Nominations for Consideration for the Vance Lecture

Al Gore http://www.algore.com/about.html Former Vice President Al Gore is co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management. He is a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and a member of Apple, Inc.'s board of directors. Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit devoted to solving the climate crisis.”

Bill Ayers http://www.biography.com/people/bill-ayers-380916 Bill Ayers, educator and activist, was born in Oak Park, Illinois. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ayers became involved with the Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. He is co-author of a graphic novel – To Teach (2010) as well as Teaching Toward Democracy: Educators as Agents of Change in Technology Development (2010).

Christine Stuart http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/about/ Christine Stuart became editor of CTNewsJunkie in early 2006 after nearly four years as a reporter at The Journal Inquirer in Manchester. At the JI, Stuart covered a variety of beats including the city of East Hartford, the state's scandal-ridden trash authority, and a regional water commission, as well as other towns, police news, and politics. Prior to that, she covered education and transportation issues at the state Capitol for the Hartford Advocate. On a part-time basis, Stuart has worked as a summer youth reading and writing instructor for Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford. Stuart grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. “Christine is one of the hardest working reporters I know,” CTNewsJunkie founding editor Dan Levine said.”

Cornel West http://www.cornelwest.com/bio.html Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard and the University of Paris. He has written 19 books and edited 13 books. He is best known for his classic Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his new memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He appears frequently on the Bill Maher Show, Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as on his dear Brother, Tavis Smiley’s PBS TV Show. He can be heard weekly with Tavis Smiley on "Smiley & West", the national public radio program distributed by Public Radio International (PRI).”

Diane Ravitch http://dianeravitch.com/about-diane/

She was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, by the following institutions: Williams College; Reed College; Amherst College; the State University of New York; Ramapo College; St. Joseph’s College of New York; Middlebury College Language Schools; and Union College. A native of Houston, she is a graduate of the Houston public schools. She received a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1960 and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1975.” Ravitch is an outspoken critic of high-stakes assessment as evident in her recent book - The Death and Life of the Great American School System (2011).

Henry Louis Gates http://www.biography.com/people/henry-louis-gates-jr-9307556 “Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a highly regarded African-American educator and scholar. He directs the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He received a MacArthur Foundation grant in 1981 to support his research for the Black Periodical Literary Project. An incident he experienced with a police officer in 2009 stirred up discussion about racial prejudice in the post-Obama era.”

Karen Armstrong http://www.browsebiography.com/bio-karen_armstrong.html Karen Armstrong is a former Catholic nun who left the convent and became a scholar of world religions. She has written many books including The History of God. In 2008 she won the TED prize - which was TED's agreement to help her fulfill her wish. Her wish, as you can see in this TED talk, was to get help in creating a Charter of Compassion: http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html ”

Maya Angelou http://mayaangelou.com/bio/ Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.”

Melissa Harris-Perry http://melissaharrisperry.com/about.html “Melissa V. Harris-Perry is host of MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry." The show airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to noon ET. Harris-Perry is also professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. She previously served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Princeton University. “

Michelle Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama/ “When people ask First Lady Michelle Obama to describe herself, she doesn't hesitate to say that first and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom. As First Lady, Mrs. Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family, encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country.”

Noam Chomsky http://chomsky.info/bios.htm “Noam Chomsky is a US political theorist and activist, and institute professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Besides his work in linguistics, Chomsky is internationally recognized as one of the most critically engaged public intellectuals alive today. Chomsky continues to be an unapologetic critic of both American foreign policy and its ambitions for geopolitical hegemony and the neoliberal turn of global capitalism, which he identifies in terms of class warfare waged from above against the needs and interests of the great majority.”

Paul Farmer http://www.skollfoundation.org/entrepreneur/dr-paul-farmer/ "Growing up in Florida, Paul Farmer took a job picking citrus where he learned firsthand about the bitter conditions Haitian migrant laborers endured. On his first trip to Haiti, he witnessed the misery of life for the poor. Instead of being overwhelmed by what he observed, Paul set out to prove that cost-effective, high-quality health care could be delivered in the most hopeless of contexts. He founded Partners in Health (PIH) and started working in Haiti in 1987. In addition to building a community-based health care system, he forged an academic and medical discipline around the concept of global health equity and created the Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change at Harvard Medical School. In 1993, Paul received a MacArthur Award and developed an advocacy and teaching branch of PIH with the award money. He is inspiring a new generation of practitioners in health and social justice."

