| Tom Birmingham Cindy Gibson Elizabeth Hollander | H. Peter Karoff Margaret Lazarus Phil Primack John Shattuck |
Tom Birmingham
Currently senior counsel at the Boston law firm of Palmer & Dodge LLP, Tom was president of the Massachusetts Senate from 1996 to 2003. He grew up in Chelsea, earned undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University, and was received a Rhodes Scholar to study at Oxford University. He is credited, with then-state legislator Mark Roosevelt, of passing the widely hailed Education Reform Act of 1993.
Tom was named a senior fellow at Tisch College (then the University College of Citizenship and Public Service) in the spring of 2003. He serves on the board of directors for the Boston Plan for Excellence and Preservation Mass, the leading historic preservation organization in the State.
As a Tisch College senior fellow, he teaches Theory and Practice of State and Local Government (in the spring semester) and supervises students undertaking policy internships sponsored by the Tisch College Institute of Political Citizenship (IOPC).
Cindy Gibson
The principal of Cynthesis Consulting, Cynthia specializes in public policy research and analysis, program development, strategic planning, marketing and communications for several national nonprofits and foundation. Previously a program officer at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Cynthia was responsible for their Strengthening the Nonprofit and Philanthropic Sector and Youth Civic Engagement programs. Cynthia co-authored (with Peter Levine) The Civic Mission of Schools, which has since become a standard for the field and catalyst for federal legislation for school-based civic education. Cynthia is also author of the recently published Case Foundation report Citizens at the Center. Cynthia earned her BA in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University, and MSW from Catholic University of American and her PhD from Rutgers University.
As a Tisch College senior fellow, Cynthia is engaged in program development and research about youth civic engagement. She was the lead writer/editor for the recently published case statement resulting from this group, titled New Times Demand New Scholarship. The research university collaboration was a joint initiative between Tisch College and Campus Compact, a national coalition of college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.
William Harris
Bill Harris is the founder and president of KidsPac, based in Cambridge, Mass., a political action committee dedicated to federal government action for economically disadvantaged children and their families. In 1984, Bill founded the Children's Research and Education Institute.
Bill has been an adjunct associate professor at Tufts University and a study group leader at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He serves on the advisory board of the Child Development-Community Policing Program in conjunction with the Yale Child Study Center.
A prominent national advocate for children and adolescents, as a Tisch College senior fellow Bill lectures and writes about children and public policy, including program and policy development to improve the treatment of traumatized children.
To veiw a powerpoint of Bill Harris' work, please click here.
Elizabeth Hollander
Liz joined Tisch College as a senior fellow after nine years at the head of Campus Compact, a national coalition of college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education. During that time, she doubled the organization’s membership to more than 1,000 institutions of higher learning.
Prior to joining Campus Compact in 1997, Liz was executive director of the Monsignor John J. Egan Urban Center at DePaul University, which works with the University to address critical urban problems, alleviate poverty and promote social justice in the metropolitan community through teaching, service, and scholarship. She also served as president of the Government Assistance Program in Illinois and director of planning for the city of Chicago under Mayor Harold Washington.
As a Tisch College senior fellow, Liz is helping to extend the College’s research agenda on how civic engagement taught and learned and the impacts of citizen participation on social wellbeing. In that role, she is leading the College’s Faculty Fellows program.
H. Peter Karoff
As chairman and founding president of The Philanthropic Initiative, which aims to expand philanthropy and to improve its effectiveness, Peter is a pioneer in creating new approaches to philanthropy.
He has served on the board of more than 30 nonprofit organizations and is the author of The World We Want – New Dimensions in Philanthropy and Social Change, (AltaMira Press, 2007) and editor of Just Money – A Critique of Contemporary American Philanthropy, (TPI Editions, 2004.) He was made a Fellow of the McDowell Colony in 1989 and in 2006 became a Purpose Prize Fellow, a major new initiative to invest in Americans over 60 who are leading a new age of social innovation.
As a Tisch College senior fellow Peter writes and lectures about new dimensions in philanthropy and social change.
Margaret Lazarus
Academy Award-Winning documentary film director Margaret Lazarus is the founder of Cambridge Documentary films. As a Tisch College senior fellow, she teaches Producing Films for Social Change. This popular course is one of the cornerstones of the Media and Public Service Program, a joint initiative of Tisch College and the Communications and Media Studies Program.
Margaret’s film company is known for its films on media images of women ("Killing Us Softly," "Still Killing Us Softly," and "Beyond Killing Us Softly"), domestic violence ("Defending Our Lives"), trauma and recovery ("Strong at the Broken Places"), and nuclear threat ("The Last Empire"). In 1994, they won an Academy Award for "Defending Our Lives." In addition to her film production work, Margaret now serves on the advisory selection committee for the Academy Awards documentary division.
