Participant Biographies
Taquiena Boston is a longtime member of All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington, DC, and director of identity-based ministries at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Prior to assuming this role, she was an antiracism program associate in the Faith in Action staff group of the UUA.
Louise Green has been the minister of social justice at All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington, DC, since 2004. Louise was a lead community organizer with the Industrial Areas Foundation for eight years in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY.
Paula Cole Jones, a past president of Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries, is lead consultant for JUUST Change, an antioppression consultancy program for Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations, and a facilitator for Beyond Categorical Thinking workshops. She is a longtime member of All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington, DC.
Annease Hastings has been the music director at Bull Run Unitarian Universalists in Manassas, VA, for over 20 years.
Mark A. Hicks is the Angus MacLean Professor of Religious Education at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, and most recently served as associate professor of educational transformation at George Mason University. Mark consults nationally with schools and government and nonprofit organizations on building inclusive, democratically minded, multiracial, and multicultural learning communities. He is a lay leader at All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington, DC, and the Riverside Church in New York City.
Nancy McDonald Ladd is minister to the Bull Run Unitarian Universalists of Manassas, VA. She currently serves as president of the Chesapeake Area UU Ministers Association.
Kate Lore has been directing the social justice program at First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR, for the past ten years. Kate brings sixteen years of church leadership into her ministry and specializes in community organizing, leadership development, conflict resolution, and creative networking.
Kat Liu is assistant director of the UUA’s Washington Office for Advocacy, where she is primarily responsible for providing electronic communications and resources to UU congregations and individuals engaged in legislative advocacy. She also holds the Environmental Justice portfolio—trying to bring a social justice lens to environmental issues.
Dan McKanan is the Ralph Waldo Emerson UUA senior lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. He has written three books on religious movements for social transformation in the United States and is currently at work on a general history of the religious left, to be published by Beacon Press.
Rebecca Ann Parker is president and professor of theology at Starr King School for the Ministry. She is author of several books of theology, each with an emphasis on justice and countering oppression. Before coming to Starr King, she spent ten years as a parish minister. She is dually affiliated with the United Methodist Church and the UUA.
Paul Rasor is director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom and professor of interdisciplinary studies at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is an ordained UU minister with backgrounds in law, music, and theology.
Meg A. Riley is director of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s advocacy and witness programs, and serves as president of Faith in Public Life: A Resource Center for Justice and the Common Good. She has served on the boards of the Interfaith Alliance, Equal Partners in Faith, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Interfaith Workers for Justice and on the steering committees of dozens of national coalitions.
Victoria Safford is minister of White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi, MN. She is author of numerous articles and essays and a meditation manual called Walking toward Morning.
Jill Schwendeman is director of youth programs at White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi, MN. She served as executive director for two nonprofit coalitions in Illinois, North Suburban Peace Initiative and Families’ and Children’s AIDS Network.
Marilyn Sewell has been the senior minister at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR, for seventeen years. With backgrounds in English literature, social work, and divinity, and theology, Sewell has published several books including two books of women’s poetry.
William Sinkford was elected as the seventh president of the UUA in June 2001, and served through June 2009. His presidency was distinguished by efforts to defend oppressed peoples. He is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, a nationally recognized champion of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, and a passionate advocate for the people of Darfur. Under Sinkford’s leadership, the UUA became the first national denomination to join the New Sanctuary Movement, and formally voted to work to combat global warming. He has been a staunch defender of religious pluralism and the separation of church and state. Sinkford freely shared his own spiritual journey and called on Unitarian Universalism to reclaim a language of reverence.
Thandeka is a founder of Affect Theology, which investigates the links between religion and emotions using insights from affective neuroscience. A published author and professor, Thandeka has most recently served as a visiting scholar at Claremont School of theology.
Dr. Sharon D. Welch is provost and professor of religion and society at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago. While at the University of Missouri, Sharon was a senior fellow in the Center for Religion, the Professions, and the Public, and is currently a member of the International Steering Committee of Global Action to Prevent War. She is also the author of several books linking theology and justice.