Gary Tillery is an American writer and artist known for his biographies focusing on the spiritual lives of famous figures, and for his public sculptures. His 2009 book, The Cynical Idealist, was named the official book of the 2010 John Lennon Tribute in New York City, and he created the centerpiece sculpture of the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 2005.
Howard Rheingold (born 1947) is an American critic, writer, and teacher, known for his specialties on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities.
Sylvia Morales (born 1943 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. Morales is recognized as one of the first female Mexican-American filmmakers to have established a Latino cinema. In her filmmaking career, Morales has been nationally recognized winning awards for film and video documentary on topics ranging from the farm workers struggle to the music of Los Lobos.While the majority of her work is in the documentary film genre, she has also done work for the mass media television. She has also published essays and photographs on Latina and feminist issues. Sylvia Morales has lectured and taught in different Universities throughout Southern California. Morales' work is characterized by strong documentaries that portray the Latino community. She also has work that covers feminist issues in the Chicano community.
Keith W. Perkins was a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). He has written widely on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the period when it was headquartered at Kirtland, Ohio. Perkins has written articles on figures in the recording of the history of the LDS Church, such as Andrew Jenson, whose work as a historian was the subject of Perkins' masters' thesis. His thesis was cited in Charles T. Morrissey's article "We Call it Oral History", which moved the accepted time of the origin of the term back from the late-1940s to the mid-1860s.Perkins was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He has a BA in History Education from Arizona State University and an MA and PhD from BYU in Church History and Doctrine. He was seminary principal at the LDS seminary adjacent to Granite High School in Salt Lake County, Utah, and then instructor at the Tempe Institute of Religion (adjacent to the campus of Arizona State University) before joining the BYU faculty in 1975. During the mid-1980s, as chair of the department of Church History and Doctrine, Perkins developed the idea for special symposium to be held in various locations related to church history. This was the beginning of the various publications in the LDS Church History in place x series, with New England, New York and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, the Pacific, and the United Kingdom having been some of the places featured over the years in the series. He has also written articles on subjects such as the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.Among other works, Perkins compiled with Milton V. Backman Jr. Journals, Diaries, Biographies, Autobiographies and Letters of Some Early Mormons and Others Who Knew Joseph Smith, Jr. and/or His Contemporaries. With LaMar C. Barrett and Donald Q. Cannon, he edited the book Sacred Places: Ohio and Illinois, published by Deseret Book in 2001. Perkins was also a co-author with Bruce A. Van Orden, David J. Whittaker, Truman G. Madsen, John W. Welch and James P. Bell of the book Book of Mormon Scholars. Perkins compiled a book entitled Marriage is Ordained of God, which was a collection of talks on the subject by general authorities of the LDS Church.
Perkins and his wife, Vella Crowther, are the parents of four children. Perkins is a member of the LDS Church and has worked with Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson in developing the church's visitors center and other properties and programs in Kirtland, Ohio. Among other callings in the LDS Church, Perkins has served as a bishop and a stake president.
Chalmers Ashby Johnson (August 6, 1931 – November 20, 2010) was an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics, and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967 to 1973 and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972. He was also president and co-founder with Steven Clemons of the Japan Policy Research Institute (now based at the University of San Francisco), an organization that promotes public education about Japan and Asia.Johnson wrote numerous books, including three examinations of the consequences of what he called the "American Empire": Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis; The Last Days of the American Republic. A former Cold Warrior, he notably stated, "A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an imperialist, but it can't be both. If it sticks to imperialism, it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of our system was modeled, lose its democracy to a domestic dictatorship."
Maureen Dragone (January 20, 1920 – February 8, 2013) was an American journalist and author. She was one of the longest-standing members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which presents the annual Golden Globe Awards. In 1978 she founded the Young Artist Association, which presents the annual Young Artist Awards.