Theater and Education for Social Action

Dr. McMurray is Professor of Criminal Justice at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland, a Masters Degree in Urban Studies at Howard University and his doctorate degree in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. A former Washington, D.C. police officer in the early 1970s, Dr. McMurray arrived at NCCU in August, 1987. His research areas include community policing, homeland security concerns, comparative criminal justice, and community change. He is a 1998-1999 Senior Fulbright Scholar and was assigned to the Sociology Department at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. His tenure at Makerere included several speaking engagements throughout Uganda and South Africa. He served as a senior consultant for the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI). Dr. McMurray traveled to Uganda in an advisory capacity at the request of the Uganda Prisons Service in 2006 and 2009.

Penny Carroll's qualified achievements in social work practice, public health, and community collaboratives span over 20 years. As a professor at NC Central University, Department of Social Work, she empowers undergraduate and graduate students to reach their highest academic potential far beyond the classroom walls. Her charismatic and energetic teaching style inspires students to be authentic leaders while discovering unique utilization of digital technology to enhance social workers’ reach and scope of the profession. A promoter of advocacy and agent of change, Professor Carroll has created a template of modern digital technology adaptation that educates, heightens social awareness, supports individual and community engagement and partnerships, and other transformative instruction that builds capacity for social action.

Nora is a social worker, passionate about working alongside those with mental health conditions and justice involved individuals. She is a current MSW member student at NCCU, looking forward to graduating in May of 2023. Nora worked at a transitional house for men released from prison, and now is currently a Student Coordinator at Boomerang Youth, Inc., an alternative to suspension program in Orange County, NC, and has based much of her research for her school program on mass incarceration and the School to Prison Pipeline.

Born and raised in Durham, NC, Tyrone Lamont Baker made a series of decisions as a teenager that resulted in a 22-year prison sentence. While incarcerated, Mr. Baker completed dozens of classes, acquired numerous trades, and read over 500 books about topics ranging from hedge fund management to race relations. He also authored multiple articles for academic journals before authoring the critical, pseudo-academic text, A Convict’s Perspective: Critiquing Penology and Inmate Rehabilitation (which is available on Amazon). After an 8 year sentence reduction, Mr. Baker was released in 2020, and has since become a homeowner and an entrepreneur.

Dr. Chitra Golestani is currently Associate Director of the Wilmette Institute and an Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for Humane Education/Antioch University. She also works as an educational consultant, guest lecturer, qualitative researcher, and a co-founder of the Paulo Freire Institute (PFI) at UCLA - an organization committed to social justice education locally and globally. Her areas of interest, lectures and research include Human Rights, Social Justice and Global Citizenship Education, Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice, Youth Activism in Extended Education, Conscious Living and Social Action. She holds a PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA and a Master’s in Education from University of California, Santa Barbara. Her areas of interest, lectures and research include Human Rights, Social Justice and Global Citizenship Education, Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice, Youth Activism in Extended Education, Conscious Living and Social Action. In September 2019, she began a new administrative position as Associate Director of the Wilmette Institute. Her work is inspired by her lived experience with persecution in the country of her birth, Iran, where members of the Bahá’í Faith are not allowed to practice, are prohibited from accessing higher education, and denied other civil rights. While still a young child, her family escaped this marginalization and fled to the US in search of religious freedom, equality between women and men and human rights. Currently, Dr. Golestani is engaged in numerous grass-roots programs aimed at raising human capacity, locally and globally, to work towards a more just, united, and sustainable planet. Listen to Chitra's interview on "A Bahá’í Perspective."See Faculty Bio