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Participants
Detailed BiographiesSamuel Addy, Director, University of Alabama Center for Business and Economic Analysis (CBER) and Associate Dean for Research and Outreach, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration Dr. Addy works with CBER’s economic research program and has directed and conducted economic impact studies for numerous public and private clients across the state. Other areas of emphasis include assessment and analysis of Alabama’s workforce; fiscal policy; socioeconomic analysis for transportation and other development projects; and environmental and climate change issues. He regularly speaks to groups and organizations on topics including the Alabama economy, economic policy, economic development, and workforce development. He has published in academic journals and is often quoted in local, regional, national, and international media. Mary Bauer, Legal Director, Southern Poverty Law Center Ms. Beirich is an expert on academic racism, nativist extremism and the white supremacist fringe of the neo-Confederate movement. She is the co-editor and author of several chapters of Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction, published by the University of Texas Press in 2008. She joined the SPLC staff in 1999 after earning a doctorate in political science at Purdue University. She is a contributing editor to the Intelligence Report and an SPLC spokesperson on domestic extremism. In addition to her academic training, Ms. Beirich has professional experience in the nonprofit and government sectors. Casey Borch, Research Associate, Center for Demographic Research, Auburn University at Montgomery and Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Alabama at Birmingham http://www.uab.edu/sociology/about-us/facultystaff-listing/771-casey-borch Sonny Brasfield, Executive Director, Association of County Commissions of Alabama Sonny is Executive Director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, which represents Alabama’s 67 county governments and provides a variety of services and programs that assist counties in carrying out their duties to the residents of Alabama. He has been employed with the Association since 1988, serving first as Director of Public Relations, then as Assistant Executive Director. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama and holds a masters degree in communication management. He is a former state political writer and his public relations and communication work has received numerous state and regional awards. Today, he works with elected officials and employees at the local level as well as within state and federal government to promote county government and improve the delivery of county services within Alabama. He oversees the Association staff, its boards, committees and affiliates and is Administrator of the Association’s self-funded insurance programs. He is a frequent speaker on county government, leadership, management, motivation, public relations, productive media relations and other related topics. Michael Camerini, Independent Filmmaker, the Epidavros Project Gwen Ferreti, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas - Austin Mary has been the Director of the IPC since 2009. Prior to IPC, Mary served as Senior Director of Policy for the National Immigration Forum and practiced law as an attorney with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security—serving first as a trial attorney and associate general counsel with the INS, and, following the creation of DHS, as an associate chief counsel for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Mary specialized in asylum and refugee law, focusing on the impact of general immigration laws on asylees. In 2005, Mary became the senior advisor to the Director of Congressional Relations at USCIS. She was also awarded a Congressional Fellowship from USCIS to serve for a year in Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s office where she worked on comprehensive immigration reform and refugee issues. Mary attended Drake University, graduating summa cum laude with a major in speech communication. She received a master’s degree in rhetoric and completed additional graduate coursework in rhetoric at the University of Wisconsin, before receiving a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. She spent more than ten years teaching public speaking, argumentation and debate, and parliamentary procedure while pursuing her education. David Griffith, Professor, Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University David Griffith has degrees in anthropology from the University of Iowa (BA and MA) and the University of Florida (PhD). He is currently senior scientist and professor of anthropology with East Carolina University’s Institute for Coastal Science and Policy and the Department of Anthropology. His recent work examines the food industry, labor and labor migration, immigrant entrepreneurship and fishing and farming communities in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and the eastern United States. He is the author of six books and over one hundred research articles, technical reports, U.S. government documents, book reviews, and other publications. Two of his books and several of his articles address the challenges faced by immigrants in the food industry, including Jones’s Minimal: Low-Wage Labor in the United States, Working Poor: Farmworkers in the United States, and American Guestworkers: Jamaicans and Mexicans in the U.S. Economy. He is currently working on a project entitled “Managed Migration and the Value of Labor” funded by the National Science Foundation. Leslie Hillhouse, Case Worker, Hispanic Catholic Social Services, Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama http://www.bhmdiocese.org/content.asp?id=277773 Julie Hotchkiss, Research Economist and Policy Adviser, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Dr. Hotchkiss is a research economist and policy adviser