Speakers

Keynotes & Featured Speakers

Dr. Jim Harris, President, University of San Diego
James T. Harris III, D.Ed., became the University of San Diego’s fourth president on August 3, 2015. The University of San Diego is one of only 44 universities in the world designated as an Ashoka U Changemaker campus. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Harris has worked closely with cross-discipline teams to spearhead new civic and community engagements, connecting academic environments with intractable issues faced by society. “USD is in a strong position to address significant societal issues, and the establishment of centers on campus such as the Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness and Social Action and our designation as an Ashoka U Changmaker Campus provides us with a great framework for moving forward,” he said. “I believe we have much work to do as a society and as a university in helping people understand their roles as responsible citizens on and off campus as well as expanding on our work as an anchor institution in San Diego.” Previously, Dr. Harris served for 13 years as the president of Widener University, a private, independent institution educating more than 6,300 students on four campuses in two states — Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Rhonda V. Magee, Professor of Law, Mindfulness and Social Justice Teacher and Advocate, University of San Francisco
Rhonda V. Magee (M.A., J.D.) is Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, and is an internationally-recognized thought and practice leader on integrating Mindfulness into Higher Education, Law, and Social Justice. Professor Magee is a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute. She is a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness and the Board of Directors for the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute.

The author of numerous articles on mindfulness in legal education, including Educating Lawyers to Meditate? 79 UMKC L. Rev. 535 (2011), and The Way of ColorInsight: Understanding Race and Law Effectively Using Mindfulness-Based ColorInsight Practices, 8 Georgetown J. of Mod. Crit. Race Perspectives 251 (2016), Rhonda is the author of a forthcoming book on Mindfulness and Racial Justice to be published by TarcherPerigee, a member of the Penguin Random House Group.

Common Ground Voices is an international project choir initiated by the Eric Ericson International Choral Centre in 2016 based in and around Jerusalem. Common Ground Voices / La Frontera translates the mission of the original ensemble into a new geographic frame, generating meaningful collaboration through music, exploring and creating music of shared human values and aspirations, contributing to community music as an exercise of non-violence, and utilizing music as a springboard for a meaningful discussion about social and political change within the group as well as with the society in general. Facilitated by Emilie Amrein and André de Quadros, Common Ground Voices / La Frontera will bring together a diverse group of singers in a project situated at the border of Mexico and the United States in March 2019. CGV La Frontera will consider questions of identity, place, belonging, connection, and shared humanity in a region historically claimed by many.

Emilie Amrein, Assistant Professor of Music, University of San Diego
Professor Amrein conducts the USD Choral Scholars and teaches courses on the intersection of music and social justice movements. She is the artistic director of Peregrine Music, an arts and education nonprofit organization committed to engaging communities in meaningful dialogue about the most pressing social issues facing the world with creative, youth-driven performance projects.

André de Quadros, Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Education Department, Boston University
Professor de Quadros directs four choirs: the Manado State University Choir (Indonesia), Common Ground Voices (Israeli /Palestinian/international), VOICES 21C (Boston), and Muslim Choral Ensemble (Sri Lanka). In addition, he leads choral projects in Massachusetts prisons. His life as a scholar, conductor, educator, and activist has taken him to diverse settings in more than forty countries.

Perse Lewis, Tribal Liaison/Professor of Practice, Ethnic Studies Department, University of San Diego
Perse Lewis, M.A. is a citizen of the Yomba Band of Shoshone Indians located in Central Nevada. She has over 17 years experience working with tribal governments, nonprofits, and informal associations in the areas of community development, youth prevention and education programs, and grants management. Currently, she works as the Tribal Liaison/Professor of Practice in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego where she dedicates her efforts to supporting the sovereignty and self-determination of local tribal nations. This focus is evident in her community engagement activities, Native student retention and outreach efforts, and in the curricula and pedagogies she employs in the classroom.

Marisol Morales, Vice President for Network Leadership, Campus Compact
Marisol Morales serves as the Vice President for Network Leadership for Campus Compact. In this role Morales provides guidance, inspiration, and practical support to network staff across the country, helping state and regional directors achieve local goals while advancing shared network priorities. She also leads Campus Compact’s efforts to increase inclusion, equity, and diversity internally and in higher education community engagement. Prior to joining Campus Compact Ms. Morales was the founding Director of the Office of Civic and Community Engagement at the University of La Verne from 2013-2018 and the Associate Director of the Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and Community Service Studies at DePaul University. Marisol holds a BA in Latin American/Latino Studies and a MS/MS in International Public Service Management both from DePaul University. She is currently pursuing her Ed. D in Organizational Leadership at the University of La Verne. Her dissertation is focused on the community engagement experiences of students of color at Minority Serving Institutions.

Andrew Seligsohn, President, Campus Compact
Andrew J. Seligsohn is president of Campus Compact, a national coalition of 1000 colleges and universities dedicated to the public purposes of higher education. As president, Seligsohn has focused on comprehensive campus planning for civic action, student civic leadership, and professional development for Community Engagement Professionals. Under his leadership, Campus Compact is building Education for Democracy, an effort to ensure that all college students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and motivations necessary for thoughtful and effective participation in democracy. Before joining Campus Compact, Seligsohn served as Associate Chancellor for Civic Engagement and Strategic Planning at Rutgers University–Camden, Director of Civic Engagement Learning in the Pace Center at Princeton University, and as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Hartwick College. Seligsohn has published articles and chapters on higher education engagement, student political engagement, constitutional law, political theory, and urban politics. Seligsohn holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in modern intellectual history from Williams College.

Verdis L. Robinson, Director for Community College Engagement, Campus Compact
Robinson directs The Democracy Commitment (TDC) initiative as part of his portfolio and continues the work he began two years ago as the national director of TDC, expanding membership, resources, and programming opportunities for community colleges. Before becoming national director of TDC, Robinson was a tenured Assistant Professor of History and African-American Studies at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, NY, where he taught web-enhanced, writing-intensive, service learning history courses for ten years. Additionally, Robinson is a fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Seminar on Citizenship and the American and Global Polity, and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Faculty Seminar on Rethinking Black Freedom Studies: The Jim Crow North and West. He is also a Public Scholar of Humanities New York. Robinson also serves on the advisory boards for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, Bringing Theory to Practice, Students Learn Students Vote coalition, and the Reacting Consortium Board of Reacting to the Past (RTTP). He holds a B.M. in Voice Performance from Boston University, a B.S. cum laude and M.A. in History from SUNY College at Brockport, and an M.A. in African-American Studies from SUNY University at Buffalo.