Dr. Penn is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Franklin & Marshall College. His research and interests include works in the pathogenesis of hope and hopelessness, the relationship between culture and psychopathology, and the epidemiology of gender-based violence. Professor Penn serves the UN Leader’s Programme, which trains Director-level United Nations officers. Professor Penn is the author and co-author of “Overcoming Violence against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem,” "Moral Trauma: An Analysis of Akrasia and Mental Health," and "Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Dignity”. Link to Presentation: “Sources of Hope and Hopelessness”

Professor Akhavan teaches and researches on public international law, international dispute settlement, international criminal law, human rights and cultural pluralism at McGill University. He received the degree of Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence (SJD) from Harvard Law School. He was a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School, and a UN prosecutor at The Hague. In 2016, he was appointed a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. In 2017, he delivered the CBC Massey Lectures, In Search of a Better World. A Human Rights Odyssey. His companion book was the number one bestseller (non-fiction) in Canada. Link to Presentation: “Justice a World of Extremes”

Layli Miller-Muro is an American attorney and activist. She is the founder and Executive Director of Tahirih Justice Center, a national non-profit dedicated to protecting women from human rights abuses such as rape, female genital mutilation, domestic violence, human trafficking, and forced marriage. Tahirih's holistic model for protection combines free legal services and social services case management with public policy advocacy, education, and outreach. Miller-Muro founded the organization in 1997 following her involvement in Matter of Kasinga, a high-profile case that set national precedent and changed asylum law in the United States. Link to Presentation: “Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone”

Dr. Sexton is Director of Research at Kansas City Center for Anxiety Treatment (KCCAT). She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology with honors and Master's Degree in Clinical Social Work from Columbia University, where she studied risk and protective factors for adolescents in the context of achievement pressure. Dr. Sexton’s clinical and research interests have focused on evidence-based treatments, including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), for emotion dysregulation, anxiety, OCD, and associated mental health conditions in early childhood through adulthood. Link to Presentation: “Practicing Cultural Humility”

Michael Karlberg is a Professor of Communication Studies at Western Washington University. His research and activism focus on the need to move beyond the prevailing culture of conflict and competition in order to establish a more just and sustainable social order based on recognition of the organic oneness of humanity. His publications include Beyond the Culture of Contest: From Adversarialism to Mutualism in an Age of Interdependence; Reframing Discourses for Peace and Justice; Discourse, Identity, and Global Citizenship; Discourse Theory and Peace; The Paradox of Protest in a Culture of Contest; and Constructive Resilience: The Bahá'í Response to Oppression in Iran. Link to Presentation: “Beyond the Culture of Contest”

Luz María Henríquez is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Missouri, where she leads the organization’s legal, policy, communications, fundraising and administrative operations and programs. Before joining the ACLU, she was the managing attorney of the Education Justice Program, a program she founded to advance education equity and preserve the civil rights of students.  She was the lead attorney on landmark cases in Missouri, including a matter involving the rights of students experiencing homelessness which sought to correct the disproportional impact of educational deprivations on communities of color. As a child of undocumented immigrants, she witnessed the most vulnerable people in her community being taken advantage of and decided to fight for justice. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego, she went on to earn her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Link to Presentation: “Centering Race in Protecting and Advancing Civil Rights and Liberties”

Dr. Ahmadiyeh is Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and Medical Director of the Comprehensive Breast Care Program at the Truman Medical Center. Her research and medical interest are on disparities in breast cancer and genetic susceptibility to breast cancer. Dr. Ahmadiyeh is also dedicated to the education of children and youth and actively involved in neighborhood community building processes. Dr. Ahmadiyeh graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of arts in psychology from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and received her Ph.D. and medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.  She completed a General Surgery Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. You can read her reflection on the Coronavirus pandemic here.

John S. Hatcher received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English literature from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of South Florida in Tampa where he taught for forty years. He has published twenty-five books and more than a hundred poems and articles. His works have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese German, and Norwegian. His comparative study of theodicy The Purpose of Physical Reality: The Kingdom of Names, published originally in 1987, is now in its fourth printing and was reviewed in the prestigious Encyclopédie Philosophique Universelle Vol III, a dictionary of the world philosophical works published by the Presses Universitairs de France, where he was listed as one of three of the most important scholars in Bahá’í Studies for the 20th century.

Traci Johnson, MD, is an obstetrician and gynecologist at Truman Medical Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UMKC School of Medicine. She is a member of the board of directors of Newhouse Shelter,  an ecumenical community group in greater Kansas City that meets the needs of victims of domestic violence. Dr. Johnson received her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, and completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Link to Presentation: “Practicing Cultural Humility”

Todd Khozein, MD, is the Co-CEO at SecondMuse. For the last twenty years Todd Khozein has been involved in the study and application of systems theory, in particular as it applies to economic development. Beginning with the use of biological systems as models for cashew farming cooperatives in Honduras, he went on to develop and build businesses in multiple industries. For the past ten years since co-founding SecondMuse he has accelerated over 300 impact business, raising over $500M and generating over $13B in market value. At the center of this work is the development of economies that create social and environmental justice. Todd is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of TechSoup Global, a leader in capacity building for civil society world-wide, and Circulate Initiative, whose mission it is to end ocean plastic waste. Link to Presentation: “Building Economies for Social and Environmental Justice”