Carol Archer
Carol Archer is creator of the highly successful “Culture Bump” program for building understanding among people of different cultures, backgrounds, and belief systems. Dr. Archer is author of “Living with Strangers in the U.S.A.: Communicating Beyond Culture,” the result of more than 30 years of ethnographic research into interpersonal, intercultural communications. Her consulting clients include Halliburton, the Houston World Trade Center, Princeton University, AT&T, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
For the past seven years, Dr. Archer has incorporated her research findings into educational materials to benefit both teacher and corporate training programs. Her latest work, “A Toolkit for Culture and Communication,” was recently published by the University of Houston Office of Intellectual Property.
www.culturebump.com
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Beth Beede
Beth Beede is internationally known as a pioneer and teacher of felt making as a modern art form. Originally from Colorado, Ms. Beede attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. She has been  working with fibers for 40 years and has been concentrating on felt for the past 32.
An expert in the felting techniques of other cultures, Beede has researched and taught in Hungary as a Fulbright Fellow and has traveled to the Mongolian steppes to work with nomads living in traditional felt yurts. She has taught felt making throughout the United States and in Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.
“My fascination with the free imagery possible with loose fibers led me to explorations in felting. For me, felt is an ideal medium because of its flexibility and its range of hardness. The possibilities of choosing clearly defined or feathered edges, almost unlimited surface texture and depths, endless shaping potential, and a full range of color combine to offer a very broad vocabulary for expression.”
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Jennifer Brugh
Turning thoughts into action motivates  Jennifer Brugh, and it’s the common thread that runs through the colorful tapestry of her career. A 37-year-old entrepreneur, Ms. Brugh is an “idea architect,” skilled at identifying a need and designing a business around the solution. She is co-founder of a multimillion-dollar search firm specializing in the recruitment and retention of information technology professionals. Under Ms. Brugh’s leadership, the company was named one of Houston’s “Best Places to Work” and was listed on the “Fast Tech 50” as one of the city’s fastest-growing technology companies. Ms. Brugh is co-author of “Recruiting and Retaining Employees for Dummies,” one of the internationally famed series of yellow-and-black references guides.
Jennifer Brugh is currently president of the board of Spacetaker, a Houston-based non-profit organization that supports those who pursue creativity as a profession. She also has served on the boards of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
Ms. Brugh recently established Sixgee, an investment fund committed to helping entrepreneurs put their ideas in motion.
www.jenniferbrugh.com
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Jill Carroll
 Jill Carroll is executive director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University. She is also an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice.
Dr. Carroll has taught widely throughout the Houston area, including at all campuses of the University of Houston, at the Women’s Institute of Houston, The Jung Center of Houston, and in the Texas state prison system. Through her own company and through the Boniuk Center, she has led religious diversity training for corporations, schools, and other groups.
Dr. Carroll co-produces and co-hosts “Peaceful Coexistence,” the popular Boniuk Center radio show that airs on Houston’s Pacifica station (KPFT 90.1 FM) and on podcast at www.boniukcenter.org. She is a frequent guest on PBS television in the Houston area.
Dr. Carroll’s most recent book is "A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen's Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse" (The Light, Inc., April 2007), in which she outlines the thematic resonance between traditional Islamic ideas and those of the philosophers Plato, Confucius, Kant, Mill, and Sartre.
Dr. Carroll is becoming well known in regional, national, and international circles as a powerful lecturer on issues of world religion, religion and world politics, and the importance of religious diversity training in an increasingly interconnected and diverse world.
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Whitney Casey
Whitney Casey is all about the edge. This Emmy-winning journalist created KHOU-TV’s Great Day Houston from the ground up. As producer and host of the show, Casey earned a name for herself as a savvy, hard-working woman who makes success happen. Her latest creative challenge is Manopoly, a new book about femininity and relationships to be published by Penguin Books.
Ms. Casey has worked for all of the major television networks. As a correspondent and “Headline News” anchor at CNN, she covered some of the nation’s most gripping breaking news stories, including the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, and the crash of American Airlines Flight 587.
As a New York correspondent for ABC News, Ms. Casey hosted and produced “Politics Live,” a daily show that aired live in Times Square, and wrote a successful pop-culture column, “Whitticisms,” for ESPN.com. She has also worked as a correspondent at CBS’s flagship station in New York and for NBC in Miami.