in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Her major fields of study are earnings and employment differentials across different groups of workers, variations in employment and earnings across time, and policy implications of changes in labor supply. Her most recent work focuses on quantifying the labor market impact of unauthorized immigration. Dr. Hotchkiss also serves as the executive director for the newest addition to the Research Data Center network of the U.S. Census. The Atlanta Research Data Center is housed in the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Prior to joining the Bank in 2003, Dr. Hotchkiss was professor of economics at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. She began teaching as a senior associate and assistant professor of economics at the Policy Research Center at Georgia State University in 1989. She maintains an appointment as adjunct professor of economics in the Andrew Young School at Georgia State. Dr. Hotchkiss has published her research work in various journals, including Applied Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the American Economic Review. She is a member of the American Economic Association, the Southern Economic Association, the Society of Labor Economists, and the Committee of the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She has served as a co-editor for the Southern Economic Journal and the Eastern Economic Journal and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Economic Association and the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Hotchkiss received bachelor of arts degrees in economics and French from Willamette University. She earned her master's degree and doctorate in economics at Cornell University. Linda Joseph, Principal, Gwin Elementary School, Hoover City Schools http://ljoseph.wiki.hoover.k12.al.us/ William Lawrence, Principal, Foley Elementary School, Baldwin County Public Schools Jeremy Love, Attorney Marie Friedmann Marquardt, Scholar-in-Residence, Candler School of Theology, Emory University Marie T. Friedmann Marquardt the lead author of Living “Illegal”: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration (New Press, 2011). She co -authored (with Manuel A. Vasquez) Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas (Rutgers University Press, 2003) and has published several articles on religion, inter-ethnic relations, and civic participation of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. South. In addition to her research on immigration, Marquardt has worked as an advocate among immigrants in Atlanta. Allison McGuire, Program Manager, Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, UAB Raymond Mohl, Distinguished Professor, Department of History, University of Alabama at Birmingham Dr. Mohl is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he served as department chair from 1996 to 2002. He is a native of Tarrytown, New York and a graduate of Hamilton College. He earned a masters degrees at Yale University and New York University, where he also completed the Ph.D. in history. Before arriving at UAB, he taught at Indiana University Northwest in Gary and at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. A specialist in modern U.S. urban, ethnic, and social history, Dr. Mohl is the author, editor, or co-editor of eleven books, and over 130 research articles. Dr. Mohl is currently completing two new books: a study of the impact of interstate highways on American cities; and a history of race and ethnic relations in Miami, Florida, to be published by the University Press of Florida. Since moving to Birmingham in 1996, Professor Mohl has expanded his research interests to include the recent migration of Mexicans and other Latinos to Alabama and to the South generally. Pia Orrenius, Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Pia Orrenius joined the Dallas Fed in 1999. As a labor economist and member of the regional group, she analyzes the regional economy, with special focus on the border region. Orrenius's research also focuses on the causes and consequences of Mexico–U.S. migration, unauthorized immigration and U.S. immigration policy. Orrenius spent the 2004–05 academic year as senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, Washington D.C., where she advised the Bush administration on labor, health and immigration issues. She is affiliated with several academic institutions. She is a Tower Center Fellow at the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University and a Research Fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor in Bonn, Germany. Orrenius is also an adjunct professor at Baylor University (Dallas campus), where she teaches in the executive MBA program. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and bachelor degrees in economics and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Dana Payne, Principal, Valley Intermediate School, Shelby County Schools http://www.shelbyed.k12.al.us/schools/vis/admin.htm Shari Robertson, Independent Filmmaker, The Epidavros Project Shari Robertson grew up in Texas and New Mexico where she trained in anthropology and ethnographic film. She began her career in the Southern Highlands rainforest of Papua New Guinea with the Bosavi people, observing the effects of rapid culture change on a small-scale tribal society. Since then, her directing/producing work has often examined difficult situations in inaccessible places: young Khmer Rouge guerrillas crossing Cambodian minefields (Inside the Khmer Rouge), Indian archaeologists fighting to restore the wondrous ancient temple of Angkor Wat (Temple Under Siege) and the tragi-comic crossroads of domestic politics and the American drug war in Peru (We Ain't Winnin'). Her documentary work includes co-productions with Channel 4London, the BBC, FR3 - France, WDR - Germany, TVE - Spain, National Geographic's EXPLORER, PBS, CNN, HBO and Ovation. Isabel Rubio, Executive Director, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama http://www.hispanicinterest.org/about/ David Smolin, Harwell G. Davis Professor of Constitutional Law, Cumberland School of Law, Samford University; Director, Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics Professor Smolin has been the primary author/co-author of amicus curiae briefs in significant Supreme Court cases. He has submitted written and/or oral testimony before two Congressional committees, and legislative committees in five states, on the constitutional implications of proposed legislation. Professor Smolin spoke as an invited independent expert before a Special Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. In addition to Constitutional Law, Professor Smolin also teaches and writes in the areas of International Human Rights and Children’s Rights, among other areas. He has presented or taught on issues related to constitutional law, human rights or children’s rights in Brazil, France, India, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Professor Smolin has published more than thirty-five scholarly articles, as well as writing, serving as background, or being quoted frequently in media. Jim Stanley, Assistant City Attorney, City of Birmingham Jim Stanley is an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Birmingham, where his practice involves real estate, economic development, redevelopment projects and contracts. Jim received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and his law degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he served on the Vanderbilt Law Review. Dan Stein, President, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Prior to joining FAIR in 1982, Dan was executive director of the Immigration Reform Law Institute. His legal experience includes private practice and as congressional staff. He has testified more than 50 times before Congress. Cited in the media as "America's best known immigration reformer," he has appeared on virtually every significant TV and radio news/talk program in America and has contributed commentaries to a vast number of print media outlets. Edwina Taylor, Director, Cahaba Valley Healthcare The founder and past president of Cahaba Valley Health Care, Edwina Taylor currently serves the organization as the full time Executive Director. She has four years of experience as Palliative Care Specialist and Nurse Practitioner at the Balm of Gilead Palliative Care Unit at Cooper Green Hospital, and 28 years of experience as an RN in both inpatient and outpatient areas of Hematology-Oncology at University of Alabama Hospitals and Clinics. She was featured on the Bill Moyers special, On Our own Terms, in the Balm of Gilead segment in 2000. She graduated from UAB School of Nursing in 1970 with a BSN in Nursing, and earned a Master’s Degree in Nursing in 1999 from UAB School of Nursing in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program. She was named a Purpose Prize fellow in a national competition from Civic Ventures in 2009. Cahaba Valley Health Care is the only free clinic of its kind in this area whose screenings and clinics are on Sunday afternoons. Clients receive access to free vision and dental services. Patricia Todd (D), Representative, District 54, Alabama House of Representatives Carlos Torrez-Sanches, International Program Manager, Jefferson County Department of Public Health Carlos Torres-Sanchez, MS, is the International Program Manager for the Jefferson County Department of Health and serves as the Health Action Liaison for Access to Care. Carlos has worked to increase access to quality care for all, particularly minority populations and those who suffer health disparities. He has dedicated his career to work in community based organizations, higher education, clinical training and public health arenas in an effort to overcome common barriers to care. Carlos experience includes promoting language access, diversity and cultural competence training as well as administration of community resources. Carlos continues to do extensive community work by developing networks of collaboration among public health care professionals and grassroots organizations. Carlos has a Master of Science from Vanderbilt University, and has worked for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, and community based organizations before his current post. Lari Valtierra, ESL Supervisor, Jefferson County School System http://www.jefcoed.com/departments/Curriculum/ESL/Pages/default.aspx J. T. "Jabo" Waggoner (R), Senate Majority Leader, District 16, Alabama State Senate Senator Waggoner, born in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 8, 1937, is serving his sixth term in the Senate after serving from 1966-1983 in the House of Representatives. Senator Waggoner, President, Birmingham Business Consultants, LLC, received his B.A. degree from Birmingham Southern College and his J.D. degree from Birmingham School of Law. Senator Waggoner is a Republican and a member of the Homewood Church of Christ. He serves on the following boards: Board of Directors of Birmingham Business Alliance; Faulkner University Board of Trustees; Member of Birmingham, Hoover, Shelby County, Vestavia Hills Chambers of Commerce; Member Vestavia Hills Civitan Club; Inducted into the Birmingham Southern College Sports Hall of Fame, 2007; Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau; Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; and Pinnacle Bank. He served as head coach of the Birmingham Touchdown Club and was president of the Birmingham Tip-Off Club. Senator Waggoner was elected Senate Minority Leader in the 2002-2006 quadrennium, and re-elected on January 16, 2007. He was elected Senate Majority Leader on December 8, 2010. Senator Waggoner has the longest record of service, of any legislator from Jefferson County, in Alabama history. Jack Williams (R), Representative, District 47, Alabama House of Representatives http://www.legislature.state.al.us/house/representatives/housebios/hd047.html Michael Wilson, Principal, Glen Iris Elementary School, Birmingham City Schools |