Rachel Maddow – http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26318771/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#.USYy1ldi0k4 “Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC’s primetime hit, the critically acclaimed “The Rachel Maddow Show.” “The Rachel Maddow Show” features Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis and stories no other shows in cable news will cover.”

Sonia Sotomayor http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/ “Over a distinguished career that spans three decades, Judge Sotomayor has worked at almost every level of our judicial system – yielding a depth of experience and a breadth of perspectives that will be invaluable – and is currently not represented -- on our highest court. New York City District Attorney Morgenthau recently praised Sotomayor as an "able champion of the law" who would be "highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character could be assets." [Wall Street Journal, 5/9/09]”

Spike Lee http://www.biography.com/people/spike-lee-9377207 “Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was making amateur films by age 20, and won a Student Academy Award for his graduate thesis film. Lee drew attention with his first feature, She's Gotta Have It -- one of the most profitable films made in 1986 -- and continues to create films that explore provoking topics like race, politics and violence. He is also known for his documentaries and commercials.” Valerie Strauss – Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/page/valerie-strauss “I’ve been covering education for at least as long as I went to school – from kindergarten through graduate school – and The Answer Sheet gives me the opportunity to keep learning (and get paid for it). I research my own pieces that reflect the (often unfortunate) historic changes under way in the American public education system, and I publish the work of teachers, parents, researchers and others, some people with whom I disagree. I take a wide view of what constitutes an education topic: Anything that I happen to be interested in (and I try to mention the Beatles or Bruce Springsteen whenever it makes even the slightest bit of sense to include). I like to laugh, so sometimes, I run pieces that make me do that.”

Cecile Richards http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/national-leadership/cecile-richards-4676.htm “Cecile Richards is a nationally respected leader in the field of women’s health and reproductive rights. As president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Ms. Richards leads a movement that has worked for nearly 100 years to build a healthier and safer world for women and teens.”

Nicholas Kristof http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/KRISTOF-BIO.html “Nicholas D. Kristof, a columnist for The Times since 2001, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who writes op-ed columns that appear twice a week. Mr. Kristof grew up on a sheep and cherry farm near Yamhill, Oregon. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and then studied law at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, graduating with first class honors. He later studied Arabic in Cairo and Chinese in Taipei. While working in France after high school, he caught the travel bug and began backpacking around Africa and Asia during his student years, writing articles to cover his expenses. Mr. Kristof has lived on four continents, reported on six, and traveled to more than 140 countries, plus all 50 states, every Chinese province and every main Japanese island. He's also one of the very few Americans to be at least a two-time visitor to every member of the Axis of Evil.”

Mary Bonauto http://www.glad.org/about/staff/mary-bonauto “Mary L. Bonauto has been the Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) since 1990. Her practice concentrates on impact litigation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. She has litigated widely in the state and federal courts and agencies of the six New England states on issues of employment discrimination, custody, free speech, and civil rights.”

Larry Kramer http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-kramer “Larry Kramer is a founder of both Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP. His play about the early years of GMHC, The Normal Heart, recently completed a successful Broadway revival, where it won three Tony Awards, including one for Best Play. The film version is now being prepared by director Ryan Murphy, to star (so far) Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Alec Baldwin, and Jim Parsons. A national tour of the play, directed by George C. Wolfe and produced by Daryl Roth, begins June 8 at the Arena Theater in Washington. His novel, The American People, will be published by Farrar Straus Giroux.”

Urvashi Vaid http://urvashivaid.net/wp/ “Urvashi Vaid is the director of the Engaging Tradition Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School and the author, most recently, of Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics.”