In addition, Ms. Casey is known in international circles for her work with the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, where she assisted in the creation of the Forum of Young Global Leaders.
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Jill Dahle
Jill Dahle is a molecular geneticist who has  worked in research labs for 30 years. Under the direction of Dr. Huda Zoghbi at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Dahle was one of a team of scientists to identify the genetic mutation causing Rett syndrome, a childhood neurodevelopmental disorder that affects females almost exclusively. Ms. Dahle is currently on staff at the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah, where she researches epilepsy.
Ms. Dahle grew up in Salt Lake City, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. She loves to camp, hike, and ski, and she misses the mountains when she doesn’t see them every day. She has studied violin and piano, and enjoys classical music. She inherited her love of reading from her mother, with whom she still shares books.
Like Ms. Shepperd, Jill Dahle is also fascinated by fiber. As a young person, she learned to knit and sew from her grandmother. In her 30s, she took up weaving. Then, in her 40s, she discovered spinning. She now teaches knitting and spinning at a Salt Lake City fiber shop and at a local fiber festival.
Ms. Dahle volunteers for the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah by giving lab tours to high school and middle school students and teachers. She enjoys encouraging young people— especially girls—to go into science.
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Jane Graumlich
Jane Graumlich is a geriatric nurse practitioner who has worked in the health-care field for more than 40 years. She has experience in medical-surgical nursing, intensive care, and nursing education, and served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. (She will tell you that battlefield experience is essential for the work she does now.)
While caring for her own mother, Ms. Graumlich became aware of the specialized health-care needs of the elderly, and for the last 14 years has been committed to helping our elders maintain the quality of life they choose, as well as their dignity as valuable members of society. As an expert in navigating Medicare insurance issues, she understands how and why our health-care system is failing and can speak to the direct effect on patients and health-care professionals alike.
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Bianca Guerra
Bianca Guerra is an author, publisher, producer, socially responsible entrepreneur, and a teacher at heart. Ms. Guerra is the founder and owner of Bianca Productions, LLC, a multimedia production company dedicated to developing conscious content for educational and inspirational purposes. She is also the founder of Living Life Publishing, a San Antonio, Texas-based, company that produces uplifting and educational books, cards, and electronic media.
In 1981 Ms. Guerra founded Brownsville Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. After selling the practice in 1990, she moved to Arizona to pursue education in holistic and alternative medicine. She now dedicates her life to writing, publishing, speaking, and teaching. She presently resides in San Antonio, Texas.
Ms. Guerra is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), a life member and diplomate of The American Association of Integrative Medicine (AAIM), and an advisory board member of The American College of Wellness (ACW).
She is a single mother with two sons of whom she is very proud. At present, her goal is to help educate people about their innate power for self-healing and to help others in her field to get their message out to the world. She is committed to helping people consciously awaken by connecting with their inner wisdom. She wants all people to understand that they hold the keys to their happiness and well-being.
Bianca Guerra graduated from Texas Woman's University, where she received a B.S. in physical therapy and biology. She also received a bachelor’s of ministerial science in 1992.
www.biancaproductions.com
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Dr. Renu Khator
Dr. Renu Khator assumed her duties as the new chancellor and president of the University of Houston in January of this year. A devoted teacher, seasoned educational administrator, and respected scholar, Khator holds a doctorate and master’s degree in political science from Purdue University and earned her bachelor’s degree from Kanpur University in India.
Dr. Khator built an impressive 22-year career at the University of South Florida, the nation’s ninth-largest university system, where she served as provost beginning in 2003. She is the author or editor of five scholarly books and numerous articles concerning global public administration, environmental policy, and South Asian politics.
In 2006, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services included Renu Khator among its Outstanding American by Choice awardees. The award recognizes outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens.
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Kristen Loden
 A self-described “recovering fundraiser,” Kristen Loden moved to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in 2007 with visions of unraveling the mysteries of life—or at least as an antidote to her hyperkinetic work tendencies. Loden is a former executive director of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and has raised millions as a development officer for the Alley Theatre in Houston, New York’s Juilliard School, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The proud mother of an Aspen Community School kindergarten student, she currently works for the Aspen Music Festival and School and is indulging a lifelong passion as an apprentice pastry chef. Her article, “The Politics of Philanthropy: When Charity Has an Agenda,” was recently published in Aspen Philanthropist. Loden is actively engaged in a variety of writing, consulting, and volunteer projects.
