National Spiritual Assembly Appoints Wilmette Institute Academic Advisory Board

Erin Murphy-Graham is an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley. She works in the field of comparative and international education. Her research focuses on three inter-related areas: 1) the process by which education can foster the empowerment of girls and women, and the theorization of what empowerment entails; 2) the role of education in changing how students relate to others, particularly in their intimate relationships and in building trust; 3) the rigorous evaluation of educational programs that have demonstrated potential to empower youth and adults in Latin America. Dr. Murphy-Graham is the author of Opening Minds, Improving Lives: Education and Women's Empowerment in Honduras (Vanderbilt University Press, Spring 2012) and her articles have appeared in journals including Comparative Education Review, International Journal of Educational Development, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, International Review of Education, Gender and Education, and the American Journal of Evaluation. Prior to joining the faculty at Berkeley, Dr. Murphy-Graham was an Assistant Professor of International Education at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. She has worked as a consultant to government agencies and NGOs in Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua, and the Caribbean. At Berkeley, she teaches courses on globalization, education and international development and qualitative research methods.  

Michael Penn is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Franklin & Marshall College. His research interests and publications explore experimental psychopathology, the application of psychological research & theory to human rights, the interpenetration of psychology and philosophy, and the relationship between culture and mental health. Professor Penn has lectured widely around and is the author of four books, including, Our Common Humanity: Reflections on the Reclamation of the Human Spirit, published by George Ronald, Overcoming Violence against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem, published by Rowman & Littlefield, Moral Trauma: An Analysis of Akrasia and Mental Health, with Azin Nasseri, and is co-editor, with Hoda Mahmoudi, of Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Dignity, published by Emerald. He has also authored dozens of academic papers and chapters. In 2004 Penn was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Administration by Governor Edward Rendell. He currently serves on the Permanent Board of the Tahirih Justice Center, which provides legal, clinical, and human rights protections for women fleeing gender-based persecution and violence. Professor Penn was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1986 and is a former Ford Foundation/National Academy of Sciences Fellow.

Derik Smith is a professor in the Department of Literature at Claremont McKenna College; he is currently chair of the Intercollegiate Department of Africana Studies at the Claremont Colleges. His work is anchored in the analysis of American culture and, particularly, African American literary culture. He is the author of many articles, and the book, Robert Hayden In Verse: New Histories of African American Poetry and the Black Arts Era. He and his family live in Southern California.

Born and raised in South Carolina, June Manning Thomas attended college at Michigan State University (MSU). She chose urban planning as a field in part because of her memories of finding relief from Jim Crow accommodations in big cities that she visited. She has taught at MSU, Cleveland State University, and University of Michigan (UM); published extensively; and eventually became the Mary Frances Berry Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Urban Planning, UM. See also: junemanningthomas.com