Andrew Revkin http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/andrew_c_revkin/index.html “After nearly 15 years reporting for The New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin left the staff at the end of 2009 to become a senior fellow at Pace University's Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies. He continues to write the Dot Earth blog, which has moved from the news side of The Times to the Opinion section”

Evan Wolfson http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/staff “Evan Wolfson is Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide. In 1983, Evan wrote his Harvard Law School thesis on gay people and the freedom to marry. During the 1990's he served as co-counsel in the historic Hawaii marriage case that launched the ongoing global movement for the freedom to marry, and has participated in numerous gay rights and HIV/AIDS cases”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg http://www.biography.com/people/ruth-bader-ginsburg-9312041 “Born on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, Ruth Bader Ginsburg graduated from Columbia Law School, going on to become a staunch courtroom advocate for the fair treatment of women and working with the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. She was appointed by President Carter to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1980 and was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993.”

Michael Moore http://www.michaelmoore.com/ “Michael Moore is an Academy-Award winning filmmaker and best-selling author. His films 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' 'Bowling for Columbine' and 'SiCKO' are among the all-time top ten grossing documentaries.”

Susan Sarandon http://www.biography.com/people/susan-sarandon-9471729 “American film actress Susan Sarandon was born on October 4, 1946, in New York City. After college, Sarandon began acting, and in 1975 she landed a role in the cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show. She won an Academy Award for her performance in Dead Man Walking (1995), and received Oscar nominations for her roles in Atlantic City (1980), Thelma and Louise (1991), Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and The Client (1994). Other notable films include The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Bull Durham (1988).”

Arundhati Roy http://www.weroy.org/arundhati.shtml “Arundhati Roy (born November 24, 1961) is an Indian novelist, activist and a world citizen. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her first novel The God of Small Things. Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya to a Keralite Syrian Christian mother and a Bengali Hindu father, a tea planter by profession. She spent her childhood in Aymanam, in Kerala, schooling in Corpus Christi. She left Kerala for Delhi at age 16, and embarked on a homeless lifestyle, staying in a small hut with a tin roof within the walls of Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla and making a living selling empty bottles. She then proceeded to study architecture at the Delhi School of Architecture, where she met her first husband, the architect Gerard Da Cunha. Roy was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize in May 2004 for her work in social campaigns and advocacy of non-violence.”

Alice Walker http://alicewalkersgarden.com/about-2/ “Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated author, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children’s books and volumes of essays and poetry. She’s best known for The Color Purple, the 1983 novel for which she won the Pulitzer Prize- the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction- and the National Book Award.”

Glen Ford http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/about-us Glen Ford is a distinguished radio-show host and commentator. In 1977, Ford co-launched, produced and hosted America’s Black Forum, the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television. In 1987, Ford launched Rap It Up, the first nationally syndicated Hip Hop music show, broadcast on 65 radio stations. Ford co-founded the Black Commentator in 2002 and in 2006 he launched the Black Agenda Report. Ford is also the author of The Big Lie: An Analysis of U.S. Media Coverage of the Grenada Invasion.

Danny Glover http://www.biography.com/people/danny-glover-9313434 “Danny Glover made his film debut in Places in the Heart (1984) but gained his first major success in Alice Walker's The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg. A versatile actor, Danny Glover has played villains and heroes in all types of films, notably in Lethal Weapon (1987) and its sequels (1989, 1992, 1998). In March 1998 he was appointed a United Nations goodwill ambassador”

Marc Maron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Maron “Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian, podcast host and actor. He has been host of The Marc Maron Show and co-host of both Morning Sedition and Breakroom Live, all politically oriented shows produced by Air America Media. He hosted Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater for a year, replacing Jon Stewart. Maron has been a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and made more than 40 appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, more than any other standup performer.[1][2] He was also a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and hosted the short-lived American version of the British game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1”

David Zirin http://www.edgeofsports.com/bio.html“Named one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World”, Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine. He is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence. Winner of Sport in Society and Northeastern University School of Journalism's 'Excellence in Sports Journalism' Award, Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM Radio’s popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. He has been called “the best sportswriter in the United States,” by Robert Lipsyte. Dave Zirin is, in addition, a columnist for SLAM Magazine and the Progressive.”

Guerrilla Girls http://guerrillagirls.com/ “Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of female artists and feminists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world internationally. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality within the fine arts to light. Members are known for the gorilla masks they wear to remain anonymous.”