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Lin Pardey
“Musician, civil rights activist, civil engineer— those are just a few of the options that attracted me in the days before the Women’s Liberation Movement burst into the mainstream. But in reality, I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to be. All I really knew for certain was I wanted to be different.” —Lin Pardey, sailor, adventurer, writer
Lin Pardey has spent the last 40 years sailing around the world in traditional boats that she and her husband, Larry, built themselves from the keel up. Together they’ve logged over 185,000 miles, most of them in vessels without engines or basic electronic aids. They navigated by compass and sextant, by the stars, and by their wits. And Ms. Pardey has written about it all.
The Pardeys’ voyages have taken them to more than 70 countries, and twice around the world. They’ve published 400 articles, 10 books, and five videos on all aspects of ocean voyaging and seamanship. These, in turn, have led to workshops and presentations in five different countries, both as a team and as separate speakers.
In 2004 Lin Pardey received the Geoff Pack Award by the Ocean Cruising Club for her contributions to the sport of sailing. In 2005 she was recognized by the Seven Seas Cruising Association for encouraging women to take an active part in sailing and voyaging. She has served as a special delegate to the Egyptian Cabinet Commission on Water Tourism, which led to the establishment of three new harbors on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, and as coordinator of the Wooden Boat Festival in Sydney, Australia. Ms. Pardey also actively participates in fund-raising efforts for groups committed to creating sailing opportunities for people with disabilities.
Ms. Pardey is currently is working on a video project highlighting the opportunities open to those who explore with a limited budget and unlimited enthusiasm. She is also writing a memoir. An engaging speaker full of warmth and wit, Lin Pardey encourages women to feel confident about taking the risks necessary to participate fully in life’s adventures.
www.landlpardey.com
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Rebecca Rucker
Rebecca Rucker is the founder and owner of CareerWorks, P.C., an executive coaching and leadership development firm. Ms. Rucker specializes in assisting clients with making improvements in their careers by enhancing their abilities to accomplish strategic goals, develop and hone decision-making skills, handle difficult people and work situations, clarify priorities and stick to them, and increase personal productivity and performance. Founded in 1995, CareerWorks provides leadership services to clients who include the leaders and managers of Fortune 500 companies and international corporations.
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Nancy Ruff
Nancy Ruff, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, teaches English literature, writing, Greek, and Latin. Her lifelong belief in the power of good teaching has kept her attentive to the flow of new ideas about teaching methods over the past 20 years and eager to try these new ideas in her own classes. Following these currents has brought her to understand that embracing her personal differences, which she formerly sought only to hide, has actually enhanced her professional effectiveness.
Dr. Ruff is an expert on the ancient world and women’s roles within it. She has traveled extensively in Greece, Egypt, and Turkey and is co-director of the Southern Illinois University Summer Study Abroad Program, which takes a group of lifelong learners to Greece and Egypt each year.
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Sarah Shah
 Sarah Shah is an image artist and beauty coach who helps women and men navigate the world of image, beauty, and judgment. Working from her observation that people are perceived and treated differently depending upon the image they present, Ms. Shah learned to “speak” the language of fashion and translate it for others into successful personal statements. She uses her knowledge and experience to help people create images that communicate an authentic expression of who they are.
Ms. Shah is a contributor to Great Day Houston on KHOU-TV Channel 11, a teacher at the Page Parkes Center for Modeling and Acting, and a guest instructor for the University of Houston’s Department of Continuing Education.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago.
www.sarahshah.com
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Dee Shepperd
Dee Shepperd’s insights into politics and the environment have evolved over her 20-year career as forensic scientist in the areas of mass spectrometry and chromatography. An expert in environmental chemistry, she offers engaging perspectives on issues such as global warming, carbon counting, and hybrid automotive technology.
Ms. Shepperd grew up on a farm and considers herself a “true environmentalist, not a boutique one.” She prides herself on being like her mother, Mardella, her grandmother Myrtle Ann, and her Great Aunt Jessie. “I always thought you could drop any one of them in the middle of nowhere and they would make out OK. I'm proud to have become one of those people, too.”
Ms. Shepperd is an outspoken, politically active single mother of two wonderful boys. She loves to play the violin and to create things with fiber. She knits, spins, weaves, sews, embroiders, and felts and calls it all “therapy.” She is a sailor and a lover of animals, and she drives a really cool car.
