was also named a Contributing Writer of The New York Times Magazine, a position he held until 2001. His first novel, A Stone Boat (Faber, 1994), which tells the story of a man’s shifting identity as he watches his mother battle cancer, was a runner up for the LA Times First Fiction prize and was a national bestseller; it has now been published in 5 languages and is being developed as a film.

Mr. Solomon’s most recent book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, has won him fourteen national awards, including the 2001 National Book Award, and is being published in 24 languages. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It has been on the New York Timesbestseller list in both hardback and paperback; it has also been a bestseller in seven foreign countries. Among the honors garnered by The Noonday Demonare the Books for a Better Life Award, the Ken Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the QPB New Visions Award, the Voice of Mental Health award of the Jed Foundation and the National Mental Health Association, the Lammy for the best nonfiction of 2001, the Mind Book of the Year for Great Britain, the Prism Award of the NDMDA, the Charles T. Rubey LOSS award, the Dr. Albert J. Solnit Memorial Award, the Silvano Arieti Award, the Dede Hirsch Community Service Award, and the Erasing The Stigma Leadership Award. It was chosen an American Library Association Notable Book of 2001 and a New York Times Notable Book. It was written with the assistance of a Bogliasco Fellowship from the Liguria Study Center for the Arts and Humanities. The NY Times review described it as “All-encompassing, brave, deeply humane...a book of remarkable depth, breadth and vitality...open-minded, critically informed and poetic all at the same time...fearless, and full of compassion.” Mr. Solomon has lectured on depression around the world, including recent stints at Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress. In 2008, he was awarded the Humanitarian Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry for his contributions to the field of mental health.

Andrew Solomon’s writing on cystic fibrosis has won him the Angel of Awareness Award of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, as well as the Clarion Award for Journalism. He is a regular contributor to numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Artforum. He has written essays for many recent anthologies and books of criticism, including an essay for My Father Married Your Mother: Writers Talk About Stepfamilies (ed. Anne Burt) pub. by Norton, one for Coach (ed. Andrew Blauner), pub. by Warner Books, 2005, one for Who Owns The Past: Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law (ed Kate Fitz Gibbon), pub. by Rutgers University Press, 2005, one for The Proust Project (ed. Andre Aciman), pub by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004, the lead one for Oleg Vassiliev: Memory Speaks(ed. Natalia Kolodzei), pub. by Palace Editions, 2004, one for Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS (ed. Edmund White), pub. by University of Wisconsin Press, 2001, and one for Our Mother's Spirits (ed. Bob Blauner), pub. by HarperCollins, 1998. His writing was also selected for Best American Travel Writing 2003 (ed. Ian Frazier), pub. Houghton Mifflin, 2003, and for Best American Travel Writing 2007(ed. Susan Orlean), pub Mariner Books, 2007. He has written critical afterwords to the reissues of Corriganby Caroline Blackwood, pub NY Review of Books Press, 2002, and to Bertram Cope's Yearby Henry Blake Fuller, pub. by Turtle Point Press, 1999.

He is currently writing a book, to be published in 2008, called Far From the Tree: A Legacy of Love which deals with how families accommodate children who are deaf, who are autistic, who are transgender, who are prodigies, who have committed crimes, and so on, for which he has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Ucross, and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio. It is an examination of unusual family situations and how they can be invested with love. He is also working on a comic novel.

He has written regularly about gay marriage, including a piece for Newsweek’s inaugural issue, another for Anderson Cooper’s blog, and another for The Advocate. His own marriage to John Habich was written about in the New York Times, the London Sunday Times, Tatler, the Daily Beast, and numerous other publications. The wedding ceremony that he wrote for that occasion has been taught as a sample text at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in a course on privacy and civil rights law. He has endowed the Solomon Summer Research Fellowships at Yale University in Gay and Lesbian Studies, and has lectured within that department.

He has joined the board of the Depression Center of the University of Michigan, and the Columbia University Medical School (Board of Visitors) and of the Department of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Medical Center. Additionally, he serves on the boards of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Alliance for the Arts, the Alex Fund, the William Alanson White Institute for Psychoanalysis, and the World Monuments Fund. He is also on the boards of Trans Youth Family Allies and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He is a member of the Asian Art Council of the Guggenheim and the Chairman’s Council of the Metropolitan Museum, and serves on the Conservators’ Council of the New York Public Library. He is a fellow of Berkeley College at Yale University and is a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives with his husband and son in New York and London and is a dual national.

Marianne Udow-Phillips is the director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT), a non-profit partnership of the University of Michigan (U-M) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) with a mission to promote evidence based care delivery, improve population health, and expand access to care. CHRT combines the research strengths of the University with the health plan expertise of the Blues to test the best ideas for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the health care system. CHRT is also committed to informing and educating the public through a range of forums, symposia, and reports relevant to policy makers and the public at large.

Before coming to CHRT, Marianne served as director of the Michigan Department of Human Services from 2004 to 2007, appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. Marianne came to state service from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), where she served in a number of leadership roles for over 20 years, most recently as senior vice president of Health Care Products and Provider Services, with responsibility for the BCBSM social mission, health policy, data analysis, care and network management programs for the traditional and PPO products. She also served as senior vice president and vice president of Plans and Operations for Mercy Alternative and Care Choices. Marianne has a master’s degree in Health Services Administration (MHSA) from the U-M School of Public Health.

In addition to her long standing commitment to improving the quality and affordability of health care, Marianne is a passionate advocate for improving the lives of the poor with a special emphasis on children, including a focus on early childhood development. She has served on many boards and commissions. Among others, her current non-profit board involvement includes the HighScope Foundation, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, Freedom from Hunger, the U-M School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Committee, and the U-M Depression Center’s National Advisory Board. In addition, she is a member of the Novo 1 Inc. Board of Directors, an Executive Network member of Leoville Holdings and a reviewer for the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Marianne has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Anti-Defamation League’s “Women of Achievement Award,” Crain’s Detroit Business top 100 “Most Influential Women” in 2002 and 2007, Wayne State College of Nursing’s “2003 Lifeline Award,” Girl Scouts of Huron Valley Council’s “2006 Women of Distinction Award,” Michigan Business and Professional Association’s “2006 Women & Leadership in the Workplace Award,” Michigan Fatherhood Coalition’s “2007 Child Advocate Award,” Michigan Women’s Foundation’s “2007 Women of Achievement and Courage Award,” and most recently, the 2008 Michigan’s Children’s “Heroes” award.

Mike Wallace has been co-editor of 60 Minutes since its premiere on September 24, 1968. The 2002-03 season marks his 35th on the broadcast. His incisive interviewing techniques and expansive knowledge of current affairs has enabled him to produce an impressive series of interviews with American and international leaders, including every President from John F. Kennedy through George Bush. More recently, Mr. Wallace has openly discussed his experience with depression with the same candor that he has demanded of his interviewees. His hour-long HBO documentary, "Dead Blue: Surviving Depression," has helped draw attention to the pervasiveness of depression and the ability to recover from it. He is a testament to the contributions that people living with mental illness can and do make in our society.