Barbara Ehrenreich http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/barbara_ehrenreich.htm “My work life settled into three tracks, which continue to this day: (1) Journalism, generally essays and opinion pieces, now blogs. (2) Book-length projects on subjects which may not make any money but fascinate me and give my life some intellectual continuity. Before Nickel and Dimed, my books included For Her Own Good: 200 Years of the Experts’ Advice to Women (with Deirdre English), The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment, Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, Kipper’s Game (a science fiction novel), and Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War. (3) Activism on such issues as health care, peace, women’s rights, and economic justice.”

Tony Kushner http://barclayagency.com/kushner.html “Born in New York City in 1956, and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Kushner is best known for his two-part epic, Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, a Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement, and the 2012 National Medal of Arts, among many others.”

Michelle Alexander http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-alexander “MICHELLE ALEXANDER is a longtime civil rights advocate and litigator. She won a 2005 Soros Justice Fellowship and now holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Mortiz College of Law at Ohio State University. Alexander served for several years as director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California, and subsequently directed the Civil Rights Clinics at Stanford Law School, where she was an associate professor. Alexander is a former law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court, and has appeared as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is her first book.”

Martin Sheen http://www.biography.com/people/martin-sheen-9481351 “Martin Sheen is an American actor who got his start on the New York stage, earning a Tony award nomination for his role in The Subject Was Roses (1965). After reprising his role in the television adaptation he moved on to TV and film, making his big screen debut in 1967's The Incident. He is perhaps best known for his role as Captain Willard in the highly-acclaimed film Apocalypse Now (1979). In 1999, he landed the role of President Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing, for which he has won numerous awards.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal (via video) http://mumiaabujamal.com/about-mumia/ “Mumia Abu-Jamal is an internationally recognized political prisoner, author, activist, and journalist. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mumia became active in community organizing as a young teenager and went on to become the president of his local chapter for The National Association for Black Journalists and Minister of Information for the Philadelphia Black Panther Party. After being arrested in 1982 in a murder case that has been highly contested by legal professionals, politicians abroad, and global human rights organizations, Mumia was placed death row for nearly 30 years and became an outspoken advocate against the death penalty. He is the recipient of numerous awards and high standing recognitions including being named an honorary citizen of Paris, France in 2003. Mumia has become the US’s most well known current day political prisoner and a global face for many of the issues that his case represents such as mass incarceration, political prisoners, the inhumanne factors of the death penalty, and press censorship.”

Oliver Stone http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000231/bio “Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.”

Ken Loach http://museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/loachken/loachken.htm “Ken Loach is Britain's most renowned and most controversial director of socially conscious television drama. He is also an internationally acclaimed maker of feature films whose radical political messages consistently provoke strong responses in audiences and politicians alike. In 1965 he received the British Television Guild's "TV Director of the Year" Award, while the 1990s have brought prizes and nominations at the Cannes Film Festival. His considerable body of work, documenting British society since the 1960s, is an acknowledged source of inspiration to his contemporaries.”

Banksy http://www.briansewell.com/artist/b-artist/banksy/banksy-biography.html “Banksy (1974 -- ) is a graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose artwork has appeared throughout London and other locations around the world. Despite this he carefully manages to keep his real name from the mainstream media. However, many newspapers assert that his real name is Robert or Robin Banks. Banksy, despite not calling himself an artist, has been considered by some as talented in that respect; he uses his original street art form, often in combination with a distinctive stencilling technique, to promote alternative aspects of politics from those promoted by the mainstream media.”

Vandana Shiva http://www.vandanashiva.org/ http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2002/sites/shiva/biography/bio.html “Vandana Shiva, a 46-year-old physicist, philosopher and feminist, was born in the city of Dehra Dun, located at the bottom of the Himalayas. She is known as one of most eloquent speakers who help fight for people's rights. She holds a master's degree in particle physics and in 1978 completed her Ph.D. in the philosophy of science. She is active in citizens' action against environmental destruction, including the Chipko Movement. She also directs a seed conservation project, and is part of the Indian National Environmental Council. She supported the grassroot networks all across India. She is directing an international movement on Food Rights.”

