About the Authors

Dr. Cheryl C. Boots is a senior lecturer at Boston University, where she has taught humanities to freshmen for the past 15 years. Her recent book, Singing for Equality: Hymns and the American Antislavery and Indian Rights Movements, 1640-1855 examines the function of hymns in nineteenth-century civil rights efforts. She is a singer-songwriter and serves as worship leader for St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church in Marblehead, Mass. Her essay for Impact is partially based on her Master’s of Sacred Theology thesis and the research for her current book project on spirituals, freedom songs, and the civil rights movement from 1955- 1968.

Lily Corwin has taught courses in academic and creative writing, literature, and literary theory at several colleges and universities and is currently lecturing at Quincy University. She holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Catholic University and publishes both creative and critical work. Recent publications have focused on her primary area of research, Jewish American Fiction, and have dealt with treatments of Shoah in the works of Paul Auster and Philip Roth.

Aaron Fine holds an MFA in Painting from Claremont Graduate University and a BFA in Painting, accompanied by a Philosophy honors thesis on Spinoza’s Scientia Intuitiva, from Ohio University. In 1999, after working in non-profit arts administration for four years, he began teaching at Truman State University, where he is now Professor of Art and Gallery Director. He teaches in the Interdisciplinary Studies program in addition to providing instruction in Drawing, Painting, and History of Graphic Design. His recent creative nonfiction on subjects in visual culture has been presented at several Popular Culture and Asian Studies conferences and published in academic journals and arts zines including AsiaNetwork Exchange, Blotterature, and 8-1/2 x 11. His book of essays and coloring book plates titled Dialogues on Color will be published by Are Not Books in early 2016. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited widely over the past 20 years.

Joan Fiscella, Ph.D, Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, taught in Wayne State University’s interdisciplinary University Studies/Weekend College Program for working adults in the late 1970s. After receiving her AMLS (Library Science) at the University of Michigan, she worked in academic libraries as a reference librarian and in collections development. She retired from the University of Illinois at Chicago Library in 2010, as Associate Professor Emerita. She has been an active member of the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies since 1989.

Sam Hammer earned his Ph.D in evolutionary biology from Harvard University in 1993 and joined the faculty of Boston University that year. He teaches urban ecology in addition to landscape studies, general biology, and botany. He also teaches design research methods in the Sustainable Design Program at the Boston Architectural College. He is the recipient of awards from the National Science Foundation (USA) and the National Geographic Society.

Julia Katzman is a proud 2014 graduate of Boston University’s College of General Studies where she was member of the Dean’s Advisory Board, a Dean’s Host, and the Dean’s List. She was a winner of the CGS Capstone Award for her group’s paper entitled “BPA: A Global Issue Warranting Local Action.” Currently, Julia is a History major in Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences with a concentration in 20th Century American History. She has a passion for civil rights issues and will return to Capitol Hill for her second summer as a Congressional Intern. She has worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant with Prof. Boots for two semesters.

Jeffery W. Vail is senior lecturer in Humanities at Boston University. He is the editor of The Unpublished Letters of Thomas Moore and the author of The Literary Relationship of Lord Byron and Thomas Moore. He has published numerous articles on British and Irish Romanticism and has lectured on Byron and Moore around the world, including Austria, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.