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Micala Sidore
Micala Sidore, a native of Manchester, New Hampshire, earned both her BA in literature and her MFA in writing and translation from Goddard College in Vermont. Soon after finishing her formal education, she completed her first tapestry and subsequently has spent nearly 30 years combining her passion for words and weaving. “Words, conversations, poems, and literature all inspire me. I am most at ease in the realm of language. This translates into visual imagery that, at its most effective, provokes the viewer to reflect on what the tapestry tells them. Sometimes, the tapestry relates a story, and sometimes, the tapestry teaches something about the process of weaving.”
Ms. Sidore’s vast experience includes an internship at the Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins in Paris, where she obtained a solid foundation in traditional French tapestry techniques and aesthetics. Fluent in four languages, she travels extensively giving talks and workshops and writes for international weaving publications. When at home, she weaves and teaches at her Hawley Street Tapestry Studio in Northampton, Massachusetts.
www.hawleystreet.com
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MaryBeth Smith
MaryBeth Smith is director of the Feldenkrais Center of Houston and a classically trained musician with more than 20 years’ teaching experience in academic, business, and community settings. Ms. Smith is accredited as a Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner (GCFP) from the Institute for the Study of Somatic Education, in conjunction with the Feldenkrais Guild of North America. She holds degrees in music from the University of Illinois and the University of Texas, San Antonio.
Ms. Smith’s clients include business leaders, actors, dancers, teachers, clergy, athletes, and musicians. She has worked with stroke and cancer patients and individuals with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and eating disorders. Ms. Smith uses the Feldenkrais Method to help her clients create breakthroughs and realize untapped potential through improved self-image, performance, and overall enjoyment of daily life.
Ms. Smith is a member of the teaching faculty at the Jung Center of Houston and has presented classes and workshops for a variety of major clients, including M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, The Dover Club, Houston Grand Opera Studio, Rice University, and Bechtel Corporation. She writes extensively about the Feldenkrais Method and performance improvement.
www.houfeldenkrais.com
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Lisa Sullivan
Lisa Sullivan is a University of Houston alumna who has been active in the field of future studies and foresight for more than 20 years. As president of INFUSE Corp. since 1992, Ms. Sullivan assists corporations, associations, and non-profit organizations with identifying and planning for their preferred futures. She has been affiliated with the Software Engineering Professional Education Center and the Research Institute for Computing and Information Sciences at the University of Houston, through which she collaborated on several projects at NASA-Johnson Space Center. A former senior associate for Technology Futures, Inc., Ms. Sullivan has authored or co-authored dozens of studies on the future in areas such as aerospace, information technologies, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, energy, consumer values, and lifestyles and education.
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Teresa Van Deusen
Teresa Van Deusen is a grass-roots activist who lives in Austin, Texas, where she writes, observes the world, tries to be helpful, and raises the next generation in a long line of thoughtful feminists. In 2003 she created VoterVirgin, a light-hearted cyber experiment for registering first-time voters that has been wildly popular and effective. Known for her inspiring and thought-provoking conversations, Teresa is sometimes described as "mind bending." Her presentation is guaranteed to make you smile.
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Patty Walters
Patty Walters established her coaching and professional development company, Connections Unlimited, in 2004. She is a licensed, certified Master Strategic Attraction™ Coach and a change catalyst and speaker. She is also a Life is Improv!™ team-building and communications specialist.
As she witnessed the decline of the “human connection” in corporate communications, Ms. Walters turned her talents to teaching others advanced communication and connection skills. Her workshops and seminars are the result of over 20 years of corporate experience in communications and change management. As a coach, she works with business owners and individuals to focus on who they are and what they want to create—and on the relationships that support their vision.
Ms. Walters is a faculty member at the University of Houston’s Executive Coaching Institute, where she teaches courses on personal and interpersonal effectiveness, coaching for change, and coaching for conflict resolution. She is also a founding member of the UH Women’s Forum.
www.connectionsunlimited.biz
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Nancy Wozny
Nancy Wozny has worked as a choreographer,  visual artist, and practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of movement therapy. In her current incarnation she writes and talks about the arts. She is a regular contributor to the Houston Chronicle, Dance Magazine, ArtsHouston, Modern Luxury’s Houston, Dance Studio Life, and other publications. She is the 2004 recipient of the Gary Parks Critic’s Award, a 2005 NEA Fellow at the Institute for Dance Criticism, and a former Fellow at the Leonard Bernstein Center for the Arts.
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