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf http://www.forbes.com/profile/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/ “Johnson-Sirleaf is an African icon. She is the continent's first female head of state, a 2011 Nobel Prize winner for her work promoting Liberian reconciliation, and a luminary on the global women's empowerment circuit.”

Leymah Gbowee http://www.leymahgbowee.com/about.html “Liberian peace and women's rights activist Leymah Gbowee is the Newsweek Daily Beast's Africa columnist. As war ravaged Liberia, Leymah Gbowee realized it is women who bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts. She began organizing Christian and Muslim women to demonstrate together, founding Liberian Mass Action for Peace and launching protests and a sex strike.”

Tawakkul Karman- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/07/tawakkul-karman-profile “Known to some of Yemen's opposition movement as the "mother of the revolution", Tawakkul Karman has emerged as a crucial figure among the youth activists who began camping out at Change Square in central Sana'a in early February, demanding the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule. In Yemen, a 32-year-old mother of three may seem an unlikely leader of the fight to overthrow the president, but Karman – a journalist and human rights activist – has long been a thorn in Saleh's side and has been jailed many times.”

Matt Taibbi http://www.thomhartmann.com/people/matt-taibbi “Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi (born March, 1970) is an American author and polemical journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal.”

Alma Guillermoprieto http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/Alma-Guillermoprieto “Alma Guillermoprieto is widely read in both the English- and Spanish-speaking worlds, where she's considered an authority on the cultural and political life of Mexico and South America -- especially as they relate to the United States. Writing for the last thirty years with a journalist's breadth and depth -- but also (and always) folding in her personal experiences -- she traces the history of Latin America, while giving us a glimpse into its future. Quite simply, she has "set the standard for elegant writing in English on Latin America," writes The New York Times Book Review.”

Jorge Casteneda http://as.nyu.edu/object/aboutas.globalprofessor.JorgeCastaneda “Jorge Castañeda is a renowned public intellectual, political scientist, and prolific writer, with an interest in Latin American politics, comparative politics and U.S.-Latin American relations. He was Foreign Minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003, and in that position he focused on diverse issues in U.S.-Mexican relations, including migration, trade, security, and narcotics control; joint diplomatic initiatives on the part of Latin American nations; and the promotion of Mexican economic and trade relations globally.”

Dalai Lama http://dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems. His Holiness has travelled to more than 67 countries spanning 6 continents. He has received over 150 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc., in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion. He has also authored or co- authored more than 110 books.”

Elizabeth Warren http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=about_senator “Elizabeth Warren, a fearless consumer advocate who has made her life's work the fight for middle class families, was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2012, by the people of Massachusetts. Elizabeth is recognized as one of the nation's top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle class families, and the Boston Globe has called her ‘the plainspoken voice of people getting crushed by so many predatory lenders and under regulated banks.’”

Colin Powell http://colinpowell.net/Colin-Powell-Biography.html “Colin Powell was swiftly confirmed by the US Senate and Powell became the first African American Secretary of State of the United States. During his term as Secretary of State the Bush administration was faced with a potential war in Iraq. Once again thrown into the spotlight, Powell started taking on public criticism as a hawk who was perhaps a little too trigger happy. Despite being against a second invasion of Iraq, Powell followed the administration's stance and presented the United State's case to the United Nation's Security Council.”

Al Franken http://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=about_al “Senator Al Franken was born on May 21, 1951, and grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. In 1973, he graduated from Harvard, where he met his wife Franni. They've been married for 37 years, and have two grown children, Thomasin and Joe. Senator Franken has one grandchild, Joe, born to Thomasin and her husband Brody in May 2013. Before running for the Senate, Al spent 37 years as a comedy writer, author, and radio talk show host and has taken part in seven USO tours, visiting our troops overseas in Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Uzbekistan - as well as visiting Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait four times.”

Hilary Rodham Clinton http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/115321.htm “On January 21, 2009, Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as the 67th Secretary of State of the United States. Secretary Clinton joined the State Department after nearly four decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, and Senator.”