Phil Primack
Phil Primack (A70) is a journalist, editor and policy analyst. A contributing writer to CommonWealth Magazine, his articles have appeared in many regional and national publications, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Columbia Journalism Review, Boston Magazine and The Washington Post. He worked as a staff reporter for eastern Kentucky’s renowned weekly, The Mountain Eagle, as well as for North Shore: Sunday and The Boston Herald.
Primack has been a policy adviser to elected officials, including former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, and has consulted as a researcher, writer and editor for organizations including The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the MIT Sloan School of Management. As a Tisch College senior fellow, Primack teaches Young People, the News, and Politics. He has also taught Media Law and Ethics and other courses at Tufts and other institutions.
John Shattuck
Currently, the chief executive officer of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, John spent nearly three decades in government service and the nonprofit sector. During the Clinton administration he served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. In that position, he worked to end the war in Bosnia and negotiate the Dayton Peace Agreement; establish the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; restore a democratically-elected government to Haiti. He also administered U. S. assistance to new and emerging democracies; and raised the profile of human rights in U.S. foreign policy after the end of the Cold War. For this work, John received an International Human Rights Award from the United Nations Association of Boston.
John is also the author of Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and the Roots of Terrorism (Harvard University Press, 2003), Rights of Privacy (National Textbook Company 1977) and numerous articles on civil liberties, human rights and public service.
As a Tisch College senior fellow, he teaches The US and The World: Contemporary Dilemmas in American Foreign Policy.
Alan Solomont
As an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political activist, Alan Solomont has been actively involved with Tufts since earning his undergraduate degree in 1970. Today, in addition to serving as a Senior Fellow, he is chair of the Tisch College board of advocates and a member of the Tufts University board of trustees.
Alan, chairman and CEO of Solomont Bailis Ventures, which develops innovative health and eldercare ventures, serves on the boards of numerous Boston area organizations and has been active for many years in the Democratic Party. In 1997, he was national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), raising over $40 million. In 2000, he was appointed by President Clinton to the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees three national service initiatives: AmeriCorps, the National Senior Service Corps, and Learn & Serve America.
As a Tisch College senior fellow Alan teaches Decision '08, a seminar about the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election. He previously taught a course on the Clinton Presidency.
Susan Stroud
Susan is founder and executive director of Innovations in Civic Participation, a nonprofit social change organization based in Washington, D.C., that provides expertise, ideas, information, research, and advocacy support. She is also the co-director of the Global Service Institute, an organization dedicated to increasing worldwide awareness and understanding of service. Earlier, she served as senior advisor to the director of the White House Office of National Service on the design phase of the national service program.
A specialist in international as well as domestic citizen participation and community service, Susan was the founding executive director of Campus Compact, a national coalition of college and university presidents committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. She also co-led, with Tisch College dean Rob Hollister, planning for the international conference of university presidents that President Bacow convened on "The Civic Engagement Roles and Responsibilities of Higher Education" in Talloires, France, September 2005. As a Tisch College senior fellow she is working to support and expand the Talloires Network of universities, a global alliance committed to strengthening the civic roles of higher education.
Daniel B. Winslow
Dan, an attorney with the Boston law firm of Duane Morris, earlier served as the chief legal counsel to Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Prior to that position he served as a presiding justice and as an appellate division justice in the Massachusetts Trial Court. He is experienced in the areas of environmental law, personal injury, product liability, wrongful death, construction law, insurance coverage, civil rights, labor law and criminal defense.
Dan is listed as a super lawyer in the area of government by Law & Politics Media and Boston magazine and was cited as one of the "Top 500 Trial Lawyers in the U.S." by Lawdragon Magazine. He earned his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1980 and his J.D. degree from Boston College Law School in 1983.
As a Tisch College senior fellow Dan teaches Judicial Solutions, a seminar that examines judicial reform in Massachusetts.
Jonathan Zaff
Jonathan Zaff, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Research and Policy Development at the America’s Promise Alliance. He is also a scholar-in-residence at the Institute of Applied Research in Youth Development and a senior scholar at Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, both at Tufts University. His research focuses primarily on studying the content of social contexts that promote positive outcomes among youth, particularly with regard to academic achievement and civic engagement.
In his role with the Alliance, he directs all research activities, including, among others, their national and local surveys on youth development and evaluations of the Alliance’s programming. Prior to joining the Alliance, Dr. Zaff was a research associate at Child Trends, a policy-focused research institute in Washington, DC, where he focused on positive youth development initiatives. He also founded 18to35, the policy arm of America’s youth movement, which merged with Mobilize.org, the leading national organization dedicated to engaging young people in the political and policy process. Dr. Zaff received his Ph.D. in lifespan developmental psychology from the University of Georgia.
As a Tisch College senior fellow, Dr. Zaff will examine effective practices for engaging middle school youth in civic activities as well as exploring how universities can transmit civic values onto their students, with a focus on helping children and youth in America.
